TranscUlturAl (Journal)
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Sound and Sense – A Musical Look at Chinese Poetry in 1916
No full textThis essay examines two contributions related to “Chinese poetry” from Eunice Tietjens, an early editor of and contributor to the Chicago-based magazine Poetry. In the first, Tietjens uses western musical notation to transcribe the “tunes” of two Chinese scholars chanting a short poem. The second is a group of Tietjens’s own poetic sketches of the China she witnessed on her 1916 visit. Taken together, these projects provide a useful commentary on the translation of Chinese poetry in the early 20th century
Le «SARS» et les maux identitaires chinois. Néologismes, métissage et tradition de la traduction
No full textDans une Chine contemporaine engagée dans un très important renouveau du discours culturaliste, la langue et l\u27écriture, en tant que symboles essentialistes de l’identité chinoise, sont aussi l\u27objet d’enjeux politiques nationalistes. A partir de la querelle autour de la juste appellation à donner au virus du SARS, nous questionnons, dans une perspective historique, la dimension politique et idéologique des néologismes. Il s’agit surtout d’insister sur l’histoire transculturelle des concepts du monde intellectuel et culturel en Chine moderne, et de dépasser l’illusoire opposition discursive entre la posture universaliste et son double culturaliste.
Since the mid-1980s, China’s intellectual and political world has been prey to a strong cultural nationalism which has tended to contest or to deny modern history and culture. This paper is a case study which brings to the fore the linguistic quarrel concerning the SARS epidemic which spread over China and part of the world during the Winter of 2002-2003. By discussing this discourse which balances between national identity affirmation and integration in a globalized world, we will try to overcome the triviality of this linguistic quarrel by replacing it in a broader political and historical perspective. This paper aims at insisting on the transcultural history of the modern Chinese cultural and intellectual lexicon helping to overcome the dominant and false discursive opposition between a universalist position and its culturalist counterpart
The Unbearable Torment of Translation: Milan Kundera, Impersonation, and The Joke
No full textMilan Kundera, a Czech émigré writer, living in Paris and now writing in French, is (in)famous for his tight and obsessive authorial control. He has said many times that he did not trust translators to translate his works accurately and faithfully. The various translations of his novel Žert (The Joke) exemplify this point. The novel has been translated into English, French, and many other languages more than once, depending on Kundera’s dissatisfaction with a particular translation (which, at first, he would support). Thus, there followed a cascade of translations (namely in French and English) as Kundera would eventually become dissatisfied even with the latest “definitive” translated version. As he famously says in an interview regarding the 1968 French translation of Žert, “rage seized me”. From then on, Kundera showed displeasure at any translator who, however briefly, would impersonate the author and take some license in translating Kundera’s work. Further, Kundera decided that only his full authorial involvement in the process would ascertain “the same authenticity” of his translations as the original Czech works. Kundera thus becomes the omnipresent, omnipotent author, himself impersonating God controlling his own creation. Finally, Kundera takes extreme measures and translates Žert into French himself. The resulting translation surprised many – editing changes are plentiful but apparent only to those who can compare the original Czech text with Kundera’s own translation. Kundera’s stance is conflicting, as he denies creativity to other translators but as the auto-translator, Kundera freely rewrites, rather than just retranslates, his own works. By exploring the convoluted and complex history of translations of Kundera’s works, I will try to illuminate the reasons behind Kundera’s posture. I will support my discussion by analyzing not only well known Kundera’s statements, but also those less quoted which, as I have discovered, are rather crucial to understanding Kundera’s position
The other Side of the Coin of Lexical Borrowing from Arabic into English
No full textThe present paper investigates Arabic lexical borrowings in terms of the new signifieds accrued in the receptor language (English) drawing on Venuti’s (1998) notions of ‘domestication’ and ‘foreignization’. The paper shows that SL meanings are at loggerheads with those in the receptor language. The paper argues that lexical borrowings are consequence of cultural transfer in intercultural communication situations and they can be a double-edged sword. Whilst the shift from the original meaning(s) via borrowing may be considered a gain for the receptor language, it can do injustice to the source language
Formula and “Fixity” in South Slavic Oral Epics: A defense of South Slavic poetic verse against literary accusations of mechanicalism
No full textAs the South Slavic oral epic originated in a primary oral culture – a culture that is unaffected by literacy – and as it is composed through repertorial formulas and themes, it may find itself subject to misunderstanding by literary minds, particularly through accusations of mechanical composition. This paper aims to argue that an idea of “fixity,” with regards to the South Slavic oral epic’s formulas and themes, is flawed when one considers the culture from whence it came. I examine the necessity of formulaic repetition in the South Slavic oral culture of the 1930s-1950s, arguing that, without literacy and the possibility of record making, repetition was the only method through which their history and culture could be preserved.
Drawing from Albert Lord’s study of the South Slavic oral epic, this paper establishes that while still existing in a primary oral culture, South Slavic poets interiorize formulas and themes until they are synonymous with reflexive speech. In order to demonstrate this, this paper explores the way in which a South Slavic boy learns to perform. I examine John Miles Foley’s delineation of the South Slavic decameter, which the South Slavic boy must learn as the foundation of all future lines of verse. I also demonstrate the efficiency of this foundation by studying substitution systems in epic verse; the mastery of substitution results in an instantaneous composition of song that is only possible through the interiorization of its elements.
This paper then considers the term homeostasis, which in the case of this verse, refers to the obsolescence of irrelevant cultural matter. Using a case study, I analyze a singer’s substitution of obsolete themes and formulas with ones of then-contemporary relevance, arguing that the formulas easily adapt to change. The South Slavic oral epic is thus not mechanical, but a naturalized art form
Traduire jusqu’au point de non-pouvoir : approche de l’engagement blanchotien
No full textIn the early 60’s, Blanchot participated with a group of European intellectuals in the process of conceptualizing an international journal based on translation. In our intent to inquire into Blanchot’s approach of « engagement » in the course of the project, the present study will examine differences between Blanchot and Levinas in regards to the notion of « non-pouvoir », which directs the task of the translator towards the point of fascination or inspiration in Blanchot’s terms. The point of no-power opens possibilities to various modes of translations, questioning the limits of the subject-translator by challenging the proper form of the Original.
Notre intention ici est d’aborder, à partir de la conceptualisation d’une revue que M. Blanchot a créé avec d’autres intellectuels européens au début des années soixante, une réflexion sur l’engagement blanchotien, et de centrer notre analyse sur la différence de la notion de « non-pouvoir » entre Blanchot et Levinas, le point de fascination, ou d’« inspiration » pour reprendre les termes de Blanchot. Le concept de traduction sera l’occasion pour nous d’interroger la capacité du sujet-traducteur à remettre en cause l’idée du sens propre d’un texte
Carnality and Eroticism in the History of Russian Literature: Toward a Genealogy of a Discourse of Silence
No full textThe essay explores traditions of expressing the body and sexuality in Russian culture and literature. The main strategy that many authors used was that of silence ignoring (“keeping silent about”) the topic altogether. Alternatively, others have adhered to burlesques, in which an author presents carnality and eroticism in a deliberately ludicrous, grotesque way. The essay defines three historical determinants for the “strategy of silence” and the “strategy of burlesque” marking the history of Russia\u27s literary representation. The first is a set of profound differences between Western and Russian medical science, sexology and psychopathology. The second is a divide in perceptions of sexuality between Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox traditions. The third is embodied in some of the earliest canonical representations of sexuality in literary history, including the Archpriest Avvakum’s Life (1682)
Multiple im/person/aliz/ations: Four Attempts to \u27get under the skin\u27 of Poets
No full textI have been actively translating for about twenty years. Looking back, I now realize that it made translation easier when I tried to ‘become’ the original writer: I was more successful when I asked myself, “what would they have written if they had had my knowledge of English?” and, for poetry, when faced with the clash between the demands of form and content, “which way would they bend?’
Rather than attempt any theorizing, I propose to relate my efforts to get under the skin of a number of poets, for example: one, surviving the siege of Leningrad; another, pioneering multiple poetic genres in early 19th-century Central Europe; a third who (successfully? I am not sure) aimed to capture the horror of a Nazi atrocity in Vienna; a fourth who became the most popular author of Slovene poetry for children by temporarily shedding his own adulthood. Also, I will add my recent attempts to capture, in Slovene, the style of children in war-torn Northern Uganda who are writing to the sponsors who are paying their school fees in a charming but not always clear fractured English (which they are just learning): is it possible, is it expedient to pretend to be such a child in order to transfer their thoughts into Slovene?
It certainly helps to have been a teacher. Teachers are, I believe, better teachers if they can act the roles of others, and translators can perhaps be better translators if they can ‘become’ other people. Anyway, it makes for a more interesting life