The Aesthetics of Everyday Life as a Translation Problem (as Based on the Chronicle Tale of the Baptism of Princess Olha)

Abstract

The author deals with the study of narration in the 'Primary Chronicle' (the year 6463 (955): 'The tale of baptizing Princess Olha') as an object of translation (into New Ukrainian by Leonid Makhnovets and Vasyl Yaremenko as well as into English by Samuel Cross under the revision of Olgerd Sherbowitz-Wetzor). Narration is a complex system of relations between the narrator and the narrative, and although the emphasis is on the ways and specific features of presenting referential information, the search for semantic structures is conducted on the levels which are higher than the level of lexical semantics. Meanwhile, it also justifies the cultural and historical interpretation of some aspect of reality from the viewpoint of specific individuals. The appropriate rendering of lexical structures shapes the narrative projections of a text, but it affects the interpretation of the whole text differently. A focus on the situational and cultural context stimulates the search for the interpretation of parts, and it defines a broad understanding of life and its aesthetics, which includes images of the physical world around the character, his/her single material things, and, in particular, the representation of certain behaviours via things. It is the way – via material indicators – how one can interpret both the very behaviour, and its broad cultural context. The material indicators are also geographical names containing permanent cultural associations. Rendering the aesthetics of everyday life, which is based on the combination of things and behaviour patterns, is assessed by the translation’s success in creating a relevant communicative effect.