Analysis of translated tropes: metaphors, similes & analogies in a case study of the English & Dutch translations of the Russian poet Alexander Galich

Since Even-Zohar and Toury introduced a target-culture approach in translation studies, research focus turned to the effect of the target text on the reader. Consequently, it is, among other things, important to study the translation of typical elements of literary texts and their potential effect. This paper concentrates on the translation of a certain types of tropes dealing with comparison: metaphors, similes & analogies. Three categories of these tropes were selected for this paper: (i) lexicalized, (ii) conventional and (iii) private, because each of them requires a different strategy from linguistic and literary points of view in translation. This paper contains an analysis of the metaphors, similes and analogies used by a Russian poet Alexander Galich, which were translated from Russian into English and Dutch. The aim of the paper is twofold: (i) on the one hand, to look how the above-mentioned tropes were rendered in existing translations and (ii) on the other hand, to explore how they could have been rendered in a potential translation and to compare both versions. Besides, since tropes can be creative and decorative, the analyzed tropes are examined in order to establish which of them are truly relevant for translation and which are not in order to avoid possible overtranslating. Finally, conditions that favour or hamper trope translation are discussed

From civic choice to civic voice: the way to dissidence of the Russian poet Alexander Galich

From civic choice to civic voice: the way to dissidence of the Russian poet Alexander Galich Lidia Rura, Ghent University College, Belgium. Becoming a dissident writer has never been a simple choice because it automatically resulted in persecution and severing the contact with the broad audience that is quite essential for an author. In the Russian literary landscape of the communist era circumstances driving someone to dissidence varied from personal situation like with Alexander Solzhenitsyn and family history in case of Bulat Okudzhava to pure principles and a well-considered civic choice like with Alexander Galich. This paper analyzes the reasons that drove a successful film producer and script writer to exchange his comfortable life for a dangerous existence of a dissident just because he decided to use his voice to cry out the pain of the oppressed millions. This step to dissidence, made for no obvious reason, enraged the regime and caused much misunderstanding among Galich's entourage. The topic was extremely important to Galich, who he tried to explain his actions in many ways, which is confirmed by the fact that the issue arises in every third poem he wrote. In order to try and understand author’s civic choice several sources are treated in this paper. First of all, poems by Galich, in which he approaches the issue, which comprise the poems (i) pertaining to his own situation, (ii) those mentioning historical dissident figures, whose example served as an inspiration, (iii) those containing examples of fellow writers and (iv) those, where a matter of civic choice is a part of the general issues such as conscience and moral principles. Since a poet does not speak directly in his work but addresses the reader through a narrator, more non-literary material of biographical and autobiographical nature is analyzed too. The objective of the paper is to (i) explore the author’s motivation, (ii) to give a hind-sight evaluation of the made step and (iii) analyze its historical impact

Ingrepen van de vertaler: een typologie van weglatingen en toevoegingen in poëtische vertaling Russisch-Nederlands

Omissions and additions are countered among the most invasive translation techniques. In this contribution we explore just how invasive they are and how often they occur in poetic translation. In search for answers an empiric study has been carried out on a small Russian-Dutch corpus comprising translated poetry of the Russian dissident poet Alexander Galich. The study also yields a typology for omissions and additions based on the cases found in the corpus. Trends concerning omissions and additions of repetitions have been discussed separately. The research shows that both translation techniques are actually less invasive than one would think. Omissions occur less often than additions and many omissions appear to be relatively neutral. In case of invasive omissions the translators are more prepared to sacrifice information rather than make the text more implicit. Additions with explicitation occur just as often as those with additional information. The use of both translation techniques may be motivated by poetic form, the translator’s personal preference but the main goal is to optimize the accessibility of the target text. A separate typology has been proposed for the omissions and additions of repetitions that mostly serve to preserve the source-text style or to boost lexical variation