On the Pitfalls of Cultural Provincialism on the Example of the Translation of Damir Ovčina’s Novel When I Was a Hodja

Abstract

Any interlingual translation that transposes a literary text from the original to the target language almost always conveys particular knowledge and life experiences from the culture in which the text was originally created. In this paper, the translation of the novel When I Was a Hodja by Damir Ovčina into Spanish is analyzed, focusing on culturally marked elements. The manner in which the cultural themes of the original text were transferred to the target culture is observed. It is emphasized that, when it comes to translations of literary narratives in which depictions of wars are exhibited, the translator’s task becomes all the more important because he/she contributes to the production of new knowledge and new ideas about wars through his/her translation, and, therefore, special attention must be given to the translation of cultures in such texts.