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DOI: 10.24412/2470-1262-2024-2-5-15 УДК (UDC)81'23
Vassili V. Bouilov University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland
Буйлов Василий В., Университет Восточной Финляндии / UEF,
Йоэнсуу, Финляндия
For citation: Bouilov Vassili V. (2024).
Paronomasia as an Important Stylistic Component of Andrei Platonov's Idiostyle and its Translation into English.
Cross-Cultural Studies: Education and Science, Vol. 9, Issue 2 (2024), pp. 5-15 (in USA)
Manuscript received 24/06/2024 Acceptedfor publication: 20/07/2024 The author has read and approved the final manuscript.
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PARONOMASIA AS AN IMPORTANT STYLISTIC COMPONENT OF ANDREI PLATONOV'S IDIOSTYLE AND ITS TRANSLATION INTO
ENGLISH
ПАРОНОМАЗИЯ КАК ВАЖНЫЙ СТИЛИСТИЧЕСКИЙ КОМПОНЕНТ ИДИОСТИЛЯ АНДРЕЯ ПЛАТОНОВА И ЕЁ ПЕРЕВОД
НА АНГЛИЙСКИЙ ЯЗЫК
Abstract:
Paronomasia is included by Andrei Platonov in the group of the most important author's stylistic means, with the help of which he manages to give the text greater expressiveness and increase the imagery of his narrative. He successfully operates with paronymic oppositions, using the sound similarity between words with their partial or complete semantic difference. Most often, the writer uses the technique of semantic shift, which involves replacing one word with another, semantically and structurally close, similar, to give the phrase a more capacious, generalized meaning. Assuming that readers are sufficiently familiar with the basic norms of word usage, Platonov deliberately creates situations in his narrative in which words are used in contexts that are unusual for them and in conditions of lexical and syntactic compatibility that are uncharacteristic for them.
Keywords:
Andrei Platonov's idiostyle; translation strategy; foreignization; paronymy; paronymic opposition; paronomasia; the method of semantic shift; Utopia, Anti-Utopia/dystopia, Novoyaz; quasi-language of Utopia; ideological clichés; the literary collision of Utopia and Anti-Utopia; allegoricality, duality, uncertainty, amphibolia, ambiguity, implicativity of Platonov's prose text; eternal verity; Platonov's "truth of existence".
Аннотация:
Парономазия включена Андреем Платоновым в ряд важнейших стилистических средств, с помощью использования которых ему удается придать тексту большую выразительность, повысить образность своего повествования. Он успешно оперирует паро-нимическими оппозициями, используя звуковое сходство между словами при их частичном или полном семантическом различии. Чаще всего писатель пользуется приёмом семантического сдвига, который предполагает замену одного слова другим, семантически и структурно близким, сходным с целью придать фразе более ёмкий, обобщённый смысл. Предполагая, что читатели в достаточной мере знакомы с основными нормами словоупотребления, Платонов намеренно создает такие ситуации в своем повествовании, в которых слова используются в необычных для них контекстах и в условиях нехарактерной для них лексической и синтаксической сочетаемости.
Ключевые слова:
Идиостиль Андрея Платонова; переводческая стратегия; форенизация; паронимия; паронимическая оппозиция; парономазия; приём семантического сдвига; Утопия, Антиутопия/дистопия, Новояз; квазиязык Утопии; идеологические клише; литературная коллизия Утопии и Антиутопии; аллегоричность, двуплановость, амфиболия, двусмысленность, импликативность платоновского прозаического текста; вечная истина; платоновская «истина существования».
Introduction
Andrei Platonov's usage of the stylistic device of paronomasia has a very specific character. He deliberately violates the normative use of phrases, replacing stable components in them with components that have a different lexical and syntactic compatibility. According to O.V. Vishnyakova, "the phenomenon of paronomasia is noticeable both in the case of an explicit, deliberate comparison of similar-sounding words, and in the case when one of the words is implied" [17, p. 40]. For Platonov's paronomasia, the more typical situation is precisely this situation in which "both words are not always present: the parallel word is often implied" [17, p. 42].
The text of A. Platonov's short novel "The Foundation Pit" and the text of the very first translation of this short novel into English, carried out in 1973 by Thomas P. Whitney, are used as the material for the research carried out in this article. The original text is quoted from the source: [12]. The English translation of the story is quoted from the source: [11].
In the preface to the publication of the translation of The Foundation Pit by Ann Arbor Publishing House in 1973 [11], Thomas Whitney is introduced as an experienced translator of Russian literature who worked in the Soviet Union for many years as a diplomat and a correspondent. Among his most important publications are two major anthologies The New Writing in Russia [19] and The Young Russians [20], his book Russia in My Life [18], as well as his English translations of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's novel In the First Circle [15], the memoirs of dissident General Pyotr Grigorenko Only Rats [6] and Yuri Orlov's book Dangerous Thoughts. Memoirs from Russian Life" [8].
The choice of this translation for such an analysis can be largely explained by the recognized translation skills and experience of Thomas Whitney, and by the fact that the Preface to the publication of this translation of The Foundation Pit was written by Joseph Brodsky [5]. He as an outstanding master of words and style, in addition to his Preface to "The Foundation Pit", fully supported and blessed the publication of this first and only at that time translation of this short novel into English.
Discussion
In the compositional construction of a single figurative space of The Foundation Pit, in the artistic reality of this short novel utopia and dystopia intersect and even mix, interfere with each other in the narrative to such an extent that it is often difficult to determine when and where utopia turns into dystopia, and vice versa. At the same time, the artistic collision modeled in a similar way by the author and supported by the genre dualism of The Foundation Pit helps to avoid any simplification of artistic perception, gives the narrative an ever-increasing intensity of artistic conflict with its inherent heightened drama. [2, p. 44]
Quite often, members of the corresponding paronymic pairs are used by Andrei Platonov as such occasionally mixed components, which are capable of being associated in the minds of readers with their parallel sound correspondences. Such an implicit, logically implied presence of the second component of a paronymic pair gives Platonov an effective mechanism with the help of which he can freely manipulate different, including hidden, meanings of both paronyms, in many cases updating their internal form and deriving from this many occasional meanings.
Andrei Platonov's partial refusal to conform to the norms of the Russian literary language can be considered as the most serious complication and a special object of interest for translators. Platonov deliberately brings varieties of radical semantic and syntactic deformations into the text. In the case of The Foundation Pit a starting point for a possible translation strategy could be what Lawrence Venuti [16] calls 'foreignizing' translation - the registering of linguistic and cultural values of the foreign text in the target culture [3].
When working with Platonov's text, Thomas Whitney often abandons traditional translation solutions to achieve his translation goals. Armed with a translation strategy of re-creation, he sets as his most important goal the reconstruction of precisely the "incorrectness" of Platonov's language and style in the text of the translation of The Foundation Pit through a radical violation of the norms of the English language by analogy with Platonov's occasional language models, organically subordinating himself as a translator to the rebellious element of Platonov's text, Platonov's idiostyle and creative method, overturning the boundaries of what is permitted in language and translation. [4]
In the next three examples from The Foundation Pit discussed below, Platonov successfully operates with the paronymic opposition краткий - короткий. The writer uses the sound similarity between these adjectives despite their partial semantic difference. It is very insignificant, however, these words differ in their lexical compatibility, which in certain contexts makes it difficult, or even mutually exclusive, to replace one synonymously with another. Platonov deliberately plays on this circumstance and, using unusual compatibility for them, achieves a significant increase in the expressiveness of the text.
In the 1st case, in the context when we are talking about the size, length, shape of the human body (the passage talks about a disabled person who lost his legs in the war), in place of the adjective краткий, in accordance with the norms of lexical compatibility, one would expect the use of the adjective короткий [Engl. trans. V. Bouilov: короткий - 1. Small in length. Short distance. Short dress] [1. Небольшой в длину. Короткое расстояние. Короткое платье] [9, p. 298]. Слово же краткий, в других случаях употребляющееся и в таком значении. The word краткий, in other cases used in this meaning [9, p. 304] cannot, however, appear in this meaning in combination with the noun body. Using it in this context, Platonov occasionally actualizes its other meaning 'short, short in time'/ 'непродолжительный, небольшой по времени' [9, p. 304]:
Чиклин осветил фонарем лицо и все краткое телоЖачева <...> [12, p. 35]
Chiklin lit up with his lantern the face and the whole short body of Zhachev <... > [11, p.
42]
Platonov deliberately creates such an effect when краткое (короткое) тело Жачева associatively receives a kind of time limit. Zhachev's краткое тело is short not only in its physical sense (a short, shortened body without legs), but also in the sense of its existence in time. A connotation of philosophical generalization arises, associated with the transience of human life, with the fragility, with the transience, with the temporary illusory nature of human flesh.
Whitney's translation of this passage follows the norms of the English language. Краткий is translated literally here using the semantically neutral adjective short. An obstacle to adequate reflection in the translation of the word play of the original is the grammatically formal coincidence of the adjectives короткий and краткий with the English adjective short used by Whitney. The fact that each of these adjectives separately carries, respectively, spatial and temporal categorical semantics, in translation results in the complete removal of connotative coloring, determined by the brevity, fleetingness of the physical existence of the Platonov'character in time.
In the 2nd case, the use of the adverb кратко formally fully corresponds to the dictionary interpretation that is proposed for the adjective краткий, from which it is derived [Engl. trans. V. Bouilov: краткий - 1. Short-lived, short in time; 2. Concise, briefly stated. Brief course of lectures. To answer briefly (adv.). I will be brief (laconic)] [краткий - 1. Непродолжительный, небольшой по времени; 2. Сжатый, коротко изложенный. К. курс лекций. Кратко (нареч.) ответить. я буду краток (немногословен)] [9, p. 304]. Nevertheless, Platonov's usage of it in combination with the verb of mental activity to think, which carries the sema 'thought', introduces additional semantic shades, giving rise to completely unexpected connotations:
Активист кратко подумал. [12, p. 71]
The activist considered this briefly <... > [11, p. 107]
It is not only about the time that the activist spends on the thinking process, but also about the quality of his "shortened" thinking, about his limited mental and emotional abilities, about the impossibility for him to think in any other way than briefly. Moreover, through such a planned semantic shift, Platonov again comes to a generalization, speaking about the habit of representatives of power as a certain social group in contemporary political reality to think "briefly" in the sense of "compressed, forcedly shortly, limitedly, with a minimal presence of thoughts and emotions."
Whitney's translation of this passage conforms to the norms of the English language. Endowed in the context of the original with an expanded emotional-expressive capacity, the adverb "кратко" is conveyed in translation by the semantically neutral adverb "briefly", which leads to the loss of the original connotation.
In the 3rd case, Platonov again resorts to using the adjective краткий, although the lexical compatibility of the noun время (time) suggests the adjective короткий. In a situation where they are condemned at night, by order of an activist, to step on a disastrous scaffold raft for them, on which they are doomed to be lowered down the river to meet their own death at sea, these deeply religious and spiritually integral people think about lofty things. In the context when it comes to the last, dying wish of the peasants, Platonov means not only a short period of time before the massacre of them, during which they ask the activist who is disgusted with them not to look at them. This time is краткое (brief) in comparison with their entire past life:
- Отвернись и ты от нас на краткое время, - попросили активиста два середняка.
- Дай нам тебя не видеть. [12, p. 71]
«Turn away from us for a little while», the activist asked two of the middle pesants: «So we
don't have to look at you». [11, p. 108]
The brief moment of farewell to each other turns for them into a solemn, ritual action, which can be symbolically associated with the Departure for Separation [Departure Prayer]/ Отходная на разлучение [Отходная молитва] [13, vol. 2, p. 1723]. It is a short time of farewell to each other - a short moment of parting with each other, the departure for separation before death, associated with the spiritual and religious ritual of reading the canon before death and the prayer for separation. Grieving grief during the rest of the night [12, p. 71], admonishing each other before departing from this world in the face of long and unbearable suffering throughout their life full of sorrow, they seem to see the light for this short time, beginning to realize "the eternal verity" and "the truth of existence" (Platonov's expression) through this brief dying enlightenment:
In accordance with the norms of the English language, Whitney translates the phrase на краткое время descriptively, with stylistically neutral construction for a little while, depriving the translation of its original connotation. In addition, a translation error crept into the translation of this fragment, associated with a factual discrepancy between the translation text and the original text and caused by inattentive reading or misunderstanding of the text by the translator. In the original, two middle peasants make a request to an activist: попросили активиста два середняка/ two middle peasants asked the activist. In translation, the activist, on the contrary, asks the middle peasants for something: the activist asked two of the middle pesants, what does not correspond to the original text. This leads to a partial distortion of the meaning and disruption of the logical connection in this segment of the narrative, as well as to a temporary loss of the original author's intention in this fragment of translation.
Platonov's usage of expressively colored lexical means is often based on balancing between the subtlest shades of meaning, giving rise to connotations of uncertainty, amphibolia, i.e. ambiguity, and the illusory nature of what is being described. In the following fragment of the text of The Foundation Pit one can observe two different cases of Platonov's stylistic use of the mechanism of paronymic attraction in the same sentence. Thus, replacing the implied word обхватить with its paronymic synonym охватить, which carries greater emotional expression, causes an association associated with a passionate, powerful, energetic, emotional, all-encompassing impulse:
<...> она ему шла навстречу и, приподнявшись на скрытых под платьем ногах, охватила его за плечи и поцеловала своими опухшими, молчаливыми губами <...> [12, p. 37]
<...> she had been coming up the stairs towards him. And, rising up on her feet which were hidden beneath her dress, she took him by the shoulders and kissed him with her puffy and silent lips <... > [11, p. 46]
The construction of the original охватила его за плечи with the Platonov's verb охватила used in it, which is in English language normally not lexically combined with the prepositional-case phrase за плечи; in Whitney's translation it is conveyed by the neutral took him in the construction took him by the shoulders, in contrast to the situation in the original corresponding in meaning and correct use to the meaning of its paronymic pair обхватить. Thus, Platonov's unconventional use of the verb охватила, which gives rise to expressive new meanings in the original, turns out to be a stylistically straightened descriptive translation, which leads to the loss of the vivid connotations implied by the original.
In the same sentence, Platonov operates with the paronymic opposition опухший (опухающий) - пухлый, which creates a feeling of some understatement, semantic uncertainty of what is described. Participle опухший [Engl. trans. V. Bouilov: опухать - to swell / in the meaning of 'to become round, painfully swollen' /, to swell. Feet become swollen] [опухать -пухнуть /в значении 'становиться округлым, болезненно вздутым'/, отекать. Ноги опухают] [9, p. 455, 632] is clearly out of place in combination with the noun lips when describing a girl who, on a warm June day, met and tenderly playfully kissed Chiklin on his rough, unshaven
cheek. Here, the meaning most likely fits the adjective пухлый [Engl. trans. V. Bouilov: пухлый -1. Round and soft, somewhat swollen. Chubby cheeks] [пухлый - 1. Округлый и мягкий, несколько вздутый. Пухлые щечки] [9, p. 632]. Obviously, such a romantic context, if we abstract from the specific Platonov's usage of words, according to ordinary logic, cannot be associated with lips swollen/опухшими from thirst or illness.
Whitney's translation follows the norms of the English language. In the translation of the phrase опухшие губы, the attributive component опухший is rendered as puffy, which means swollen,puffy [14, p. 404]. As it can be seen, the meaning here is conveyed unambiguously and literally. One must forget about the romantic connotation of пухлых девичьих губ/губок/plump girlish lips, which is present in the original text along with other connotations. At the same time, in the translation, as in the original, the connotation, associated with girls'/women's lips swollen from physical overexertion, exhaustion and suffering, returns to its original actualization.
Platonov once again returns to the opposition опухший (опухающий) - пухлый in another fragment, artistically initiating a feeling of the elusive fleetingness of the physical charm of youth and a situation of semantic originality, amphibolia, i.e. ambiguity of what is happening, similar to the previous one:
Во время своего действия маленькая женщина нагнулась, обнажив родинку на опухающем теле, и с легкостью неощутимой силы исчезла мимо <...> [12, p. 19] During her action the little woman bent down, disclosing a birthmark on her swelling body <...> [11, p. 11]
This fragment is about a pioneer girl. Just a few sentences earlier, Platonov poetically speaks of children as "time ripening in a fresh body," and metaphorically speaks of Voshchev's desire to "live ahead of children, faster than their dark legs, filled with firm tenderness" [12, p. 19]. His use of the participle опухающий when describing a teenage girl evokes disagreement and even internal protest in the subconscious. In our opinion, the definition of пухлый (пухленький) /plump (chubby) in the meaning of "fresh, growing, gaining strength and youthful stature" is more likely to be applied to a girl's body that is just beginning to blossom.
At the same time, as noted above, in both examples, simultaneously with other meanings actualized by the context, a connotation associated with a child's body swollen from need and hunger or with a girl's/woman's lips swollen from physical overexertion, exhaustion, thirst or suffering arises. The time and conditions in which the heroes of The Foundation Pit exist, which tells about famine and the horrors of collectivization, allow to admit the possibility of the existence of such a socially charged conscious author's subtext.
Whitney's translation is carried out in accordance with the norms of the English language. In the word combination опухающее тело, the attributive component опухающий is translated using the gerund form of the verb swelling. This is how the translation conveys the expression of the attribute by the participle. The dictionary gives several different meanings of the verb to swell: [1. о/пухнуть, разду/ва/ться, набухать/-ухнуть <...> 2. щегольской, шикарный, великолепный; 3. выпуклость, опухоль] [14, p. 447]. The dictionary meanings of the epithet swelling from the translation allow to hypothetically allow for such different semantic interpretations as опухающее, набухающее, шикарное, великолепное, выпуклое тело. The expanded polysemy of meanings observed here already brings the translation text significantly closer to the poetic polysemy of Platonov's original text.
In the next case, Platonov uses the adjective изобразительный in combination with the noun палец instead of the actual participle of the present time implied by the meaning изображающий. Using in a similar context the verb-motivated adjective изобразительный [Engl. trans. V. Bouilov: Visual, well depicting /emphasized by us/. Figurative technique] [Наглядный, хорошо изображающий /подчеркнуто нами/. Изобразительный прием] [9, p. 245], Platonov, through reviving the internal form of the word, achieves its semantic expansion simultaneously with the actualization of its hidden predicativeness. Such an author's
unconventional use of the first member of the paronymic pair изобразительный-изображающий in combination with the word палец creates a comic effect:
<...> он приставил гроб к плетню и писал на нем свою фамилию печатными буквами, доставая изобразительным пальцем какую-то гущу из бутылки. [12, p. 60]
<... > the latter had set a coffin up against the wattle fence and was writing his own last name on it in printed letters, fishing some gooey stuff out of the bottle with the finger with which he was writing. [11, p. 88]
It should be noted that it is only conditionally possible to assume the possibility of the participation in such a phrase of another component of this paronymic opposition - the participle изображающий. If the norms of lexical and syntactic compatibility are observed, a substantive-defining construction with the relative pronoun который, that is, пальцем, которым он изображал, should be used here.
The adjective изобразительный is characterized by limited lexical compatibility, a pronounced bookish coloring and is involved in such few phrases as изобразительное искусство, изобразительный ряд, изобразительный приём. Its non-normative use in such a context logically contradicts the image of an exhausted peasant. With the help of this kind of author's syntactic and semantic contraction (изобразительный - изображающий - которым изображают), Platonov achieves a significant tragicomic effect.
Whitney's translation of this passage follows the norms of the English language. The combination изобразительным пальцем is translated descriptively using non-deviating from English language norms construction with the finger with which he was writing, which does not convey the semantics, emotional, stylistic and connotative-semantic coloring of the original.
In many cases, paronomasia can serve for Platonov as one of the sources for the implementation of multidirectional author's stylization, imitating the features of spontaneous monologue and dialogic speech, the characteristic features of which are often allowed to be unintentionally mixed with similar-sounding words of the same root. The writer uses this deliberate word absurdity as a stylistic device, using paronomasia to create an atmosphere of speech situations in which any reservations and inaccuracies are possible. Such stylization in many cases allows him to achieve a significant satirical and stylistic effect.
Thanks to Platonov's usage of the lexical mechanism of paronymic attraction, the overall expressiveness of the phrase is expanded, creating the impression of naturalness and conversational discordance of the characters' speech. In the following fragment from The Foundation Pit, Platonov skillfully models the satirical subtext when playing on the cliched phrases of the ideological speech of some of his characters:
Изо всякой ли базы образуется надстройка? [12, p. 28]
Is there obligatorily a superstructure formed on every basis? [11, p. 28]
As in previous cases, here is another example of Platonov's stylization, based on a mixture of similar-sounding cognate words база (base) and базис (basis) with the aim to artistically and stylistically imitate a spontaneous speech. Old-regime specialist, engineer Prushevsky, is an intelligent and educated person, forced, or rather forced by circumstances, to speak the cliched language of that time, uses the mixing of similar-sounding word база and базис of the same root: [Engl. trans. V. Bouilov: база - 1. Foundation of the structure /special/. 2. The foundation, the basis of something. /book./ Social base, Material base. 4. Institution, enterprise, central point for the supply or service of someone.] [база - 1. Основание сооружения /спец./. 2. Основание, основа чего-н. /книжн./ Социальная база, Материальная база. 4. Учреждение, предприятие, центральный пункт по снабжению или обслуживанию кого-чего-н.]; базис [Engl. trans. V. Bouilov: базис - 1. The same as the base /in 1 and 2 digits/. 2. The totality of historically
established production relations underlying the superstructure of a given society] [базис - 1. То же, что база /в 1 и 2 знач./. 2. Совокупность исторически сложившихся производственных отношений, лежащих в основе надстройки данного общества] [10, p. 31].
Apparently, Platonov deliberately arranges such a contamination mixture, using it as a stylistic device and solving at least two important artistic tasks: 1) with the help of paronomasia, he achieves a stylistically disturbed sound of the phrase by shifting the accents towards creating an atmosphere of a natural speech situation with relative disharmony of speech; 2) due to this, there is an expansion of the general expressiveness of the phrase, which is expressed in the creation of a sharp satirical subtext built on a punning play on the key textbook tenets of Marxism-Leninism: "базис и надстройка" (concepts developed by historical materialism for the characterization of the most important structural elements of each historically determined stage of the development of society - socio-economic structure] [7, p. 26].
In Whitney's translation one can observe an interesting phenomenon associated with the translator's use of differences in the norms of using the words база and базис in Russian and base and basis in English. In Russian the word базис is normative for the word combination "базис и надстройка" with its meaning and context, but Platonov intentionally violates this normative for Russian language lexical compatibility of these two nouns by replacing the noun базис (basis) with the noun база (base), when in English the noun base in this English word combination base and superstructure is on the contrary normative.
Despite the general discrepancy between the translation of this fragment and the norms of the English language, Whitney, imitating the stylistic device used by Platonov, reproduces the effect inherent in Platonov's text and deliberately replaces the normative for this English word combination noun base with the noun basis, achieving in English translation the semantic and formal equivalence with controversive nature of Platonov's non-conventional language and text. This translation solution deserves the highest praise and seems to be the best way to convey in translation the specific formal and lexical decisions and connotations intended by the author.
Platonov introduces into the text of The Foundation Pit occasional author's cliches which he constructs to impart to the speech of representatives of the party and bureaucratic system its characteristic pretentiousness and artificiality. He deliberately stylizes and ironically hyperbolizes the characteristic features of Novoyaz. The following episode from the short novel is based on Platonov's usage of the paronymic pair assigned - intended:
Самая большая лампа, назначенная для освещения заседаний <... > [12, p. 59]
The largest lamp, intendedfor lighting the meetings <... > [11, p. 84]
Passive participle of past tense назначенный [Engl. trans. V. Bouilov: - назначенный - 1. To outline, establish, determine. 2. Bet on some position, work] [назначить - 1. Наметить, установить, определить. 2. Поставить на какую-н. должность, работу] [9, p. 380] in the context associated with the description of the most ordinary lamp, associatively evokes the desire to replace it with the paronymic pair предназначенный in the meaning 'determined for some purpose' (предназначить - pre-assign, determine for some purpose, goals] [9, p. 578].
The members of the paronymic pair назначенный - предназначенный, being cognate words, are close in semantics: in their common meaning "outline, establish, determine, pre-assign" they can also act as synonyms. However, according to the linguistic norm, the participle назначенный cannot in any way be lexically combined with the noun lamp.
By such a not entirely appropriate combination of the inanimate noun lamp with the participial form of the verb назначить Platonov actualizes its second dictionary meaning "to place in some position, work," while partially preserving its first meaning "to outline, establish, determine." The use of the paronym назначенная in this ideologically saturated context is motivated by the author's desire to reflect in the text the commanding, imperative, bureaucratic nature of official power, when even a lamp must be "appointed" by someone.
Whitney's translation is carried out in compliance with the standards of the English language. The participle назначенная from the original text is translated as intendedfor [intend: 2. intend (for)] [1]. This translation decision does not convey the author's connotative meaning, but significantly emasculates and simplifies it, returning Platonov's bright image with the expansive meaning of a lamp "appointed" by someone and for something into the everyday routine.
The deliberate mixing of paronyms in the author's occasional phrases allows Platonov to achieve expansion of the boundaries of the lexical and stylistic usage of words, which allows him to build a second, encoded narrative plans and creates additional opportunities for broader philosophical generalizations. In the next fragment of the text, Platonov, using the technique of paronomasia and artistically playing with the paronymic pair у подножия - в ногах, revives the internal form of the noun подножие by analogy with the antonymous noun изголовье, giving it a new, expanded meaning 'place at someone's feet'. Platonov deliberately replaces the assumed prepositional-case combination сочетание у ног (в ногах) by the prepositional-case combination у подножия (подножие and нога are cognate words):
Чиклин встал у подножия скончавшихся [12, p. 59]
Chiklin stood at the feet of the two deceased <...> [11, p. 85]
The use of the noun подножие in Platonov's narrative in this context introduces a certain semantic expansion into the narrative, logically determined by its basic meaning as a place at the very bottom of something (mountain, monument, foundation) [9, p. 537]. In this solemn, sad and at the same time official context, an association arises with the image of a monument. Chiklin stands at the feet of the defeated activists, as if standing on a guard of honor at the foot of an imaginary mourning monument, symbolizing the senseless cruelty of the class struggle. Thus, the writer achieves the effect of solemnity and sorrow required by the context, giving the narrative an expanded, generalized, epic-philosophical connotative content.
In the English translation, the normative constructions next to the feet or by the feet could be used to indicate someone's presence near the feet of prostrate human bodies. In translation, Whitney makes a half-successful attempt to re-create a situation similar to the original. However, the phrase at the feet, which he used in the translation, according to the norms of the English language, can mean being at the feet of standing, but still not lying, people. And although this is closer to what is depicted in the original, there is no association with the monument as it was implied by Platonov.
Thus, the stylistic device of paronomasia is used by Platonov both for a stylized reconstruction of the socially and class-determined speech of the characters, and to facilitate the transmission of its coded content - the background revealed by the writer through Aesopian language. Observation of Platonov's stylistic substitution of paronyms as semantically close words of the same root allows us to conclude that the writer consciously creates the effect of semantic two-dimensionality, which predetermines the almost always obligatory presence of a second plan in his text.
The examples discussed here illustrate precisely those cases of filigree writing with text that create a reason for engaging the reader's intuition. The included reader's interpretation and interpretation of Platonov's intentional substitution of paronyms, which serves to actualize them as expressively and emotionally charged lexical means, is based on balancing between the subtlest semantic shades of the narrative in both lyrical and tragicomic contexts.
Actualizing the partial sound and semantic similarity of the members of paronymic pairs and series, Platonov often enlivens the internal form of words of the same or similar conceptual and objective plans. This allows him to achieve in certain contexts the semantic expansion of the narrative associated with both direct and figurative meanings of these words.
Conclusion
Translation of cases of paronomasia, like translation of any other stylistic devices used by Platonov, requires the translator to be completely immersed in the world and associative space of the writer. Progress along this multi-level emotional and associative chain of narration requires from the translator infinitely more than simple reader involvement. When working with the text of The Foundation Pit, the translator must resolutely abandon his own perception of words, which, following the inertia of self-preservation, can lead the translator to a false understanding of Platonov's usage of words and instinctively pulls him to the surface of false logical conclusions.
Along with normative meanings, which are often the basis for stable phraseological combinations, new lexical meanings are also actualized, which have appeared as a result of a conscious occasional expansion of the semantics of the components of word combinations, which in one and the same text gives rise to the effect of ambiguity and leads to the radical destruction of many linguistic and logical stereotypes. By deliberately bringing together and mixing paronyms, Platonov achieves increased associativity of the text, expands the semantic field of words combined with paronyms, forcing them to interact with "aliens" which are alien to their traditional compatibility.
When translating Platonov's prose, cases of Platonov's paronomasia should be considered as the most significant author's stylistic means, with the help of which the narrative is enriched with unique imagery and expressiveness. All these emotional and associative chains, through which the translator must successively pass, and after him his thinking and feeling readers, are modeled by Platonov consciously. The creation of such associativity is precisely the subtle psychologism and writing skill of Andrei Platonov, who, while remaining faithful to his principle of allegoricality, generously endows his prose text with expanded expressiveness, rather characteristic of figurative poetic speech.
References:
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Information about the Author:
Vassili Bouilov (Helsinki, Finland) - Doctor of Philosophy (FT/PhD) Senior lecturer of Russian Language and Translation, University of Eastern Finland (UEF), Faculty of Philosophy, School of Humanities, Foreign Languages and Translation Studies, E-mail: vassili.bouilov@uef.fi, Mob. +358414539704 The author permanently lives in Helsinki.
Vassili Bouilov's 16-digit ORCID identifier: 0000-0003-2326-1513
ORCID iD and the link to public record: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2326-1513
Published scientific works and reports - about 100 items (lingua-Stylistic, Lingua-Cultural, Literary, Semiotic and Translation Studies, Cross-Cultural Communication, Specialization in research of Andrei Platonov's Idiostyle (Platonovovedenie), i.e. Lingua-Stylistic and Translatological Research of his Language, Ontology, Semiotics, Conceptology, etc.
Author's contribution: The work is solely that of the author.
