Western theory in lesser-known, non-Western literary translation: Perils of Venuti’s foreignization in English translations of Sinhala novels

Abstract

Existing approaches for non-Western literary translations introduced by Western scholars evolve from their own dominant Western cultural contexts. Whether these approaches from dominant Western cultures address the constraints of translating literature written in lesser-known, non-Western languages remains under-examined. The current study aimed to examine the suitability of applying approaches that have evolved from dominant Western cultural contexts to translations of literature from lesser-known, non-western cultures. The study examined the suitability of Venuti’s foreignization strategy to the translations of three Sinhala novels; “Viragaya” by Martin Wickramasinghe translated as “The Way of the Lotus” by Ashley Halpe, “Charita Tunak” by K. Jayatilake translated as “The Grain and the Chaff” by Ediriweera Sarachchandra and “Hevanalla” by Siri Gunasinghe, translated as “The Shadow” by Hemamali Gunasinghe. The findings showed only the translator of “The Shadow” uses Venuti’s foreignization strategy. “The Way of the Lotus” uses the domestication strategy and “The Grain and the Chaff” uses both strategies approximately equal number of times. “The Shadow” achieves cultural communication however due to the lesser-known status of the Sinhala culture, the translation lacks aesthetic features. In using the domestication strategy, “Way of the Lotus” preserves aesthetic features but fails to achieve cultural communication. By using both strategies, “Grain and the Chaff” ensures the translated text which communicates the source culture to a great extent while preserving the aesthetic features. The study identified approaches that evolve from Western cultures for non-Western literary translations are not suitable for literature written in lesser-known, non-Western languages.