The Translator's Voice in Translated Narrative

Theo Hermans
Abstract

When we read translated narrative, the original Narrator's voice is not the only which comes to us. The Translator's discursive presence in the translated text becomes discernible in certain cases, e.g. when the pragmatic displacement resulting from translation requires paratextual intervention for the benefit of the Implied Reader of the translated text; when self-reflexive references to the medium of communication itself are involved; when 'contextual overdetermination' leaves no other option. The ways in which the Translator's discursive presence manifests itself are demonstrated on the basis of different translations of the Dutch novel Max Havelaar (1860).

Table of contents

When Boris Yeltsin speaks through an Interpreter, do we really want to hear the Interpreter's voice? We listen, surely, because we want to know what Yeltsin has to say. To the extent that we are conscious of hearing the Interpreter's voice, it is as no more than a minor distraction. We regard—or better: we are prepared, we have been conditioned to regard—the Interpreter's voice as a carrier without a substance of its own, a virtually transparent vehicle. Anything that takes away from this transparency is unwelcome [ p. 24 ]'noise' in the information-theoretical sense of the term.

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

Bal, Mieke
1985Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of Narrative, tr. Christine van Boheemen. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Chatman, Seymour
1978Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film. Ithaca-London: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
1990Coming to Terms: The Rhetoric of Narrative in Fiction and Film. Ithaca-London: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Derrida, Jacques
1991Between the Blinds: A Derrida Reader, ed. Peggy Kamuf. New York etc.: Harvester Wheatsheaf.Google Scholar
1992Acts of Literature, ed. Derek Attridge. New York-London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Descartes, René
1968Discourse on Method and the Meditations, tr. F.E. Sutcliffe. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Folkart, Barbara
1991Le conflit des inondations: Traduction et discours rapporté. Candiac: Les Éditions Balzac.Google Scholar
Genette, Gérard
1972 “Discours du récit”. Gérard Genette. Figures III. Paris: Seuil 1972 65–281.Google Scholar
1982Palimpsestes: La littérature au second degré. Paris: Seuil.Google Scholar
1983Nouveau discours du récit. Paris: Seuil. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1991Fiction et diction. Paris: Seuil.Google Scholar
Harris, Brian
1990 “Norms in Interpretation”. Target 2:1. 115–119.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hermans, Theo
1988 “On Translating Proper Names, with Reference to De Witte and Max Havelaar”. Modern Dutch Studies: Essays in Honour of Peter King, ed. M. Wintle. London: Athlone 1988 11–24.Google Scholar
Littau, Karin
1993 “Intertextuality and Translation: The Waste Land in French and German”. Translation—the Vital Link, ed. Catriona Picken. London: Chamelon Press 1993 63–69.Google Scholar
Multatuli
1927Max Havelaar or the Coffee Sales of the Netherlands Trading Company, tr. W. Siebenhaar, intro. D.H. Lawrence. New York.Google Scholar
1949Max Havelaar of de koffljveilingen der Nederlandsche Handelmaatschappij, ed. G. Stuiveling. Amsterdam: Van Oorschot.Google Scholar
1968Max Havelaar, tr. Mme Roland Garros. Paris: Editions universitaires.Google Scholar
1975Max Havelaar o las subastas de café de la Compañía Comercial Holandesa, tr. Francisco Carrasquer. Barcelona: Frontera.Google Scholar
1987Max Havelaar or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company, tr. Roy Edwards. Harmonds worth: Penguin.Google Scholar
[ p. 48 ]
1992Max Havelaar of de koffiveilingen der Nederlandsche Handelmaatschappy (2 vols.), ed. A. Kets-Vree. Assen-Maastricht: Van Gorcum.Google Scholar
Pym, Anthony
1992Translation and Text Transfer: An Essay on the Principles of Intercultural Communication. Frankfurt am Main etc.: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith
1983Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics. London-New York: Methuen.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schiavi, Giuliana
1996 “There Is Always a Teller in a Tale”. Target 8:1. 1–21.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Segers, Winibert
1994 “Derrida’s onvertaalbaarheidsweb”. Bouwen aan Babel: Zes opstellen over onvertaalbaarheid, ed. Raymond van den Broeck. Antwerpen-Harmelen: Fantom 1994 89–100.Google Scholar
Sötemann, A.L.
1973De structuur van de ‘Max Havelaar’. Groningen: Wolters-Noordhoff.Google Scholar