Polysystem Theory Research Articles

Zhu Shenghao as a translator of Shakespeare

The article gives an account of life and work of Zhu Shenghao (1912–1944), primarily known for his translation of the complete works of Shakespeare, the first and one of the most influential Shakespeare editions in the Chinese language. Between 1938 and 1944, he managed to translate 31 and a half plays out of the 37 plays in the First Folio. His translation, still widely acclaimed today, grants elegance to its language and musical cadence to its prosaic style and contains poetic processing in typical scenes according to Chinese lyrical traditions. Besides, Zhu Shenghao is celebrated as a cultural hero for his effort in presenting Shakespeare’s dramatic works in a brilliant translation at a critical time when China was in urgent need of learning about the Western world. According to poly-system theory, it is fully illustrated in Zhu’s case that translation does play a significant part in shaping China’s modern cultural consciousness.

THE BEGINNING OF TRANSLATION MOVEMENT IN EARLY SAFAVID ERA FROM 907 TO 1038, A.H/1502-1633

One of the most important dynasties was Safavid dynasty for translation movement. Shah Tahmasp and Shah Ismail ordered translation of some books to the translators of that period. These translated religious books were beneficial for layman Iranians to have access to Shi’ism teachings. However, the review of the related studies shows that there are limited studies on the translation history in Iran. The researcher tried to investigate the influential translators and their translations which other researchers did not survey before. The aim of the present research was to investigate the beginning of the translation movement in Safavid dynasty from 907 to 1038 A.H. This research used two models of Polysystem theory (Even-Zohar, 1990) and Bourdieu (1990a)’s model to investigate biography of translators of Safavid era and translated religious books from 907 to 1038 A.H. Because of Shia religion, some translators decided to translate religious books. The researcher found 10 influential translators and nearly 26 books which were translated from Arabic into Persian in the respective time. Translators of Safavid era were persons like Sheikh Bahai, Ali ibn-e Hassan Zavarei, Mohammad Bagher Sabzevari. The results can provide the most important translated religious books such as Al-Ehtejaj, Kashf al-Gommeh, Tafsir al-Quran, etc.

Problematic Translation of Shakespeare's Sonnets into Arabic: Intercultural Reciprocity and Translation Competence

Shakespeare’s sequenced set of 154 sonnets has become the interest of numerous translators in many parts of the world. Apart from the linguistic aspect, the translation of the sonnets has cultural, aesthetic and social aspects. This paper seeks to scrutinize the aesthetic value of the translated sonnets into Arabic in both prose and verse. It also attempts to examine what the recipient accepts and expects from the translator. To achieve the objectives of this study there will be a cross comparison between a selection of translated sonnets in light of polysystem theory (Itamar Even-Zohar), and translation as a norm-governed activity (Gideon Toury).Two aspects will underline such a comparison; the cultural aspect and the aesthetic aspect

Rosalía de Castro e influencias. Un diálogo entre o centro e a periferia

Rosalía de Castro (1837-1885) representa un papel canónico tanto na literatura castelá como na galega. Propomos unha visión da súa figura autoral á luz da Teoría dos Polisistemas Literarios formulada por Itamar Even-Zohar, a cal entende a tradución literaria como un factor fundamental do concepto de influencia. Acto seguido, presentaremos un exercicio de literatura comparada onde poremos en relación as obras de Rosalía coas doutros autores da sua época, o que nos dará una mellor idea do seu papel, tanto nas relacións centro-periferia literarias, como na configuración dunha literatura europea. Veremos como a autora bebe de fontes literarias insospeitadas. Por último, examinaremos a súa obra de para ver como Rosalía escapa de calquera clasificación tradicional posible, sendo o seu espazo de acción, precisamente, a fronteira.Rosalía de Castro (1837-1885) holds a canonic role in both Castilian and Galician literature. A vision of her authorial identity is proposed in terms of Itamar Even-Zohar’s Polysystem Theory, which understands literary translation as a fundamental factor in the concept of influence. Subsequently, an exercise in comparative literature will be presented in which de Castro’s Works are examined in relation to those of other authors of her time, which will shed light on the nature of her role, both in center-periphery relations and in the constitution of a European literature. De Castro’s unsuspected sources of literary inspiration will then be discussed. Lastly it will be considered how de Castro’s body of work has escaped from any traditional classification whatsoever, as its sphere of action is, for all intents and purposes, the border space.

Six Egyptian Hamlets: A Comparative Survey in Light of the Polysystem Theory

Young, independent theatre-makers have attempted to adapt classical texts to a more contemporary context. This study emphasizes their endeavors through a comparative study of six Egyptian performances of Hamlet. It is concluded that this adaptation of texts is currently a dominant cultural trend which, in turn, remarks the strong tradition already in existence.

FINANCIAL TRANSLATION IN SOUTH AFRICA: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS FOR THE INDIGENOUS AFRICAN LANGUAGES

In terms of the Census 2011 in South Africa, the majority of the South African population use indigenous African languages as mother tongue, compared to the minority that use English, Afrikaans and other languages. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act 108 of 1996) declared Sepedi (N. Sotho), Sesotho, Setswana, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, Siswati, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu as official languages of the Republic of South Africa. Even though in 1996 eleven languages were declared official by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act 108 of 1996), English and Afrikaans have maintained their pre-1994 status as de facto languages in the technical and scientific fields. The anomaly of the dominance of English and Afrikaans, particularly in the financial industry, has implication for the development of the majority of the citizens in the country, especially in poverty-alleviation and national development interventions. Without paying a special focus on the dynamics in languages, it could be extremely difficult to understand how issues of power, identity, conflict and resistance are established and maintained within organisations and even governments. The purpose of this paper is to investigate reasons for the persistence of the status quo in the positioning of languages in South Africa in particular regarding financial documents. This paper also looks at some of the challenges the African languages are faced with in making inroads in fields such as the finance, as well as implications for the speakers of the African languages over the two decades after the new dispensation was ushered in. The polysystem theory championed by Even-Zohar assists in putting the role translation can play in the effort of developing African languages and putting African languages into perspective. It is also hoped that this paper will contribute towards the debate on intellectualisation of the African languages in South Africa. Keywords: African languages, financial translation, multilingualism, polysystem, poverty, South Africa.

아동문학 시스템에서 번역문학과 창작문학 간의 상호작용 고찰: 김진경의 『고양이 학교』를 중심으로

Even Zohar described the literary system as a polysystem, suggesting that literature is not a single giant system but consists of many subsystems, and that each subsystem competes with one another to occupy a dominant position. Based on the polysystem theory, the interaction and competition between translation children’s literature and original literature within the domestic literary system were explored in this study. For a systematic in-depth examination, literary debates regarding Cat School, Kim Jin-kyung’s children’s fantasy book, was analysed. The book was criticized for imitating Harry Potter immediately after its publication, but the series have received positive reviews for opening a new chapter in Korean-style fantasy literature. Thanks to the huge popularity of Harry Potter books, the translated literature that stayed in the periphery of Korea’s literary system has advanced to the center. The heated debate regarding Harry Potter and Cat School indicates the internal conflict and competition among literary sub-systems in a society.

Interferenz statt Verspätung – Die Polysystemtheorie als Beschreibungsmodell für ‚kleine‘ Literaturen

Interference instead of Belatedness – Polysystem Theory as a Descriptive Model for ‘Small’ Literatures. Luxembourg literature can be considered a ‘small’ literature from various angles. Its small size, young age and the existence of a sparsely diffused language within a multilingual setting are features that also apply to other small European literary systems and that affect their self-perception fundamentally. In that context, Jeanne E. Glesener has identified a “discourse on smallness” which is developed by the literary centres and unconsciously internalized by the actors of small literary systems themselves: this discourse is essentially shaped by the ideas of creative sterility, poor visibility and, particularly, literary belatedness. However, as Glesener points out with respect to Pascale Casanova’s concept of literary time, the notion of belatedness wrongly implies that all literary systems sooner or later generate the same literary phenomena; it is therefore highly problematic. This paper introduces Itamar Even-Zohar’s polysystem theory – which has been designed in view of the Israeli literary system – as an alternative descriptive model for ‘small’ and multilingual literatures. Proceeding from the example of Luxembourg ‘Heimatliteratur’ in the second half of the 20th century, I would like to argue that by openly acknowledging every system’s historical and sociological characteristics and by excluding the notion of comparison from the analysis, the concept of ‘polysystemic interference’ allows for a more neutral study of literary contacts and literary change.

Interview with Christian M. I. M. Matthiessen

As a sequel to the first part of the interview on translation, this transcript further explores issues related to Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and translation studies. Christian Matthiessen and Bo Wang first discuss the acceptance of the term ‘systemic functional translation studies’ in academia. Then, Christian Matthiessen comments on the contributions made by various scholars, including J. R. Firth, Erich Steiner and his group, Mona Baker, Juliane House, and J. R. Martin. Finally, Christian Matthiessen explains the relationships between SFL and some translation theories, i.e. skopos theory, polysystem theory and descriptive translation studies. Our discussions are expected to contribute to the debates on translation studies and SFL as well as the applications of SFL to translation.

Interview with Zohar Shavit

Zohar Shavit is a full professor in the School for Cultural Studies in Tel Aviv University, Israel. In 1978 she concluded her Ph.D under the supervision of Itamar Even-Zohar, with a dissertation on modernism in Hebrew poetry of the 1920s. Departing from the fundaments of Polysystems theory, the author has been presenting, since the 1980s, innovative reflexions in the field of children’s literature (CL), many of which regarding translation and international traffic of CL. Besides her best-known work, Poetics of Children's Literature (1986), Shavit has written an important group of academic articles and book chapters in which she deals with ambivalence in CL, with the need to formulate a poetics for its study, with the role of translations in the formation of Hebrew CL, with the phenomenon of cultural interference, with the canon.

A tragédia Macbeth reescrita para o público infantil por Charles Lamb

Este artigo tem como propósito refletir sobre algumas questões envolvidas na reescrita de peças de William Shakespeare para o público infantil, focalizando a narrativa Macbeth, publicada em Tales from Shakespear. Designed for the use of young persons (1807) pelos irmãos Charles e Mary Lamb. Para o embasamento teórico, são primordialmente utilizadas as teorias dos Estudos da Tradução, com as concepções de André Lefevere e a teoria dos polissistemas de Itamar Even-Zohar. Inicialmente, são feitas breves considerações sobre a biografia dos autores e sobre a contextualização da obra no sistema literário infantil. Na sequência, apresentamos as características da fonte textual que podem ser consideradas questões complexas em uma adaptação para crianças. Então, a análise comparativa demonstra as particularidades da narrativa de Charles Lamb que a transformam em um novo original, que acaba tornando-se a verdadeira história de Shakespeare para os leitores que não conhecem a tragédia Macbeth.

Towards an intertwined history of symbolism, modernism and the avant-garde in Portugal and Spain

Iberian literatures provide a particularly attractive setting for comparative study within the period internationally known as modernism. Such analyses highlight the numerous ideological and aesthetic flows that crossed the borders of national literatures in the Peninsula during the period. From a perspective that uses the tools of polysystems theory as formulated by Itamar Even-Zohar, in conjunction with the theory of Entangled History, crossed by the heterogeneous continuum formula inherent to the spirit of a ‘tradition of rupture’, as stated by Octavio Paz, I offer an interpretation of the relations established among symbolism, modernism and the avant-garde in the Peninsula, as illustrated in the cases of Eugénio de Castro and Teixeira de Pascoaes, and with reference to the footprint that they left in Spanish literature.

Translating Hemispheres: Eastern Europe and the Global South Connection through Translationscapes of Poverty

Abstract This article illustrates through a data analysis of “the archive” and of what Jordan A. Y. Smith has recently defined as translationscapes, the way in which “the planetary world-as-world” emerged in Romania through translation only as late as 1948. Since translations of literature, as defined by the polysystem theory, are “a most active system within a polysytem,” one can assume that local production in certain cultures is strongly dependent on imports.

A casa dos budas ditosos de João Ubaldo Ribeiro:

O presente artigo visa analisar a reescrita do romance A casa dos Budas Ditosos do escritor João Ubaldo Ribeiro, e sua inserção no contexto italiano. Examinam-se os elementos paratextuais da obra traduzida e avalia-se a reescrita da obra buscando entender como a patronagem e a poética influíram na tradução, segundo a teoria de André Lefevere. Analisa-se também a posição da obra no sistema literário italiano, com uma breve análise da tradução, com base na teoria dos polissistemas de Itamar Even-Zohar. A partir dessas observações procura-se demonstrar como o processo de tradução acaba perpetuando um imaginário muitas vezes ligado a estereótipos já enraizados no sistema cultural receptor em análise.

O lugar da literatura juvenil distópica no polissistema literário brasileiro: o caso da trilogia “Divergente”

Este artigo visa a discutir a tradução de literatura juvenil distópica no Brasil, considerando a demanda por este subgênero e sua relação direta com as escolhas do tradutor. Com base na Teoria dos Polissistemas (Even-Zohar 1990 [1978]) e nos conceitos de manipulação e patronagem (Lefevere 1992b), argumentamos que o polissistema literário brasileiro sofre influência de forças externas e internas que propiciam a entrada do subgênero distopia no sistema e que a literatura juvenil, tradicionalmente periférica ao sistema literário, tende a assumir posições mais privilegiadas face ao crescente consumo do subgênero, que estimula a produção nacional. No que diz respeito às escolhas tradutórias, analisamos qualitativamente, com base em Berman (2013 [1985]), trechos dos três volumes da trilogia Divergent, de Veronica Roth. Defendemos que as escolhas do tradutor estão sujeitas às pressões dos demais sistemas que coexistem ao sistema literário, podendo, dessa forma, sofrer deformações na medida em que buscam se adequar ao polissistema-alvo.

“The Unhappy Mistake”: An Analysis of the Spanish Translation

Abstract “The Unhappy Mistake” is a short story published in the late seventeenth century that has received little attention from critics. It has historically been attributed to Aphra Behn (1640–1689), but her authorship has been questioned by renowned critics like Janet Todd, Germaine Greer and Leah Orr. This article studies the translation produced by Jesus Serrano-Reyes (published in 2008 by Siruela) in order to draw attention to some of the translation strategies applied, showing (according to the principles of the Manipulation School and Polysystem Theory) the initial norm and type of equivalence. To this end textual binomials are analysed from the source and target texts, which consist of both key sentences, phrases, expressions, and even certain words. It also takes into account the style of some characters in Behn’s work, contrasting them with their depiction in the target text, specifically the style of the gentleman from Somertshire. Attention is also paid to the content of a political nature found in the story of Miles Hardman (whose flight from his country and domestic, and his return, constitute a metaphor for the exile of King Charles II and his Restoration), both in the original text and in the translation by Serrano-Reyes.

Translation, Modernity, Acceptability—From Language Reform to Cultural Resistance in Translation Practice in China

This paper compares the linguistic acceptability in the Chinese translations of Peter Pan from a diachronic perspective, in terms of how changing socio-cultural factors over different time periods influence the linguistic acceptability of the target text. Linguistic acceptability is defined in relation to the extent to which translation conforms to dominant conventions and expectations in the target language. Relating to the polysystem theory, the paper first analyses the different roles translated literature has played in the Chinese literary system from the 1920s to the present, highlighting how, as translated literature moves from a central to a peripheral position, the preferred method of translation changes from innovative methods compromising the acceptability of the target text to conservative methods prioritising high acceptability. As part of the target literature polysystem, translation practice inevitably bears the mark of history. Three translations of J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, completed respectively in 1929 (Liang’s), 1991 (Yang’s) and 2011 (Ren’s) are compared in terms of their linguistic acceptability, illustrating how the changed position of translated literature results in the change of preferred translating methods, signalling a move from language reform to cultural resistance in the prevalent translation norms in China. Keywords: translation; polysystem theory; linguistic acceptability; language reform; China

An American Prayer:

Este artigo apresenta uma análise descritiva de duas traduções para o português do poema “An American Prayer”, de Jim Morrison, publicado em 1970: a de Manuel João Gomes (1992) e a de Fabiano Calixto (2010). Jim Morrison, apesar de ter tido reconhecimento internacional como vocalista da banda The Doors, teve uma estreita relação com a poesia, tendo escrito dois livros de poemas. Dentre os vários poemas escritos por ele, “An American Prayer” talvez seja um dos mais emblemáticos. Ao procurar analisar as duas traduções do poema para o português, no que se refere aos dados preliminares, à macroestrutura, à microestrutura e ao contexto sistêmico, tendo como apoio o texto de partida escrito em língua inglesa, este trabalho utiliza como referencial teórico a Teoria de Skopos (VERMEER, 2004), na qual o texto de chegada é levado em conta pela sua função; a Teoria dos Polissistemas (EVEN-ZOHAR, 1990), na qual o sistema cultural é subdividido em vários sistemas; e o modelo de análise dos Estudos Descritivos da Tradução proposto por Lambert e Van Gorp (1985). As considerações finais da análise levam a crer que cada um dos poemas de chegada serve ao seu propósito específico, estando eles inseridos em skopos característicos que refletem as escolhas lexicais feitas por seus tradutores.

«СЛУЖБОВЦІ» В УКРАЇНСЬКИХ ХУДОЖНІХ ПЕРЕКЛАДАХ ПЕРІОДУ 1920-30-Х РОКІВ (на матеріалі скорочених перекладів-переказів Е. Збарської)

The article pioneers introduction of the noun “sluzhba” (job, service) and its derivative “sluzhbovets’” (an official) into the free and abridged translations by E.Zbars’ka of James Oliver Curwood’s works “Kazan” and “Baree, son of Kazan”. The noun “sluzhba” is introduced into the translation by means of paraphrase, its derivative “sluzhbovets’” is introduced into the translation by means of translation transformation of concretization. The introduction of the noun “sluzhba” into the translations by E.Zbars’ka of James Oliver Curwood’s works could be caused by some peculiarities of E.Zbars’ka individual translating style. Also it could be caused by the then tendency for the domestication of translations, which, in its turn, might be caused by the then so called “iron curtain”. The usage of the noun “sluzhba” and the derivatives in the works of the then translated literature (free and abridged translations by E.Zbars’ka) is being compared to the usage of the noun “sluzhba” and its derivatives in the works of the then national literature (the works of Valeriyan Pidmohylnyi, Mike Yohansen and Mikhail Zoshchenko). An attempt is being made to explain the introduction of the noun “sluzhbovets’” into E.Zbars’ka’s translation by the then professional and social composition of the population in the country of the source language. Also an attempt is being made to explain the usage of the noun “sluzhba” and its derivatives in the works of the then translated literature as well as in the works of the then national literature from the point of view of literary polysystem theory by Itamar Even-Zohar. Prospects for research are to continue the study of the 1920-30’s Ukrainian translation heritage, namely the study of Ukrainian literary free and abridged translations of the 1920-30’s, the study of their similarities and of their connection with the then Ukrainian national literature.

La recepción de la literatura infantil y juvenil argentina en Eslovenia

La literatura infantil y juvenil representa un subsistema literario relativamente nuevo (Blažić, 2009), por lo cual no sorprende que a principios de los 80 los expertos se preguntaran si la literatura infantil argentina en realidad existía (Cabal). Esta pregunta, como ha señalado Graciela Cabal, está relacionada con la calidad de la LIJ y la LIJ, según afirma Teresa Colomer, repetidas veces ha tenido que defenderse ante los prejuicios de su baja calidad, ante la imagen de una literatura de «castillos de arena al lado de casas auténticas» (Colomer, 2010, 87–88). Sin embargo, la LIJ no deja de tener un papel esencial de la socialización de lectores (Pregelj, 2017, 293) y forma, por lo tanto, una parte importante del sistema literario (Blažić, 2009).