Compulsive Translators: Are Narrators in Javier Marías's Novels Beguiled by Language (original) (raw)
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Estudios del Observatorio / Observatorio Studies, 2022
Recognized by critics both at home and abroad, Javier Marías has one of the greatest international reputations of Spain's authors. In this article, his presence is explored through the examination of his fictional world's creative origins, his foreign influences, and the impact of literary translation on his work. Through an exploration of his presence both in the media and in American academia, the place of his novels in translation within the Anglo-Saxon world is examined: which aspects of his work are of interest outside the Hispanic world? How well-known are his texts in the United States? Are they taught in the great North American universities?
Review of Narratives of Mistranslation: Fictional Translators in Latin American Literature
Translation Today, Volume 17, Issue 2, 2023
The Western etymology of the term ‘translation’ has contributed to the development of certain enduring notions in the field, including the notions of ‘faithfulness’ and an excessive preoccupation with the concept of an ‘original’. The term ‘translation’ originates from the Latin language, specifically from the verb translatio, which translates to “to bear/carry across” (Bassnet 1998:38). The traditional concept of translation necessitates the translator to remain unquestionably faithful to the original text while carrying its meaning from the source language to the target language. Being an intricate art of conveying meaning and intent across a binary divide, translation enables communication, fosters cultural exchange and bridges gaps between distinct linguistic communities. Due to the interaction of cultures and languages, the potential for mistranslation and error arises. Contrary to the traditional definition, Kripper advocates the role of the translator as an actor who is playing the more foundational and fundamental part rather than being invisible. However, she not only negates the image of the translator as a bridge between cultures and languages but also questions the fluid transnational discourse in translation. Kripper further extends her focus to the relevance of the translator’s ‘bad translation’ or the flawed translation, supporting Lawrence Venuti’s statement, “Translation is radically transformative” (2019: 176). Her book “Narratives of Mistranslation” destabilizes the traditional conceptual notion of translation and supports mistranslation as an intentional and conscious strategy to translate, which further acts as the resistance against the power dynamics of authorial authority that governs the translation practice. This book is also a part of Jacob Blakesley’s and Duncan Large’s literary translations series entitled Routledge Studies in Literary Translation.
Perspectives Studies in Translation Theory and Practice, 2018
Through the comparison of two short stories and a novel, this article examines the transgression of the deontological code of language interpreters in the fictional realm. The three literary works that will be analysed portray unusual situations in which interpreters show different levels of faithfulness to the source text, producing very different outcomes across the different stories. This article will consider Walter Benjamin's views on the afterlife of the message and Mikhail Bakhtin's dialogism in order to examine these transgressions and their implications, exploring, throughout analysis of the fictional texts, notions such as the independence of the target text from the source text and the ownership of messages. Framed within the studies on 'transfiction', this analysis will focus on three Spanish literary texts by two well-established contemporary writers: Javier Marías and Almudena Grandes. ARTICLE HISTORY
Review Essay: New Visibilities in Latin American Translation Studies
Chasqui, 2023
Review of: Cleary, Heather. The Translator’s Visibility: Scenes from Contemporary Latin American Fiction. Bloomsbury, 2021. Gómez, Isabel C. Cannibal Translation: Literary Reciprocity in Contemporary Latin America. Northwestern UP, 2023. Kripper, Denise. Narratives of Mistranslation: Fictional Translators in Latin American Literature. Routledge, 2023.
Lee en ESPAÑOL Through Skype and from his basement in Kensington, Maryland, Sergio Waisman lets us take a peek behind the curtain into the working process of a translator. After having given voice to Ricardo Piglia in English for over twenty years, he reveals what he calls "the scene of translation," one that most often is shrouded in mystery, where the translator practices what one might call his or her dark arts. It's in the scene of translation-in that vague, ambiguous space of the multiplicity of tongues and texts-where the unbridled potential of meaning and associations is opened. In that space, the translator has before him or herself, not only both cultural and linguistic contexts (the source and the target) in mind-in the lab of that scene of translation-but also both historical and political contexts. While by definition this would seem untranslatable, he does translate it, and he does it quite successfully. His latest book, Target in the Night, the translation of Ricardo Piglia's Blanco nocturno, was published by Deep Vellum in 2015. Here's more about it: Denise Kripper: Were you thinking about translating him the first time you read Piglia? LANGUAGES ESPAÑOL CURRENT ISSUE Number 1
TTR Traduction, terminologie, rédaction, 2018
Pulitzer-prize winning author Junot Díaz stages culture clashes in his work by dramatizing the linguistic tension between English and Spanish. This strategy, which he calls “linguistic simultaneity” (code-switching), is central in his fiction because it expresses his Latino identity, and it is artistically and politically significant. Translators who wish to recreate his texts for another readership are forced to rethink what translation is and thus to consider new paradigms, since code-switching defies the traditional conception of translation as the transposition from one closed linguistic system to another. Translations into one of the languages that make up the fictional universe of the source text (in this case, Spanish) are especially challenging. Focusing on the extent to which translators transpose the linguistic simultaneity of Díaz’s source texts, this paper explores the possible reader responses to strategies used to maintain or downplay linguistic tension in the target texts. A comparison of two translations into Spanish of Diaz’s short stories “The Sun, The Moon, The Stars” and “Otravida, Otravez” from This is How You Lose Her (2012) will illustrate how linguistic simultaneity is recreated.
This paper aims to explore the differences and similarities between translating into Spanish and into Galician, focusing on translation policy and the relationship between translation and nationalism. Literary translation into Galician, a minor language, is argued to face the power situation of translation into Spanish, a major language. To illustrate this point, translations into Galician and Spanish of some current English and American novels have been studied. The analysis focuses on identifying the translation strategies used by translators so as to check whether Schleiermacher’s concept of foreignization applies ( On the Different Methods of Translation , 1813). He maintains that a national culture can be formed by refi ning its language through foreignizing translation. Thus, translation into Galician is supposed to challenge Spanish hegemony by enriching Galician language and culture.
THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF SPANISH TRANSLATION STUDIES
2019
Written by leading experts in the area, The Routledge Handbook of Spanish Translation Studies brings together original contributions representing a culmination of the extensive research to date within the field of Spanish Translation Studies. The Handbook covers a variety of translation related issues, both theoretical and practical, providing an overview of the field and establishing directions for future research. It starts by looking at the history of translation in Spain, the Americas during the colonial period and Latin America, and then moves on to discuss well-established areas of research such as literary translation and audiovisual translation, at which Spanish researchers have excelled. It also provides state-of-the-art information on new topics such as the interface between translation and humour on the one hand, and the translation of comics on the other. This Handbook is an indispensable resource for postgraduate students and researchers of translation studies. Roberto A. Valdeón is Professor in English Studies at the University of Oviedo, Spain. África Vidal is Professor of Translation at