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Translation of poetry as homicide, with reference to Anna Akhmatova's 'Last toast'

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / The objective of this dissertation is to provide a critical examination of poetry translation, using as a framework the notion that translation of poetry is comparable to an act of murder or homicide. Constructs pertaining to detective fiction are used as a basis to expose critical theories and commentary on poetry translation, which validate the comparison, taking into account the integrity of the poetic text, the context in which it exists, and the identity (constructed or real) of the poet. Four published translations, by different authors, into English of Anna Akhmatova’s poem Posledniy tost (‘The Last Toast’) are analysed in detail to demonstrate the validity of the argument and to attempt to review and quantify the loss of a poem’s essential and vital qualities as a result of translation.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uct/oai:localhost:11427/11071
Date January 2012
CreatorsHiggs, Richard
ContributorsHambidge, Joan
PublisherUniversity of Cape Town, Faculty of Humanities, Department of English Language and Literature
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeMaster Thesis, Masters, MA
Formatapplication/pdf

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