ror.org/02d2p5z18
Abstracts
Abstract
Moving literary texts from a peripheral language to a hyper-central one (Heilbron 1999) goes against the general flow of translations, and agents involved in this process play crucial roles in it. In this article, on the case of English translations of Slovak poetry, I set out to investigate how such processes work. My research starts with assembling a bibliography of English translations of Slovak poetry published in book form between 1989 and 2020. The list contains no fewer than 2,500 poems by 161 poets, translated by more than 50 translators. A few observations from the quantitative analysis I conducted help answer such questions as what kind of agents translate poetry in these projects, who gets translated and how likely it is that the volumes reach an international readership. Subsequently, I use tools from Bourdieu’s field theory and Latour’s actor-network theory (ANT) to trace actor-networks pertaining to those translation projects concerning the rendering of two chosen Slovak poets who hold different positions in the Slovak literary field—Mila Haugová (born in 1942) and Milan Richter (born in 1948).
Keywords:
- Slovak poetry,
- translation into English,
- cultural export,
- internationalisation,
- peripheral literature
Résumé
Le transfert littéraire d’une langue périphérique à une langue hyper-centrale (Heilbron 1999) va à l’encontre du flux général des traductions et dépend largement des agents humains ou institutionnels. Dans cet article, j’examine le fonctionnement de ce processus en m’appuyant sur les traductions anglaises de la poésie slovaque. Ma réflexion part d’une bibliographie des traductions anglaises de la poésie slovaque publiées sous forme de livres entre 1989 et 2020. La liste comprend plus de 2500 poèmes, écrits par 161 poètes et traduits par une cinquantaine de traducteurs. Les observations tirées de l’analyse quantitative permettent d’identifier quels types d’agents traduisent la poésie slovaque en anglais, qui sont les poètes traduits et dans quelle mesure les livres qui résultent de ces projets bénéficient d’un lectorat international. Ensuite, je me sers de la théorie des champs de Pierre Bourdieu et de la théorie de l’acteur-réseau (ANT) de Bruno Latour pour retracer les réseaux d’acteurs qui sous-tendent les projets de traduction des oeuvres de deux poètes dont les positions dans le champ littéraire slovaque divergent : Mila Haugová (née en 1942) et Milan Richter (né en 1948).
Mots-clés :
- poésie slovaque,
- traduction en anglais,
- exportation culturelle,
- internationalisation,
- littérature périphérique
Resumen
El flujo de los textos literarios de la lengua periférica a la lengua hiper-central (Heilbron 1999) se opone al flujo general de las traducciones y agentes involucrados en este proceso desempeñan papeles decisivos en el proceso. En nuestro artículo, usando como ejemplo las traducciones de la poesía eslovaca al inglés, investigamos como esos procesos funcionan. Empezamos nuestra investigación con recopilación de la bibliografía de las traducciones de la poesía eslovaca al inglés publicadas en libro entre 1989 y 2020. La lista incluye no menos de 2500 poemas escritos por 161 poetas traducidos por más de 50 traductores. Algunas observaciones de nuestro análisis cuantitativo ayudan a contestar preguntas como cuales agentes forman parte del proceso de la traducción de poesía en estos proyectos, quien es traducido o con cual probabilidad los volúmenes obtienen lectores internacionales. Posteriormente, usamos instrumentos de Bourdieu’s teoría de los campos y Latour’s teoría del actor-red a descubrir actor-redes pertenecientes a las traducciones de dos poetas eslovacos elegidos que mantienen posiciones diferentes en el campo literario eslovaco – Mila Haugová (nacida en 1942) y Milan Richter (nacido en 1948).
Palabras clave:
- poesía eslovaca,
- traducción en inglés,
- exportación cultural,
- internacionalización,
- literatura periférica
Appendices
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