The loss in translation between languages has long been debated, and a current issue within Translation Studies is that of the cultural aspect. Using two opposing concepts by Lawrence Venuti; domestication that is used to assimilate the source culture into the target culture, and foreignization that is used to preserve and highlight the foreign culture in the target text, this paper examines how culture is transferred in literary translation between English and Swedish. In order to establish which strategies are used, data consisting of 30 passages from the American novel Dead Until Dark (2001), and the corresponding passages in two different Swedish translations of it, is analysed linguistically. While the first translation is found to show no marked preference for either strategy, the second translation uses domestication thrice as often as foreignization. However, both translations use domestication in 9 out of 10 examples in the category ‘Figurative use of language’, which suggests a marked difficulty in preserving the source culture while translating metaphorical language. The analysis also shows a difference in the way the strategies are employed, suggesting a further division of the strategies into ‘passive’ and ‘active’. The author calls for further research on the effect of such a division.

Transferring words and ideas from one language to another has always been a puzzling and difficult matter for those involved in it. For centuries, English-speakers and translators have dealt with these difficulties by enforcing, through professional codes of ethics and through publishing contracts, what Lawrence Venuti calls "the translator's invisibility," as chronicled in his book by the same name. By evaluating translation solely on the transparency and fluency of the target language translation (that is, by making a translation not seem like a translation), English translators and audiences assured that translators remained faithful to original authors' intents, or so they thought. Contemporary linguistic theory, namely poststructuralism, has changed the way we think about language and has suggested that meaning is created just as much in the mind of the audience as in the hands of the author. Translation adds a third locus—that of the translator—in the creation of meaning, and many contemporary translation scholars promote a recognition of the inevitable intervention of translators. Ann Patchett's 2001 award-winning novel Bel Canto explores the way translation functions in contemporary global society. Through the microcosm of the novel, the main character, a professional translator named Gen, suggests that the acceleration of globalization that has contributed to the recent increase of translation and translation studies has also made the idea of the translator's invisibility obsolete. Instead, he finds that the linguistic awareness of his audience allows him a visibility for which his professional translation training has left him poorly equipped. To deal with his visibility, Gen must find new ways of creating responsibility in his audience and better ways to achieve ethical translation. Unlike Venuti's framework of translators who must one-sidedly demand attention and force breaks in tradition, Bel Canto suggests a cooperative re-evaluation of tradition that cautiously assesses translation strategies in terms of both the translator and the audience. In the spirit of global communication, Bel Canto presents translation as a multi-dimensional communicative situation that, with deliberate changes in the promotion of ethics, can enable international understanding and serve as an example of productive evaluation of tradition.

Detta examensarbete är indelat i tre delar. Examensarbetet består av en översättning av tre kapitel ur Etta James självbiografi Rage to survive: the Etta James story skriven av James och spökförfattaren David Ritz, samt ett kapitel om vilka textspecifika översättningsproblem som uppstod vid översättningen. Den tredje delen består av en djupanalys av hur varieteten African-American English (AAE) översatts i två andra verk, nämligen I know why the caged bird sings av Maya Angelou och The bluest eye av Toni Morrison där översättningarna av dessa verk jämförs med min översättning av Rage to survive: the Etta James story. Djupanalysens syfte är att undersöka hur många talspråksmarkörer som finns i de ovannämnda verken, samt hur många av dessa markörer är specifika för AAE. Dessutom används Englund Dimitrovas varietetsskala (2001). Detta för att undersöka huruvida måltexterna ligger på skalan i relation till källtexterna genom mängden talspråksmarkörer. Översättningen genomfördes med målet att ligga så nära källtextens stil som var möjligt med hänsyn till målspråkets grammatiska regler och förutsättningar. Detta för att kunna erbjuda den målspråklige läsaren en likvärdig effekt som läsaren av källtexten. För att uppfylla detta mål fick en del kompromisser göras. / This thesis is divided into three main parts. It consists of a translation of three chapters from Etta James’ autobiography named Rage to survive: the Etta James story, written by James herself and ghost writer David Ritz. The thesis also features a part involving the issues that arose when I translated Rage to survive: the Etta James story and how I solved these issues. The third and final part consists of an analysis of how African-American English (AAE) has been translated in two other novels in the past, namely I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison’s The bluest eye. I compare the translations of these two novels with my own translation of Rage to survive: the Etta James story in the analysis where I strive to gain insight into the norms for translating spoken varieties. The translation was carried out with the purpose of maintaining the stylistic and informal markers as intact as possible while at the same time adhering to the grammatical prerequisites of the target language (Swedish). / <p>Översättningen är borttagen ur den publicerade versionen i fulltext i DiVA (denna version) på grund av upphovsrätten.</p><p>The translation has been removed from the published version of the essay in DiVA due to copyright.</p>

This thesis explores the reception of Johann Joachim Winckelmann in Italian art scholarship, 1755-1834. Winckelmann posed a problem: he was a presence in Italy that could not be ignored, yet the views he expounded were Italophobic and contentious to an Italian readership. In light of this dilemma, the research question asked is how did Italian art scholarship respond to Winckelmann in this period and why did it respond in that way. The core argument advanced is that there were two opposing reactions to Winckelmann, both of which were motivated by nationalism. On the one hand, Italian art scholars presented Winckelmann, his works, and his views as less attractive to an Italian readership than they would otherwise have appeared and, on the other hand, they presented him as more attractive. Through these reactions – termed foreignization and domestication respectively – art scholarship either defended against and ostracized Winckelmann or, when presented as less offensive, welcomed and embraced him amongst Italians. Thus this thesis argues that both reactions demonstrate a nationalistic attempt to portray Winckelmann in the manner most auspicious to the yet-to-be-united peninsula. In order to explore this response to the German scholar, the thesis centres on three media: translations, art literature, and artistic journalism. Both foreignization and domestication are evident throughout the sources analysed, yet there is a predominance of domestication, achieved through a variety of methods. This investigation adds to existing literature by examining the previously overlooked dilemma that Winckelmann posed. Moreover, employing the original conceptual framework of foreignization and domestication allows for a re-evaluation of how the art scholarship of the period engaged with the German scholar. Finally, demonstrating the infiltration of nationalistic sentiment in this period, even extending to Italian art scholarship, this thesis is the first to posit that nationalism played a significant role in Winckelmann's critical legacy.