Thesis (MPhil (Afrikaans and Dutch))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / In this descriptive study, recent translations into English of two highly-regarded Afrikaans novels are investigated. The purpose of this is to describe these translations in a comparative manner, in order to arrive at conclusions about the differing modi operandi of diverse literary translators. The texts studied are Agaat by Marlene van Niekerk (2004) and Hierdie lewe by Karel Schoeman (1993), titled Agaat (2006) and This Life (2005) in English, and translated by Michiel Heyns and Elsa Silke, respectively. The two translators differ in that one is a creative writer in own right, though not being a formally-trained translation scholar, and translated with input from the source text author. The other is not a creative writer, translated without input from the author and has a formal translation-theoretical qualification. In this study, the target texts produced by these two translators are compared with their respective source texts, in order to determine whether there are differences or similarities in their modi operandi. A theoretical framework is compiled using relevant translation theories in order to systematise the comparison of the source texts and their translations. The novels are then compared to their translations in turn, on various levels, in order to describe the modus operandi of each translator. This results in certain conclusions being drawn about the different ways in which diverse translators work. These conclusions are linked to norms apparent in the decisions the translators make, or the lack thereof, as well as the role of the translation skopos. A number of topics for further research are also mentioned.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of Witwatersrand Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of Arts, 2016 / This study focuses on the aesthetics and ethics of translating African literature, using a case of two of D.O. Fagunwa’s Yoruba novels, namely; Igbo Olodumare (1949) translated by Wole Soyinka as In the Forest of Olodumare (2010) and Adiitu Olodumare (1961) translated by Olu Obafemi as The Mysteries of God (2012). More specifically, the overall aim of this study is to determine the positions of these target texts on the domestication and foreignization continuum. The study of these texts is carried out using a descriptive and systemic theoretical framework, based on Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS), Polysystem theory and the notion of norms of translational behaviour. The descriptive approach is extended by drawing on ideological and ethical approaches to translating postcolonial and marginalized literature. Lambert and Van Gorp’s model for the description of translation products is used in exploring the position of Fagunwa’s translated novels in the target literary system. A close comparative analysis of a number of extracts from the two target texts and their corresponding source texts is conducted in order to determine the approaches taken by both translators in their translation of the distinctive stylistic features of Fagunwa’s prose. Building on the work of Christopher Fotheringham (2015) in the field of stylistic analysis of translated African prose, this study describes and analyses the occurrence of shifts of formal literary features between these target texts and their corresponding source texts. This is done by employing Antoine Berman’s scheme of deforming tendencies and Anton Popovič’s scheme of stylistic shifts as the basis for the translational shift analysis. / GR2017

This dissertation explores how literary translators mediated cultural diplomacy between the U.S. and China during the Cold War period. Focusing on best-selling bilingual authors Lin Yutang, Eileen Chang, Hua-ling Nieh Engle, and Jade Snow Wong, I show how these “cold warriors” negotiated political boundaries, concepts, and agendas while they wrote and translated literary texts. Their works, usually divided into Asian vs. Asian American literature, are here productively read together as pawns in the same ideological struggle, even as they exceed the traditional bounds of Cold War periodization, polarized nation-states, and disciplinary canons. Together, they evince new forms of transnational cultural production that shaped policies of containment, propaganda, resistance, de-colonialism, and racialization. This project thus theorizes translation as its own process of ideology-formation, rather than overlooking it as a mere medium for communication. In the end, examining linguistic exchange in the Cold War redefines what we conceive of as Asian-American, by reconfiguring the outright ideological struggle between Democracy and Communism as an equivocal conflict in the space opened up by translation.

A Translation project submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts (Translation). / This case study investigates and analyses the transfer of the socio-political elements of meaning, in the translated text, A Season in Paradise (1985). The study attempts to discover and account for any factors which may have impacted on the transfer of the socio-political elements from the source text. to make the study as systematic and as objective as possible, an adaptation of the model of analysis proposed by Lambert and Van Gorp is used. Lambert and Van Gorp are theorists who fall within the branch of translation studies called Descriptive Translation studies. The adaptation of the Lambert and Van Gorp model takes into account the factors which could have influenced the translator's reading of the literary text and which could have impacted on her translation strategy. The macro-analysis establishes the background to the translation and compares the physical features and the publishing circumstances of the target text with that of the source text. It contains a discussion on any similarities or differences found. On the micro-level, specific extracts with a socio-political theme are compared using selected linguistic concepts from Halliday's An Introduction to Functional Grammar as interpretive tools. The shifts discovered here were linked to the discoveries made in the macro-level analysis. It: was determined that prevalent reading strategies at the time did to a limited extent influence the transfer of the socio-political elements of meaning present in the text. This study is done to shed more light on the process of translating a literary work and the factors which may influence this process. / Andrew Chakane 2018

Thesis (MA)-- Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis re-evaluates the writing of seminal Afrikaans modernist Etienne Leroux from a South African English perspective. The present author's new translation of Leroux's prizewinning novel Sewe Dae by die Silbersteins (1962) is the focal point of an enquiry into how “rewriting”, in translation theorist André Lefevere's coinage, has shaped the reception of Leroux's work outside the Afrikaans literary system. It is shown from a literary-historiographical viewpoint that translation played a crucial role in Leroux's rise to international prominence and subsequent eclipse. It is demonstrated that Leroux's standing within the English literary system rests predominantly on extant translations of his novels, without taking into account the cyclical quality of his fiction, especially the overarching nine-novel cycle – the basis of Leroux's renown in Afrikaans. The distortions produced by this fact are critiqued. In particular, the received idea of Leroux as an apolitical obscurantist is challenged, the work of J.C. Kannemeyer especially showing that Leroux's politics and art were much more integral and radical than previously (mis)understood. A case is made for Leroux's re-evaluation as a seminal contributor to modern South African fiction comparable to J.M. Coetzee, and for the production of fresh translations of his work to facilitate this re-evaluation. A detailed account of the translation process behind the present author's new translation of Sewe Dae by die Silbersteins follows. A series of close readings compares this new translation to the first translation by Charles Eglington (1964), shows how Eglington's translation obscured certain textual strategies vital to a full comprehension of Leroux's text, examines the difficulties inherent in restoring them, and argues for the new translation's success therein. A mise au point in which insights yielded by this process feed back into an assessment of Leroux's relevance today concludes the thesis. Leroux's technique is shown to have immunised his texts against the desuetude into which time-bound “committed” literature often falls. In particular, Sewe Dae by die Silbersteins, or its new translation, emerges as a satirical anatomisation of subjectivity under late modern capitalism entirely in tune with contemporary cultural representations of apartheid as metaphor for global capitalism. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie tesis word die skryfwerk van die hoog-aangeskrewe Afrikaanse modernis Etienne Leroux vanuit 'n Suid-Afrikaans-Engelse oogpunt in heraanskouing geneem. Die kandidaat se nuwe vertaling van Leroux se beroemde roman, Sewe dae by die Silbersteins (1962 ), word as uitgangpunt gebruik vir vrae oor hoe Leroux se werk “herskryf” is deur kritici en vertalers. In verband hiermee word die vertaal-teoris André Lefevere se werk gebruik om die ontvangs van Leroux se werk buite die Afrikaanse literêre-sisteem in oënskou te neem. Uit n literêr-historiografiese standpunt word bewys dat vertaling 'n sleutel-rol in Leroux se internasionale beroemdheid en sy daaropvolgende verdwyning gespeel het. Leroux se status binne die Engelse literêre-stelsel berus tans hoofsaaklik op bestaande vertalings van sy romans, wat beperk in omvang en gehalte is. Leroux se “Engelse” reputasie neem as gevolg hiervan glad nie die sikliese eienskappe van sy fiksie in ag nie, bowenal sy oorkoepelende siklus van nege romans, wat die grondslag van Leroux se roem in Afrikaans vorm. Verskeie misvattings wat uit hierdie toestand voortspruit – veral die gedagte dat Leroux se skryfwerk apolities en “duister” is – word bevraagteken. Vernaamlik die werk van J. C. Kannemeyer wys daarop dat Leroux se kuns baie meer integraal en radikaal is as wat dit blyk binne die wanvoorstelling daarvan in Suid-Afrikaanse kritiek in Engels. ‘n Pleidooi word gemaak vir ‘n herwaardering van Leroux as 'n sentrale figuur in moderne Suid-Afrikaanse fiksie, vergelykbaar selfs met J.M. Coetzee. Verder word gepleit vir die behoefte aan nuwe vertalings van Leroux se werk, om sodoende 'n deeglike herwaardering moontlik te maak. Daarna volg 'n bespreking van die vertalingsproses van die kandidaat se nuwe vertaling van Sewe dae by die Silbersteins. 'n Reeks noukeurige beskouings wat die nuwe vertaling met die bestaande vertaling (Charles Eglington, 1964) vergelyk, wys daarop dat Eglington se vertaling kerneienskappe van Leroux se teks effektief verdoesel. Hierdie eienskappe, word aangevoer, is noodsaaklik vir 'n deeglike begrip van Leroux se teks. Die kandidaat bied ‘n wye analise oor hierdie eienskappe aan en voer ook aan dat sy nuwe vertaling die wese van Leroux se roman in ere herstel. Die tesis sluit af met 'n mise au point waarin die insigte wat bereik is deur die vertalingsproses voorgestel word as stof tot nadenke oor Leroux se belangrikheid in vandag se leefwêreld. Daar word vervolgens ook bewys dat Leroux se werk bestand is teen die onbruik waarin tydgebonde littérature engagée dikwels verval. Veral Sewe dae by die Silbersteins, en die nuwe vertaling wat hier aangebied word, bied 'n satiriese beskouing van subjektiwiteit onder apartheid-kapitalisme wat strook met huidige voorstellings van apartheid as metafoor vir globale kapitalisme.

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This is a study of the translation and reception of the Roman historian Livy in the sixteenth century in the British Isles. The thesis examines five major translations of Livy's history of Rome, the Ab Urbe Condita, into the English and Scottish vernaculars. The texts considered here span from the earliest extant translation of around 1533 to the first, full-scale translation published in 1600. By taking a broad view across the century, the thesis uncovers the multiple and versatile uses to which Livy was being put and maps out the major trends surrounding his reception. The first chapter examines Livy's initial reception into print in Europe, outlining the attempts of his earliest editors to impose a critical order onto his enormous work. The subsequent chapters consider the respective translations undertaken by John Bellenden, Anthony Cope, William Thomas, William Painter, and Philemon Holland. Each translation is treated as a case study and compared in detail with the Latin original, thereby revealing the changes Livy's history experienced through the process of translation. By locating these translations in the cultural and political contexts from which they emerged, this study reveals how Livy was exploited in some of the most pressing debates of the period, from arguments over women's apparel to questions of faith. The thesis also considers how these translations responded to the most recent developments in European scholarship on the Ab Urbe Condita and on classical history more generally. Livy's contribution to the development of Scottish historiography is also considered, both as a stylistic model and as a rich source of narrative material. Ultimately this thesis demonstrates that Livy played a fundamental though hitherto underexplored role in the development of vernacular literature and historiography in the British Isles.

This master's thesis comprises an English translation of Jacques Sternberg's "Si loin du monde ..." preceded by an introduction that addresses the translator's general theoretical approach to translation as well as an explanation and justification of specific choices made for this translation in particular. "Si loin du monde ..." is a short work of science fiction by Belgian author Jacques Sternberg that appeared in the collection Entre deux mondes incertains, published in 1957. It takes the form of a first-person narrative told from the perspective of an extra-terrestrial, who has been sent on a mission to study humanity and its environment and furtively make preparation for the arrival of his people on Earth. The section on theory sets out to find whether there exist absolute norms exterior to the subjectivity of the translator that regulate the act of translation. Three potential normative centers are proposed: text, author, and reader. The starting point when appraising text is the sourcier/cibliste dichotomy and the objection préjudicielle presented in Georges Mounin's Les belles infidèles. The objection préjudicielle is the claim that translation is theoretically impossible. The conclusion reached is that the text does not establish absolute norms of correspondence between the target text and the source text because there is no absolute meaning inherent in the text. When examining the author as a potential source of the norms of translation, Roland Barthe"s "La mort de l'auteur" is used to show that, since the meaning of a text is not ultimately determined by the author, neither can he be an absolute regulator of correspondence in translation. Finally, the reader is found to be a relative (not absolute) regulator of the norms of translation. This regulating role and the nature of its demands on the translator is explored through an application of the author/reader dialectic found in Sartre's Qu'est-ce que la littérature? It is concluded that there do not exist any absolute norms of translation exterior to the translator, and that the translator creates an aesthetic unity in the target text through adherence to norms that are ultimately founded in his own subjectivity.

The reception of the Huguenot poet Guillaume de Saluste Du Bartas' Semaines (1578, 1584 et seq.) is an important episode in early modern literary history for understanding relations between Scottish, English and French literature, interactions between contemporary reading and writing practices, and developments in divine poetry. This thesis surveys translations (Part I), allusions and quotations in prose (Part II) and verse imitations (Part III) from the period when English translations of the Semaines were being printed in order to identify historical trends in how readers absorbed and adapted the poems. Early translations show that the Semaines quickly acquired political and diplomatic affiliations, particularly at the Jacobean Scottish Court, which persisted in subsequent decades (Chapter 1). William Scott's treatise The Model of Poesy (c. 1599) and translations indicate how attractive the Semaines' combination of humanist learning and sacred rhetoric was, but the poems' potential appeal was only realized once Josuah Sylvester's Devine Weeks (1605 et seq.) finally made the complete work available in English (Chapter 2). Different communities of readers developed in early modern England and Scotland once this edition became available (Chapter 3), and we can observe how individuals marked, copied out, quoted and appropriated passages from their copies of the poems in ways dependent on textual and authorial circumstances (Chapter 4). The Semaines, both in French and in Sylvester's translation, were used as a stylistic model in late-Elizabethan playtexts and Zachary Boyd's Zions Flowers (Chapter 5), and inspired Jacobean poems that help us to assess Du Bartas' influence on early modern poetry (Chapter 6). The great variety of responses to the Semaines demonstrates new ways that intertextuality was a constituent feature of vernacular religious literature that was being read and written in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Britain.

Ce memoire est avant tout un travail de traduction. Le livre a traduire, Ma Vie, mon Cri de Rachida Yacoubi, est tres long (355 pages). 11 fallut beaucoup de travail, de revision et de discussion avec mes deux directrices pour finir la traduction. Je suis tres reconnaissante de leurs conseils et je tiens vivement a remercier Vanessa Everson et Carole Beckett. J'appris davantage en discutant certains problemes precis et epineux avec elles, qu'en etudiant la theorie de la traduction. Cette tache nous a meme diverti puisque la traduction est souvent comme un jeu stimulant si on se passionne pour les mots et I'expression exacte! En depit des difficultes associees a un changement de directrice, je profitai de deux points de vue, parfois differents, mais toujours interessants et enrichissants. L'aspect pratique de mon memoire fut renforce par les cours sur la theorie de la traduction (Translation 810, anime par le Professeur D.Z. van den Berg). L'activite de traduction est un art plutot qu'une science dans le sens que la traductrice est obligee de se servir de ses connaissances linguistiques (mesurables et ainsi scientifiques), mais surtout de son imagination afin de trouver le mot / la phrase juste pour recreer, pour ne pas dire reinventer, I'atmosphere et les emotions transmises par un autre1 . La traduction parfaite n'existe pas. C'est pourquoi j'ai employe le verbe «finir» au lieu de « perfectionner ». En effet, ce n'est peut-etre pas vraiment possible de « finir » une traduction, mais en fin de compte, la question du temps disponible s'impose. 11 me semble que Newmark exprime bien mon dilemme : « You can compare the translating activity to an iceberg: the tip is the translation - what is visible, what is written on the page - the iceberg, the activity, is all the work you do, often ten times as much again, much of which you do not even use. »2 En ce qui concerne ce memoire, c'est la qualite de la traduction meme de Ma Vie, mon Cri qui est donc d'une importance primordiale. D'oll, pour juger cette traduction, il est imperatif de se reterer au texte original.3 Dans I'introduction je peins le contexte general de Ma Vie, mon Cri et dans le commentaire j'expose 2 mon approche et mes raisonnements en tant que traductrice. Vu que j'etudiai la theorie de la traduction en anglais, et que la langue cible de la traduction est I'anglais, le commentaire est aussi en anglais. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2003.