Allusion as translation problem : Portuguese versions of second Isaiah as test case

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: An allusion in the source text poses a serious problem for a translator. A relevance-theoreticapproach would define an 'allusion as the re-use of language from a prior text such that, by callingthe prior text to mind, an implied reader is aided in his/her attempt to plausibly reconstruct thealluding author's meaning. For this to happen, the reader's 'context in the relevance-theoreticsense must include the source of the borrowed language. To explicate the connection for the reader,however, can thwart the pragmatic effects of an allusion, since these often require maintainingsome 'openness in the text; hence the translator's dilemma.Isaiah 40-55 (Deutero-Isaiah or DtI), a richly allusive text, furnishes an ideal test case for adescriptive translation study (DTS) focused on this source-text feature. This investigation of elevenPortuguese versions will attempt to determine whether and how the translators' decisions withregard to DtI's allusions might be accounted for. Source-oriented approaches to translating oftentend toward lexical concordance; therefore, these approaches-in theory-should tend to preserveinstances of vocabulary that is shared between an alluding- and an alluded-to text. Target-orientedapproaches (e.g. 'functional equivalence) are more interested in contextual clarity than lexicalconcordance; these could then be expected to produce target texts that are less allusive. Increasedsophistication in translation theory should result in more sophisticated approaches to allusion intranslating. Collaborative and coordinated translation projects should produce more allusive targettexts than those whose procedures are more piecemeal.The investigation reveals less correlation than expected between general source-orientedness andallusiveness in the target text. Target-oriented approaches-e.g., classical functionalequivalence-do tend to produce less allusive target texts. In addition, there is a correlationbetween a translation project's organization and the perspicuity of allusion in the target text, but itis mostly negative. That is, projects that do their work piecemeal produce unallusive versions, butmore collaborative and coordinated projects still leave many inter-textual resonances inaudible.It appears that translations will preserve this source-text feature in a way that tends towardrandomness unless the perspicuity of inter-textual allusions is articulated as a conscious value intranslating. Above all, 'allusion-friendly translating will require target cultures that want moreallusive Bibles. Translators, as 'model readers themselves, will need to recognize the presenceand function of allusions in the source text and make the attempt to represent these in translationa priority.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University