On Aboriginal Sufferance: A Process Model of Poetic Translation

Francis R. Jones
Abstract

This paper presents an empirical model of the processes involved in translating poetry. I suggest three main stages: Understanding, Interpretation and Creation. The Understanding stage involves close ST analysis. At the Interpretation stage the translator works item by item, though with continual reference to ST and TT. An item may participate in one or more textual structures; hence it may be said to carry a number of marked valent features marking its role in the various structures. Valent features may be weighted differently depending on the importance of their structure to the image or the text. I suggest five main strategies of equivalence: Transference—TT item = ST item; Convergence/Divergence—TT item covers larger/smaller semantic space than ST item, but valency remains constant; Improvisation—TT feature is different from ST feature but has similar poetic role; Abandonment of a low-weight for a high-weight feature; Estrangement—equivalent retains an "untranslated" ST feature. The Creation stage is that of fashioning the target text as an artefact valid in target-culture terms. This informs and is informed by choices made during the Interpretation phase.

Table of contents

In this essay my aim is not to provide a theory of meaning transfer between languages in the abstract, but rather to explore the process of "recreativity"—in other words, to examine and formalise the strategies used by the skilled translator when creating a new text along the model of an existing one.

Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price. Direct PDF access to this article can be purchased through our e-platform.

References

Bassnett-McGuire, Susan
1980Translation Studies. London: Methuen.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
De Beaugrande, Robert
1978Factors in a Theory of Poetic Translating. Assen/Amsterdam: Van Gorcum.Google Scholar
Dizdar, Mak
1973Kameni spavač. Mostar: Prva književna komuna.Google Scholar
Hartmann, Reinhard R.K.
1980Contrastive Textology. Heidelberg: Julius Groos.Google Scholar
1986 “How do Translators Use Dictionaries? Some Research Priorities”. The Jerome Quarterly I:4. 10–13.Google Scholar
Jakobson, Roman
1960 “Linguistics and Poetics”. Roman Jakobson. Language in Literature. Harvard: Belknap 1987.Google Scholar
[ p. 199 ]
Krings, Hans P.
1986Was in den Köpfen von Übersetzern vorgeht: Eine empirische Untersuchung zur Struktur des Übersetzungsprozesses an fortgeschrittenen Französischlernern. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.Google Scholar
Kupriyanov, Vyacheslav
1982Žyzn’ idët. Moscow: Sovetskij pisatel’.Google Scholar
Kupriyanov, Vyacheslav/Francis R. Jones
Forthcoming. In Anyone’s Tongue: Selected Poems of Vyacheslav Kupriyanov. London: Forest.
Kusters, Wiel
1983Kwelrijm. Amsterdam: Querido.Google Scholar
Kusters, Wiel/various
translators Forthcoming An Ear to the Ground: Selected Poems of Wiel Kusters Amsterdam Bridges
Lalić, Ivan V.
1969Izabrane i nove pesme. Belgrade: Srpska književna zadruga.Google Scholar
Lalić, Ivan V./Francis R. Jones
1981The Works of Love: Selected Poems of Ivan V. Lalić. London: Anvil.Google Scholar
Lefevere;, André
1975Translating Poetry: Seven Strategies and a Blueprint. Assen/Amsterdam: Van Gorcum.Google Scholar
Paz, Octavio and Charles Tomlinson
1981Airborn/Hijos del aire. London: Anvil.Google Scholar
Popa, Vasko
1968Sporedno nebo. Belgrade: Prosveta.Google Scholar
1981Rez. Belgrade: Nolit.Google Scholar
Popa, Vasko/Anne Pennington
1978Vasko Popa: Collected Poems 1943–1976. Manchester: Carcanet.Google Scholar
Popa, Vasko/Francis R. Jones and Anne Pennington
1986 “The Cut”. Poetry World 1. 8–32.Google Scholar
in press. Vasko Popa: Complete Poems 1953–1987. London: Anvil.
various poets
/Ezra Pound 1915Cathay. Ezra Pound. The Translations. London: Faber 1953.Google Scholar
Racine, Jean/Tony Harrison
1975Phaedra Britannica. Tony Harrison. Dramatic Verse 1973–1985. Newcastle: Bloodaxe 1985.Google Scholar
Reiß, Katharina and Hans J. Vermeer
1984Grundlegung einer allgemeinen Translationstheorie. Tübingen: Niemeyer.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rilke, Rainer M./J.B. Leishman and Stephen Spender
1963Duino Elegies (bilingual edition). London: Hogarth Press.Google Scholar
Seferis, Giorgos/Edmund Keeley and Paul Sherrard
1981George Seferis: Collected Poems (bilingual edition). London: Anvil.Google Scholar
Steiner, George
1975After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation. Oxford Uni¬versity Press.Google Scholar
Verlaine, Paul/Alastair Elliot
1979Femmes/Hombres (bilingual edition). London:Anvil.Google Scholar
Zečković, Lela
1981 “Lingvističke i literarne norme u procesu prevodenja”. Congress proceedings of Medunarodhi slavistički centar, Belgrade.Google Scholar