THE
8TH CONGRESS OF THE NIGERIAN INSTITUTE
OF TRANSLATORS AND INTERPRETERS : ABUJA 7-8 AUG 2008 LITERARY
TRANSLATION AS REWRITING
(Paper
presented by Dr S.E Osazuwa, AAU, Ekpoma/Uniben)
Introduction
- In the days of Shakespeare and the Elizabethans, even up to
the times of Molière, a lot of works were produced, especially in the dramatic
arts and poetry. In those periods, writing was generally done in ink with a pen
or ordinary feather, in long rolls of well kept manuscripts. Shakespeare wrote
almost exclusively for England and the English audience, while Molière’s
readers and audiences were mainly in France, apart from a few outsiders who had
acquired foreign languages. Towards the end of the last century, globalization
has so expanded national literatures beyond national boundaries that it has
become even difficult to identify some literary productions with particular
nations. Technology has made it possible to read other works on- line and on
the internet. And with the development of expertise in translation, the
Americans now read Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, etc, while the French can
now appreciate George Orwell, Ernest Hemingway and other American writers by
reading them in French. Literary translation therefore, in no small way, helps
to nurture a type of crossbreed of cultures throughout the world by making the
socio-cultural contents of literary works available to others in their own
languages. But in order to do this successfully, the translator must, apart
from decoding the language of the original work, make some extra effort to
adapt the translated work to suit the socio-cultural sensibilities of the users
of the target language.
DEFINITION
As long as language bears the cultural stamp of a given
people and since the narrative or discourse, proverbs or songs to be found in a
literary work is enveloped in that culture, the job of the literary translator
must be more of a socio-cultural adaptation than a linguistic transposition.
Let me dare define translation here as the rendition and adaptation of a
written text in a different language. By extension, literary translation is the
rendition and adaptation of a literary text into a different socio-cultural and
linguistic environment. The translated copy is usually called a version. Hence
we have for instance the French version of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart as
Le monde s’effondre ; the German version as Okonwo, and the
English version of Mongo Beti’s Une vie de boy as The House Boy,
etc.
In a wider context, if translations were to be exact copies
of the original, then there would be no need for anyone to look for the
so-called original versions of texts in order to resolve some controversial
nuance or find out what may have been meant by certain expressions, concepts or
phrases. For example, those who usually interpret Christ’s penultimate word on
the Cross, « It is finished » to mean « the assignment or
mission has been accomplished », must have been inspired by the original
Hebrew version in that direction. Otherwise, there is nothing in “It is
finished” per se to suggest that traditional interpretation. Indeed, many a
conservative has always preferred books in the original language, believing
that translations are always approximations of the original. But in the current
era of globalization and massive productions and consumption of texts, it has
become imperative that other linguistic groups have access to versions of
socio-cultural products and scientific breakthroughs for a complete and rapid
enrichment and cross fertilization of ideas. We tend to take for granted the
immense behind-the-scene labour which make it possible for the Germans, the Russians,
the French, the Slovaks and the Danes or the Chinese to access the latest
information on the most current English-based breakthroughs in Science and
Technology, Literature and Literary Theory, Economic theory, History or
Anthropology in their own languages. If such breakthroughs occur in French or
in these other languages, they are almost immediately available in English. We
are a bit lucky in West Africa that literature is limited to French and
English, for now, thanks colonialism. Today’s European Union has to contend so
far with about twenty-six languages, all participating without hindrance in the
Union’s cultural, political, and socio-economic activities on a daily basis. A
glance at any edition of Euronews or Eurosport will leave no one
in doubt about the level of interpretation and translation going on.
However, the translation of a purely factual document as in the Pure and Applied Sciences, History,
newspaper reports and reports from research, etc is not quite the same as in
literary and other art works whose overall output is usually based on
impression, not factual interpretations and data. This paper sets out to
demonstrate that baring all possible cases of acceptable deviations as well as
some tolerable gains and losses, the translated version of a literary work
could even surpass the original in aesthetic value and therefore, rating and
reception. In this regard, Amos Tutuola’s l’Ivrogne de la brousse has
become more popular in the francophone world than The Palmwine Drinkard
has been in Nigeria and the Anglophone world.
THE TRANSLATOR AS WRITER
The literary translator needs a minimum gift of creativity
and imagination in order to be able to meaningfully recreate somebody’s
original art work into another version. The American Heritage Dictionary of
the English Language(1975 : 1424) defines version as a translation, ….
An adaptation of a work of art or literature into another medium or
style.. a variation of any prototype, etc. Version in a broad sense here is so
central to the concept of standard and well known texts that it often takes a
capital V, as in the King James’ Version of the Bible. Therefore, if the
translator of a literary work has to take a look at the original work,
transform, adapt and produce a version or even dub, then he is re-creating and
re-writing the same thing, without loosing sight of the original context and
environment at any moment. He must therefore bear the qualities of a writer,
except that he cannot claim original authorship. He can legitimately claim second
authorship, or the author of his version. And this carries a great
responsibility.
So, in spite of the problems posed by cultural words and
expressions, and in spite of apparent in-translatability of ideas that may be
so foreign to the target language, that they even seem to lack equivalents, we
can transpose skillfully and rewrite imaginatively, such that the new reader
will not bother about lexico-cultural details as long as a picture of the
universe of the novel or play, as the case may be, is effectively portrayed. What we are saying
about the translator’s freedom or free hand is only possible with or relevant
to the overall decor. The same cannot be true of the main story, which remains
the major frame of the work and an eternal property of the original author.
Here we must not lose sight of the fact that many readers of Versions of
literary works have never had any idea about the so-called original. Hence, for
millions of readers of l’ivrogne de la brousse, it is l’ivrogne de la
brousse de Tutuola. They have not given a thought to the concept of the
palmwine drinkard.
THE RIDDLE OF TITLES AND TITLING
The problem of what suitable title to superpose on a work of
art, a book, a write-up, a piece of poetry or even a thesis, especially in
literature, to effectively portray the overall, exact message is a perennial
problem for any one who claims to be an author of any category. Some writers
effectively work from a title which descends upon them by some rare
inspiration. Others receive an inspiration on a subject matter, sit down and
write and develop it over times. But even after scribbling a book-size
material, sometimes running into hundreds of pages, the title remains elusive.
At this stage he may battle between scores of alternatives which cross his mind
at a time. It could really be quite harrowing to settle for the most catching,
the most representative of the content of the book or piece of writing and the
best for all times.
In this regard, the dilemma of the translator is different,
greater and double. The ideal title to affix on somebody else’s original work
is more of a riddle. In the first place he cannot be in a position to be
inspired, as long as the original idea is not his. He must sacrifice time to
find out for instance why Achebe settled for Things Fall Apart or why
Sony Labou Tansi decided on L’Anté-peuple for his third major novel.
Secondly, and in terms o f procedure and methodology, he must not work from the
text to the title, else he misses the overall message. Indeed, the overall
message is embedded in the title. Henri Mitterand (1979:90), after a careful
study of the novels of Guy des Car, a famous contemporary French novelist,
concluded that titles of novels are
compressed high levels of ideological position1. What one is saying
here is that the title of a literary work, whether in poetry or drama, or in
the novel, is big source of insight to the original author’s overall message
and intention. A good translator must take note of this fact as he sets out to
translate any such work. All the same, in the context of our theory of
rewriting, the title should serve as guide because a good combination of the
original title and the content can well give the translator a new insight to
even improve on the output without deviating from either the milieu, the
context or the décor. In that case, the translated copy could well become more
popular than the original as we have seen above in the case of Tutuola’s The
Palmwine Drinkard .
THE PROBLEM OF
EQUIVALENTS
Many linguists do agree with the principle that any language
can express any idea or any concept if it has to, meaning that as long as those
ideas exist or come into existence, there will be words or expressions to
denote or connote them. Georges Mounin (1963 : 180) does not agree less in
saying that every cognitive reference
and its classification must find an equivalent in any existing language2.
Of course Mounin was quick to specify a particular type of reference, the
cognitive, having to do with straight knowledge, easily discernible. Just like
one word or name-titles or noun-phrase ones like Oliver Twist, Jane
Eyre, Macbeth, The Bridge, etc. What about the affective
areas of human behaviour as well as abstract things ? If equivalents were
absolute and reliable, how do we reconcile building a castle in the air
with construire un château en Espagne ? Apart from socio-cultural
and linguistic differences, the different races and peoples of the world have
other distinctive marks like colour, behaviour, world view and other
characteristics like architectural design and building patterns. A typical
American dog would be different in shape and size from a Spanish dog. A good
literary translator must consider these behavioral patterns and attitudes of
the users of the translated version and decide whether Achebe’s Girls at War
would be better in the francophone world as Filles en guerre or femmes
en guerre. Jean de Grandsaigne has repeatedly been criticized for using femmes
instead of filles.But one tends to believe that femmes
would be more generally acceptable in French, for the world of women covers
girls. Moreover, Achebe had used the word amazons in the text which just girls might not portray
fully.
Many scholars have at different times criticized the translation of Things Fall Apart
even as Le monde s’effondre, meaning literally “the world crumbles”,
starting from the title, which Arowolo (1982) describes as misrepresentation.
However, since then, a lot of progress has been made in the area of translation
and its proffessionalisation. And as argued above, literary translation cannot
be equated with that which deals with scientific and factual texts. To the
extent that “le monde s’effondre” has been able to survive as French equivalent
for Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and enjoyed legitimacy for several
decades, it has successfully filled up a vacuum, transmitting the message of
the novel to millions of French and francophone readers. Even then, the Ibo
country of Umuofia and environs belonged to pre-colonial Igbo nation which knew
no other world than the Igbo world. That world crumbled with the advent of the
white man and his new Christian values.
But that is not to say that very bad translations do not
still circulate around the globe, unknown to the regulatory and professional
bodies. In trying to resolve the dilemma, Osazuwa (1992 : 115 offered the
following advice :
In spite of the above problem however, we must recognize
that translation is a painstaking and rather unmotivated rewriting, with the
translator being in the dilemma of being marginalized between being a creator
and an interpreter. ……They are legitimate versions which could sometimes be
more interesting and even more successful than the original. . . .
It is gratifying to note that most translators now work
closely with their authors in order to minimize divergences.
All the same, this is not to say that very
bad translations do not still circulate around, unnoticed by the professional
and regulatory bodies.
CONCLUSION
Even though the translator of a novel, a
play or any type of poetry cannot lay claim to the inspiration or even the
creativity of the work he translates, let alone full authorship, we must not
fail to recognize his utility in the new world now connected in a worldwide web
(www) of information through the internet explosion, desktop and electronic
publishing. The literary translator stands out above many other professionals
in the pursuit of a global culture. Rapid diffusion or circulation of
translated works no longer poses any problem. And with the rapid growth of the
entertainment industry in terms of films, home videos and other packaged
multi-media programmes, unlimited avenues are opened to the translator.
However, in order to succeed and be appreciated, he needs to sharpen his wits,
broaden his imagination and sense of creativity. Above all, he must be prepared
to fit into the feeling and thinking and vision of the producer of the original
work. He is no longer just a translator but a writer, a producer and an
artiste. We borrow the last word from
Richard Harnay in one of John Buchan’s’ classics, TheThirty-Nine
Steps : « The secret of playing a part is to think yourself into
it. You would never succeed, at least, for long, unless you were able to
convince yourself that you were it. ».