Objective and subjective nature of transformations in translation of a literary text

Abstract

The present paper is devoted to the study of objective and subjective character of translation transformations. The materials studied for the purposes of the research work relate to biographical novels by P. Kurth "Anastasia. The Riddle of Anna Anderson" and "Isadora: a Sensational Life" and their translations into Russian. As far as methodology is concerned, the methods of descriptive and comparative analyses are paramount in the present paper. The aim of the research is to analyze different types of modifications (substitution, permutation, addition, omission) to identify the inevitable changes in syntactic structures of the sentences, on the one hand, and the results of an individual approach of translators who are fluent in both Russian and English. It was revealed that all translation transformations can be divided into two groups: objective and subjective modifications. Objective transformations are the result of differences in formal and semantic systems of English and Russian, whereas subjective modifications help to express the degree of probability and emotional state or attitude of the characters towards some events, people or things. The conclusions and the main statements of this research paper may serve as a reason for the further study of the role of syntactic transformations in literary translation from English into Russian, as well as apply to the preparation of specialists studying English in lecture courses and seminars on topical issues of emotive syntax and literary translation.