Running symphony through cacophony

Abstract

In her article the author focusses on the diversity of translation strategies accumulated by several generations of Russian literary translators as their know‐how. Her project deals specifically with what came to be defined as the ‘search for analogues’ (Lyubimov: 1983) or analogue strategy, to use the author's term. By the latter is meant either a written or oral narrative discourse in the target language which a translator would use as an intermediate text or conduit between the source and the target texts. This allows the author to relate the analogue strategy to W. Iser's notion of intercultural space and his interpretation of translatability (her 1995). The article identifies several reasons why a translator may use the analogue strategy. They vary according to the translator's need to use a certain rhythmic pattern, to her ideological clichés or social stereotypes. The article discusses several cases when analogue strategy is used with different aims and different degrees of success. Though ‘analogue’ is broadly interpreted as a written or oral discourse, the author regards the literary analogue strategy as rewarding for translation purposes in the Russian cultural context, its major advantage being its potential quality of creating new discourses via translation.