“Black Women are the Most Fascinating Creations in the World” or How (not) to Translate Alice Walker’s The Color Purple

Abstract

The paper examines Michal Klobukowski’s Polish translation (originally published in 1992) of Alice Walker’s The color purple (originally published in 1983) focusing on the rendering of African American Vernacular English used by the main characters from the book. The translator used a common strategy of translating a non-standard variety of English (i.e. African American Vernacular English) into an assortment of Polish non-standard forms. However, this leads to a number of problems. For the Polish reader, the main characters’ language is bound to evoke images of either the Polish peasants and the Polish countryside, or uneducated and vulgar people. This is quite unlike the American text for the source reader. Furthermore, the emphasis on lack of education or possible inferiority seems to be contrary to Alice Walker’s intentions. The translator’s strategy leads to bizarre associations for the Polish reader, which clash with the images created by the plot of the book. A close analysis of Alice Walker’s non-fiction writings shows that she holds all African American women in high esteem, which is rather incompatible with intentionally depicting them as vulgar and uneducated creatures. Furthermore, she uses African American Vernacular English not to suggest lack of education or create a feeling of inferiority, but as a medium of African American culture. African American Vernacular English is used in order to emphasise the characters’ commitment to African American culture and their ethnic identity as opposed to white people. Once the issues described above have been discussed, drawing on feminist translation theory, the paper will go on to suggest a number of strategies to minimise the suggested translation problems and reduce the clashes of imagery.