Dmitryeva, L. P.

Gorbyleva, Diana R.

English

Tomsk State University Repository

Министерство образования и науки РФНациональный исследовательский Томский государственный университетФилологический факультет ТГУАКТУАЛЬНЫЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ ЛИНГВИСТИКИ И ЛИТЕРАТУРОВЕДЕНИЯСборник материалов III (XVII) Международной конференции молодых ученых (18—23 апреля 2016 г.)Выпуск 17Издательство Томского университета 2016601Dmitryeva L. P., Gorbyleva D. R.SOUND EFFECTS IN SCIENCE-FICTION LITERATURE: DOUGLAS ADAMS’ THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXYThis research is supported by the Russian Federation President grant for young scholars support MD-4756.2016.6.The interconnection between the audio code and science-fiction main characteristics which influences all levels of a literary piece of work is analysed and attributed. The purpose of this research is to investigate how this connection is implemented in the system of the science-fiction genre and how it is related to the text itself. The first phase of the project involves the research of the interconnection of sound and its characteristics in the text. The final phase refers to the analysis of the revealed points in the chosen novel. This research looks at The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams1, a well-known English writer and dramatist, and its Russian translations by V. Bakanov2 and V. Philippov3. The work performs a great variety of sound effects and songs. Moreover, it also contains the main features of science-fiction including truthfulness, technology. For the first time the paper shows the overview and the comparative analysis of the parts of this novel where the realisation of this connection can be found.Keywords: science-fiction genre, sound effects, intermediality, Douglas Adams, comparative studies.Introduction: Science fiction is a part of mass culture, and an essential sphere of cross-cultural communication. Nowadays science fiction has become one of the most popular genres as every year new sci-fi movies are released; there are many plays and radio plays based on sci-fi novels. Sound effects are one of the main components of a text. They evoke elements of a language picture, influence feelings and emotions of the reader and associate a text with images.The sci-fi genre is a genre that describes events in an unreal space and time and where the extraordinary is created by material forces —  by nature or by man through science and technology. Hence, it should be noted that science fiction has two main components.Firstly, for the reader to believe in what is actually not true, the author uses the characteristic of truthfulness. It creates a true-to-life atmosphere, clarifies and supports actions within unreal events.Secondly, the plot is filled with various technical objects that perform a particular function: they create a bright image of the future world. Some inventions have become clichés, for instance: flying ships, holograms or robots. When the author creates completely new gadgets, describes their functions, external properties, this new invention is a self-valuable object, a contribution to the sci-fi culture, and a characteristic of technology working with the technical side of the plot is used.602Sound effects are connected with these categories as their functions are similar: the creation of a bright and complete image. However, due to the fact that they are incorporated in different areas the author uses different types of sound effects. Let us see how they interact on the basis of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a novel by Douglas Adams, and its translations by V. I. Bakanov and V. E. Philippov.Initially, the plot of this novel was created as a radio play. This fact shows that the action is dynamic and full of music and sound. In addition, this book could be referred to different sub-genres of sci-fi though for the research it is important to mention a specific genre, the “space opera”, a subgenre of science fiction that emphasises space warfare and melodramatic adventure. The term “space opera” means that there must be a lot of sound incorporations. The following example shows how music serves the ordinary function as a background for radio news. It is obvious that this element is to increase the truthfulness of the story as in reality music is set before each news broadcast. Here the author describes the “gunk music that flooded” through the Ship, and this epithet creates a liquid and unpleasant sound effect; and the fact that it is a news background appeals to the perspective readers’ experience.Original text Translation V.I. Bakanov V.E. PhilippovA loud clatter of gunk music flooded…Громкий лязг из липкой музыки хлынул…Волны легкой до невесомости музыки наполняли.Bakanov totally omits this description and the text looses both the cate-gory of truthfulness and the sound effect. In his turn, Philippov preserves the description though he associates music with air. The atmosphere of this part is absolutely different and the effect of a liquid, disgusting clatter of music is lost.The next example demonstrates how Douglas Adams tells about the tradi-tions of the Galaxy inhabitants and particularly those of Orion, he adds some music elements like “An Orion song”. Here we can assume that the song is an essential element in the process of a true-to-life atmosphere creation. In the text he cites the words of the song as a confirmation that other extraterrestri-al civilisations have their cultural heritage like we do. Moreover, it shows the hard labor of Orion miners. The author uses neutral words, though there is a grammatical mistake of double negation (“Oh, don’t give me none more of the Old Janx Spirit”) that shows that the song was performed by low-educat-ed people. Both translators have decided to compensate this mistake by lex-ical transformations. Bakanov catches the main idea though makes it more visible by adding colloquialisms as “башка”, “плесните”. Philippov uses 603more colloquial words like “запляшет”, “сдохну” that evoke associations among Russian readers with traditional songs performed by ordinary peo-ple while they worked.However, when using the category of technology, the author implies a different type of sound effects —  a sound situation. It is neither musical nor singing insertions, but a set of sounds emitted by various gadgets. To create a bright and coherent image of a technical object its audio description should be given: for instance, we can recall the situation when the characters used a device that allows hitchhiking and transferring them to spaceships. The author gives a mix of different sounds that allows the readers to plunge into the situation of teleportation, to understand how the device works and what people hear when using it.Original text Translation V.I. Bakanov V.E. PhilippovWild yowling noises of pipes and strings seared through the windДикий вой дудок, и звуки струн пронеслись сквозь ветерВзвыли волынки и задребезжали струны на ветру <…>As for Philippov, he keeps the whole description and the sound effects are preserved adequately. Bakanov does not translate this part and the whole description of teleportation is absent. As a result, the device does not exist in the translation, hence the reader will never find out how the characters appear on board without using any technical equipment.Another example demonstrates the sound in the moment when the characters landed a mystic planet Magrathea where an enormous supercomputer named Deep Thought was established. To show the palpable atmosphere of the desolated planet and the voice of Deep Thought the author cites their accurate description.Original text Translation V.I. Bakanov V.E. PhilippovAt which point a strange and inexplicable soundthrilled.Вдруг странный и необъяснимый звук внезапно задрожал.Тут в рубке родился странный звук.И тут же рубку заполнил странный, необъяснимый звук.Philippov preserves the chain of synonyms creating a plausible description of Deep Thought’s voice, though Bakanov uses only one adjective “стран-ный” that substitutes all lexical elements, hence the sound effects are lost.604In conclusion, sound effects in science fiction interact with truthfulness and technology; however, they work with different types of the code. The musical code in the framework of the characteristics of truthfulness becomes a tool in the process of creating a credible reality. In its turn technology in-teracts with a different type of the audio code —  a sound situation relating to the descriptive level of inventions and gadgets technical aspects. Having ana-lysed the translations of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy3, I can conclude that Bakanov omits some parts, which results in the loss of both character-istics, and Philippov preserves the sound in the text but sometimes changes the image of it. Such changing in the sound effect descriptions may trans-form the whole atmosphere of the text.Endnotes1. Adams D. The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy. — London: Pan Books, 1979.2. Adams D. Avtostopom po galaktike [The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy] / Trans. by V. Bakanov. — Moscow: AST, 1997.3. Adams D. Putevoditel’ khitch-khajkera po Galaktike [The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy] / Trans. by V. Philippov. — Kiev: Moj drug fantastika, 1995.Duleba MaximROBERT FROST’S DESIGN: A BRIDGE FROM ROMANTICISM TO MODERNISMThe purpose of the following article is to discuss the poetry of Roberts Frost. The key issue addressed in the article is the extent to which Frost’s poetry is based on the values of Romanticism and to what extent might Robert Frost be considered a “modernist”. An analysis of Frost’s Design, which is arguably among his most famous sonnets, is carried out in order to study the manner in which Robert Frost combines Romantic and Modernist features in his poetry.Keywords: Robert Frost, American literature, Modernism, Romanticism.Robert Frost is one of the most prominent poets of the 20th-century American literature, famous not only for his pastoral depictions of American rural life. He published Design, which arguably belongs among his most famous son-nets, in 1922. This was only four years after the end of World War I, which brought about immense frustration and destruction of the humanist ideal-isms. These negative feelings and processes certainly had a major impact on literature, too. Design was seen as a “philosophical joke” by numerous lit-erary critics, and led Reuben A. Brower to state: “Few poems by Frost are more perfectly and surely composed, few where the figure in the mind and in the ear are better matched”1.

Sound effects in science-fiction literature: Douglas Adams' The hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy

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Sound effects in science-fiction literature: Douglas Adams' The hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy

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