Introduction: Literary Texts and their Translations as an Object of Research

Introduction: Cross-Cultural Reading

Translation studies in both China and the West seems to suffer from a literary obsession, as shown in a statistical analysis of articles published in Chinese Translators Journal and Babel over the time span of 1987–2016. Translations of literary works and translation studies based on literary theories have attracted too much attention from translation scholars. Translation studies scholars on the whole seem to be obsessed with studies on literary translations. The dominance of literary translation studies seems to have been easing in China while remaining obvious in the West. Such an obsession may be attributed to such factors as the tradition of translation studies in China, the importation of modern western translation theories and the academic background of translation scholars in China. The obsession is detrimental to the discipline of translation studies, blocks the development of new theories and methodologies in translation studies and undermines the influence of translation studies as a discipline. To offset these negative side effects, translation scholars should shift more attention to non-literary translation, taking more translations of non-literary texts and interpreting as study objects and employing more theories and methodologies from disciplines other than literary studies.

This opening essay of the special issue on ‘Narration and Translation’ discusses the overlaps between the fields of narratology and translation studies. The fact that translation scholars have merely skimmed the surface of narratological issues relevant for the study of translation can be understood within the context of early developments in translation studies. The first explicit use of narratological models in this discipline has grown out of unease with the extant focus on the macrostructural level of translations. In recent decades, translation scholars have begun to include narrative approaches in their research. Some conceptualize the translator’s discursive presence by referring to a model of narrative communication, or borrow concepts from narratology in order to analyse observed shifts in literary translations. Outside the domain of literary translation studies, scholars have looked into the way translation can refashion narratives in the real world. Conversely, narrative theories have rarely dealt with translational issues, even though they often rely on translations of literary texts. The issue as a whole wants to enhance the dialogue between narratology and translation studies. Each essay explores aspects of the relation between narration and translation.

Introduction: The Interactive Relations Between Science and Technology and Literary Studies

In the context of "Chinese-Cultures-Go-Global," effectively communicating Chinese culture to the world has become a significant challenge. Numbers in literary and cultural texts are not merely quantitative markers but carriers of emotions, thoughts, and cognitive connotations, making the translation of numbers an increasingly important area of focus. Drawing on the prototype theory in cognitive linguistics, with an empirical survey, this paper offers an additional defense of Howard Goldblatt's translation of "六个姐姐 (liù gè jiě jie)" as "seven sisters". First, the paper explores and explains the rationale behind Goldblatt's choice of "seven sisters," arguing that "seven sisters" is more typical than "six sisters" because it embodies more core features of the source text, while the latter exhibits more peripheral ones of the source text. Second, the paper proposes a new standard for evaluating a literary translation: The core feature—fidelity to the source text—takes precedence over other factors; diversified versions of translations (i.e., "seven sisters" and "six sisters") belong to a family category of varied versions of the original. Evaluating the versions requires balancing core and peripheral features rather than solely emphasizing fuzzy fidelity to the original, which is adhered to by traditional translation studies, and the assessment of literary translation becomes more objective than before. By conducting a comparative analysis of the cultural connotations and cognitive characteristics of the source and target texts, this paper not only defends Goldblatt's translation choice but also provides new theoretical supports for translating numbers in literary texts and a new literary translation standard. It is both realistic and valuable for literary translation studies as well as constructive to cross-cultural communication.

Introduction: The Gender and Queer Politics of Translation: New Approaches

Multimodal literature is not a new phenomenon. However, thanks to today’s technological advances, authors are further enabled to orchestrate and blend various available modes and resources to achieve cohesion and coherence within highly complex texts. By looking at the intersection of semiotics and translation studies, this paper focuses on the Greek translation of Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves. This novel incorporates multimodal and ergodic features that contribute to meaning creation and engage readers physically and mentally. In such a context, a literary translator has to traverse not only linguistic and cultural boundaries, but other modes and media employed for representation and meaning production, as well. Thus, one wonders whether the translator has to adopt new strategies when translating a multisemiotic text. Is the translation part of meaning-making? In an age of a plethora of means and forms of expression, what constitutes writing and reading, and by extension translation, is challenged, and literary texts –now often multimodal semiotic ensembles– invite all parties involved in an interpretive game. Through the prism of multimodal social semiotics, translation, and literary studies, and with a focus on their interaction and interconnectedness, this paper attempts to explore the new practices and forms of literary translation and the impact of the use of semiotic resources as meaning-making tools on the translation decisions made and the role of the translator. Is multimodal literacy just the tip of the iceberg of the changes brought to the field of translation studies?

Introduction: Beyond the Anglophone—Comparative South Asian Literatures

This interview conducted with Mohammad A. Quayum from October 2021 to February 2022 focuses on a wide range of issues in literary translation and Translation Studies. Quayum is one of the leading academics and translators from Bangladesh, currently teaching at Flinders University, Australia.A renowned professor of English literature teaching in various countries, including Australia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore, and the US, Quayum has published numerous books and scholarly articles in renowned journals. His works have also drawn critical attention as they have been published by Brill, Penguin Books, Routledge, Springer and Stanford University Press. Quayum has already translated and published major writers and poets of Bengali literature into English, including Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880–1932) and Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899–1976). In this interview, Quayum offers valuable insights about literary translation and his translated works. He argues that translation, which is an inter-lingual as well as inter-cultural activity, builds bridges between cultures. In his view, translators require clarity of mind and lots of free-floating energy to keep focused on their work. The interview touches upon Quayum’s deep involvement in research and translation activities, his thoughts on literary translation and Translation Studies, and the current state and prospects of literary translation in Bangladesh.

This case study research was based on a generic exploration of the translation problems that graduate students face in literary translation. Literary translation is fundamental to translation programs at higher education due to the upsurge that has occurred in publishing classical and modern literary works from various cultures. However, literary texts have special characteristics that make the process of transferring them from one language into another a daunting task. Translating literary texts is difficult even for professional translators because misinterpreting the messages of the source texts can lead to distorting the aesthetic aspects of the literary work. Students need to learn various linguistic levels of literary translation as well as strategies and methods of translation. Learning the linguistics levels of translation necessitates providing adequate training that is based on enhancing students’ cognitive abilities. Cognitive-based translation training helps students learn the procedures of solving the problems of translating sound and literary devices. Cognitive approaches are relevant to the translation process since cognition implies mental activities that students can use to understand and synthesize the literary text, and reconstruct it creatively. Therefore, the current study aimed at examining the relationship between cognitive teaching methodologies and students’ performance in literary translation. To examine this relationship, qualitative and quantitative data was collected from graduate students at the College of Languages and Translation at Imam Mohammed bin Saud Islamic University (IMAMU University), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In addition, corpus data was gathered from authentic literary texts including, novels, short stories, and poetry, to investigate the effect of linguistic analysis and cognitive strategies on the quality of literary translation. Quantitative data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), and qualitative data depended on the software NVivo. The results of data analysis indicated a correlation between using cognitive teaching methodology and students’ performance in literary translation. The themes that emerged from the qualitative analysis referred to topics related to causes of translation problems, including lack of experience in the field of literary translation; weakness in literary translation skills; and challenges in interpreting literary devices and eloquence. Data analysis revealed that these problems were due to using traditional teaching methods that were based on giving lectures and direct instructions, and rote learning. The emergent themes concerning ways of resolving these problems include the importance of employing cognitive methods to stimulate students’ creative abilities, and motivate them to improve their analytical and critical thinking. The discussions, presented in the literature review of the present study, focus on five issues: the linguistics levels of literary translation; the characteristics of literary texts; the problems of translating literary texts; the main principles of the cognitive method which makes it appropriate for teaching literary translation; and the relationship between literary translation theories, cognition, and creativity. The research recommendations highlight the importance of bridging the gap between translation theory and practice to provide strategies for solving the problems of translating literary texts. The recommendations also include the procedures for integrating Newmark’s translation theory into cognitive taxonomies to enhance students’ knowledge, and help them acquire refined skills for translating literary texts efficiently.

The article discusses the increasing role of corpus data in translation studies (a field that has developed several autonomous sub-fields striving for full recognition), including mediated interviews of literary translators as paratexts complementing textual analysis in the translated text circulation, appreciation, and evaluation. The question of corpus design should be envisaged in conjunction with corpus usability, i.e. fitness for purpose. In this respect, it is important to train awareness of the potential of corpora of mediated interviews in real-life settings, in literary translation research and work environments. Furthermore, the article is intended to contribute to building more productive and innovative interfaces of corpus-based translation studies and literary translation studies in the digital humanities era, as well as to provide tools meant to bridge the gap between theory and practice.

Beyond the Current Impasse in Literary Studies

The aim of this article is to examine the relevance of Jacques Derrida's concept of hauntology to literary criticism and translation studies, with a focus on Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven and its French translations. It demonstrates how hauntology—emphasizing the spectral interplay between presence and absence, origin and trace, and meaning and deferral—reframes texts as sites of revenance: haunted spaces of fragmented meanings and deferred interpretations. By analyzing the challenges of translating The Raven's rhythmic complexity, phonetic resonance, and iconic refrain, "nevermore," this study highlights the text's spectral nature and resistance to closure. Additionally, the paper seeks to provide a new perspective on the dispersion of meaning in translation. It shows how French translations by Baudelaire, Mallarmé, and others exemplify Derrida's notion of dissemination, contributing to contemporary discussions in literary studies, translation theory, and philosophical criticism.

The paper begins with an overview of the relevance of functional/text linguistics, skopos theory, and the cultural-studies approach to the study of (literary) translation. It then examines the textual significance of leitmotifs as ‘vertical translation units’, since both are found to be related to repetitions of a rank-free text element in formulating a network of signification. In leitmotif-conscious translating, it argues, the accountability between the source and target texts can be observed at this level of textual network, while the translation, as a literary text, may induce different perlocutionary effects when functioning in a different cultural milieu.

The article discusses the theoretical problems of literary translation. The study of literary translation in Kazakh literature is presented, along with significant scientific findings regarding the nature of translation. The importance of the art of translation in spiritual and cultural interaction is emphasized. Special attention is given to the concept of translation and various important aspects of translation services. It is clear that translation studies and translation theory are new fields of science. The history of Kazakh translation in the past and the current directions of practice are considered. The scientific principles of translation and the various types of translation are analyzed. This study examines the translation of Russian classical literature into Kazakh and draws scientific conclusions regarding the quality, national identity, and artistic and aesthetic aspects of literary translation.