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E.A. Morozkina
THE COMBINATION OF FORMAL AND DYNAMIC TYPES OF EQUIVALENCE IN LITERARY TEXTS TRANSLATION
Keywords: world of imagination of the author, literary text translation, formal equivalence, dynamic equivalence, translation studies, psychological type of the individual, perversity of character, combination of the types of equivalence, sphere of emotional tone, cultural distance, cultural code, the decoding of the language.
Abstract: The problem of the article includes the specification of translation of literary text taking into account formal and dynamic types of equivalence. The aim of the research contains the investigation of the combination of formal and dynamic types of equivalence necessary for translation of literary texts. While investigating this problem the method of typological analysis of literary works by E. A. Poe and W. G. Simms from the point of view of equivalence is used. The methodology of the work proposed is based on the investigations in the sphere of translation studies made by H.-G. Gadamer, G. C. Catford, E. Nida and V. N. Komissarov. Still the problem of translation equivalence in literary texts has not been thoroughly investigated.
It is accepted that there is no such thing as identically equivalent texts. It means that the translator should seek to find the closest possible equivalent. In this respect we consider it possible to support E. Nida's idea of two different types of equivalence: formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence. In our opinion, the peculiarity of literary translation implies the special kind of correspondence between the original and its translation consisting in the combination of formal and dynamic types of equivalence.
Ключевые слова: воображение автора, художественный перевод, формальная эквивалентность, динамическая эквивалентность, переводоведение, психологический тип личности, перверсия характера, комбинирование типов эквивалентности, сфера эмоциональности, культурные различия, культурный код, декодирование языка.
Аннотация: Принимая во внимание соотношение формального и динамического типов эквивалентности, в статье рассматриваются особенности перевода художественных текстов. Цель исследования предполагает изучение комбинирования формального и динамического типов эквивалентности при переводе художественных текстов. В ходе решения означенной проблемы используется метод типологического анализа произведений Э.А. По и У.Г. Симмса в аспекте категории эквивалентности. Хотя проблема эквивалентности поднимается в трудах Х.-Г. Гадамера, Дж. К. Кэтфорда, Ю. Найды, В.Н. Комиссарова, проблема эквивалентности версий перевода художественного текста оригиналу продолжает оставаться недостаточно изученной. Как известно, не существует перевода, абсолютно идентичного оригиналу, и, следовательно, переводчик должен подобрать вариант перевода, наиболее близкий оригиналу. В этом отношении весьма перспективной представляется идея Ю. Найды о двух типах эквивалентности: формальной и динамической. По нашему мнению, особенностью художественного перевода является поиск соответствия между оригиналом и его переводом, что предполагает комбинирование формального и динамического типов эквивалентности.
The translation of literary texts is usually considered the most difficult type of translation studies. This kind of translation activity should include deep penetration of the translator not only into the subject of the literary text, but also into the author's personality. The translator should also investigate the specific artistic means used by the author of the original and besides the question about the types of the equivalence in literary text translation. It is necessary that the translator should pay special attention upon the pragmatic effect of the translation on the recipients. HansGeorg Gadamer was sure that the problem of translation of fiction would succeed in case the interpreter had become acquainted with several works of fiction written by one and the same author. He explained that a word was included into the context of the sentence and each text made by the author was included into the context of the works of fiction written by the author. He considered literary translation a combination of objective and subjective types of the process of interpreting [2].
The problem of translation equivalence was deeply analyzed by many scientists and Vilen Naumovich Komissarov [6], John Cunnison Catford [1], Eugene Nida [8], Werner Koller [5], Juliane House [4] are among them. As for J. House, she is sure that "the notion of equivalence.. .is by no means a simple one". She explains that while speaking about two texts "we do not mean that they are identical but that they have certain things in common and function in similar ways". We agree with J. House that "equivalence in translation cannot be taken to mean identity or reversibility because they can never be one to one relationship between a source text and one particular translation text"[4]. We also support J. House when she suggests that a particular source text may have many different translation texts that can be called equivalent to the source text in different ways. The difference of the variants of translation depends on the aim of the translation. It may refer to the subject of the message or its form, or even its function in the text context. We
should also take into account various pragmatic factors formed by the audience that is accepting the text. So the translator is to decide between several alternative texts he is supposed to form while translating the source text.
J. Catford distinguishes between formal correspondence and textual equivalence in translation. Formal correspondence is connected with the language system while textual equivalents are connected with the problem of the realization of that system [1].
W. Koller identifies five types of equivalence. He differentiates the so called denotative equivalence which refers to extra linguistic "real-world" reference; connotative equivalence which refers to connotations conveyed in the text; text-normative equivalence containing the linguistic and textual norms of usage that is special for a text; then goes pragmatic equivalence which is based on the peculiarity of recipients of the translation in order to reach special communicative function with the auditorium; the last one is formal-aesthetic equivalence which helps the translator to succeed in maintaining rhymes, wordplays, tall tales, anecdotes and other aesthetic phenomena in translation. W. Koller stresses the fact that not all of the types of the equivalence can be achieved in any particular text. He insists on making a choice of the types of the equivalence by the translator [5].
E. Nida made an attempt to develop his own linguistic approach to translation theory taking into account special problems of Bible translation. In his view, translation should contain pragmatic effect. The scientist is sure that understanding of the source text by the recipients should be the main principle of translation. The translator should try his best to express "the sacred 'truth' of the Biblical message" of the original text in the version of its translation. While solving this problem E. Nida distinguishes two types of equivalence: formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence. As for the first one, it implies "a formal orientation such that the message in the receptor language is to match as closely as possible the corresponding linguistic forms in the source language". As for the second one, it "refers to complete target language 'naturalness'[8]". E. Nida suggested that the translation was assumed to consist of three phases. First of all, the translator should analyze the source text, then he is to transfer it to the other language. The third phase consists in reconstruction of the target text.
Speaking about the peculiarity of the equivalence in literary texts translation, we should suggest that this aspect of translation studies has not been thoroughly investigated. As it is acknowledged fictional texts usually describe the so called "world of imagination" of the author which is surely different both from the world view of the recipients and from the world outlook of the translator himself. In the fictional texts this imaginary world created by the author may belong to specific culture field thus forming different degrees of cultural distance between the fictional time and space and the real world the readers live in. This particular phenomenon creates some difficulties for the translator in his efforts to decode the language and then either to remain or to avoid cultural distance in his translation.
We may assume that the authors of the fiction use certain conventional patterns to make their texts look linguistically natural and also to make the dialogues of their fictional characters sound acceptable to their audience. If these patterns are culture-specific, the translator will have to decide to "domesticate" them to the so-called target culture or to reproduce them as they are represented in the so called source text in order to provide the translation with the effect of "naturalness". So the translator "becomes the author of the target text which should contain linguistic peculiarities of the source text and also special stylistic means to reach the communicative effect imposed by the author of the original text" upon the readers [7].
Many critics accept that there is no such thing as identically equivalent texts. It means that the translator seeks to find the closest possible equivalent while translating. In this respect we consider it possible to support E. Nida's idea of two different types of equivalence: the so-called formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence. Formal equivalence, as E. Nida presents it, focuses attention on the text or message taking into account both the form and the content of the original.
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There exist translations aimed at close formal and semantic equivalence. Sometimes these translations are supplied with translator's notes or commentary. This type of equivalence mostly co n-cerns poetry. As for other genres of fiction, novels and short stories, translation is mostly based upon the so called principle of equivalent effect established by J.B.Phillips. In contrast this type of translation equivalence is based on dynamic rather than formal equivalence. According to E. Nida, dynamic equivalence means that the translator is not so much concerned with matching the original text with its translation, but with producing the dynamic correspondence with recipients of the translation.
We also agree with E. Nida in his attempt to prove that dynamic equivalence in the process of translating is based on the naturalness of expression in order to help the recipients to comprehend the cultural code of the source language. If we return to the problem of fictional texts translation, we are to accept that the target text should produce the same aesthetic effect upon the recipients to form the so called literary equivalence of the translation with its original. This kind of equivalence includes the necessity to embody in translation not only the letter and the style but also the spirit of the original so that the recipient could forget that he reads a translation. The dynamic equivalence of the original text implies that the target text should be intelligible to the average reader and may contain some grammar and lexicon adaptation. The translator is obliged to make such grammar adjustments such as substituting clauses for other clauses, nouns for pronouns, shifting word order. As for lexical structure, the translator should use numerous lexical and grammatical transformations such as omission, addition, substitution, transposition, modulation, antonymous translation and some others so that the translation could contain cultural correspondence with the original.
One of the most important problems of fictional translation is to find equivalence with the original text in the sphere of emotional tone when the translator should reflect the emotional color suggested by the author. Such emotional elements as fury, irony, and sarcasm must be accurately transferred to the target text. Social attraction of the characters, their specific personality and individuality as well as the dialect that the author gave them in the original text should be reflected in the translation text.
In our opinion, the peculiarity of fictional translation implies the special kind of correspondence between the original and its translation consisting in the combination of formal and dynamic equivalence. The use of formal equivalence is necessary in some cases when the translator is to reflect some pragmatic dominant idea of the author of the fictional text. As the example we can take into consideration the famous short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe: "The Black Cat" (1843). In his short story E. A. Poe was deeply involved in studying the psychology of a person on the verge of committing crimes. He delved deeply into the "mechanism" of criminal a c-tions and became utterly absorbed in revealing the inner motives of crime and confession. Poe was the leader in the investigation of the conscious and the unconscious spheres. The writer paid special attention to the so-called "spirit of perverseness" as the important motive of crime and confession deeply concealed in the unconscious. The term "perverseness' was used by E. A. Poe in his short story "The Black Cat" and also, slightly modified, in "The Imp of the Perverse" (1845). Poe described "perverseness" as "a perpetual inclination, in the teeth of our best judgment, to violate that which is Law, merely because we understand it to be such", the spirit of perverseness was "this unfathomable longing of the soul to vex itself - to offer violence to its own nature - to do wrong for wrong's sake only" [9].
Today the term "perverseness" is mostly used in medical psychology to describe perverted behavior, unnatural inclinations, and deviant conduct of an individual. Modern psychologists speak about perverted behavior in connection with the individual breaking legal, moral, and social norms, when his actions are not approved or even overtly considered wrong and intolerable by the members of society. At the beginning of the twentieth century the term "polymorphous perverseness" was used by Sigmund Freud in his work "three Contributions to the Theory of Sex" to
describe children's "indiscriminant sexuality". The writers of the nineteenth century found this term suitable to depict the dominating influence of the unconscious in the individual's behavior, the inexplicable longing of a person to violate moral and social norms and thus to commit crimes.
Psychological characteristics of Poe's protagonist are based on unsocial and malignant conduct, while his crimes are to some extent motivated by "the imp of the perverse". Poe is keen on depicting the peculiarities of the criminal state of mind and his mental condition. He describes his literary hero as insolent and malicious, cruel and spiteful, hypocritical and vindictive, pursuing his egoistic purposes. Egoism as an integral property of human nature means that for each person his own enjoyment and sufferings are paramount: in Poe's hero egoism prevails reaching an extreme degree. He is egoistically oriented to satisfy his own arrogant and ambitious desires and soon realizes that his licentiousness and extreme arrogance do not bring him happiness. He becomes aware that possession diminishes appeal, an aspiration achieved is found out to be insignificant, while enjoyment harbors suffering within itself. In Poe's story alcohol ruins the hero and makes him an easy target for "the imp of the perverse". He commits crimes, as he acknowledges, unconsciously: his mood is prompted by devilish power. Poe depicted his protagonist as the slave of his passions, i.e. of "the imp of the perverse".
The same could be said about the hero of the novel of the American writer William Gilmore Simms. In his "Martin Faber" (1833) he used the term "perversity" ten years earlier than E.A. Poe to describe ambitious desires and malignant behavior of his hero, the "strange perversity of character" that brought him into a savage murder and then to his tragic confession. As John C. Guilds noted, "Martin Faber" was "one of America's first fictional studies of the psychology of crime" [3]. W.G. Simms described his protagonist as a self-destructive person doomed to suffering and solitude. He committed crimes, as he acknowledged, unconsciously: his mood was prompted by devilish power. Martin Faber concluded: "The demon was not of me, though, presiding over and pr e-vailing within me" [10]. E.A. Poe's and W.G. Simms's heroes "with a strange perversity of character" committed crimes and then confessed to the innocent listeners.
The principle of dynamic equivalence is used in the Russian version of translation of E. A. Poe's story made by V.Hinkins where the phrase "the imp of perverse" is translated as «дух противоречия». So the meaning of the term "perverseness" disappears. The same might happen with the future translation of W.G. Simms's novel "Martin Faber". In both cases we consider it necessary to use the type of formal equivalence and to translate this phrase as «бес перверсии» in E.A. Poe's short story and «странная перверсия характера» in W.G. Simms's novel. The translator, of course, should make some comments, explaining the meaning of the term "pe r-verseness".
Experimenting in the sphere of psychology E. A. Poe and W. G. Simms described a specific psychological type of the individual behavior which modern psychologists call "perverseness". A pathological cruelty of the protagonists could be classified in terms of modern psychology as "substituted aggression" transferred on the "permitted" persons. Poe's hero directs his aggressive irritation towards his timid wife and other individuals coming across his way, who could offer no resistance. Aggressive activity of the hero can be also explained by the term "protective aggression". This term is referred to the behavior of the individual who commits aggressive actions or even crimes in order to "protect" himself and to eliminate the unhealthy tension of his own psyche. The same is true about Simms's protagonist Martin Faber who under the influence of "the imp of the perverse" was compelled to denounce his crime to his virtuous friend William Harding. Both protagonists are unable to find their places in society and gradually turn into moral cripples. They cause suffering to themselves and to those who are around them.
In this respect we may also analyze W. G. Simms's short story "How Sharp Snaffles Got His Capital and Wife" (1870), republished in "Tales of the South" (1996) [11]. The short story contains the plastic combination of rational and irrational levels, arranging the set of events around "the stable shaft" - the situation of "the lying camp", where the group of interlocutors gathered for retell-
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ing fantastic stories treated as real. So we observe in Simms's short story a sort of a literary play with the readers where the scene of "the lying camp" serves as a frame story to the whole fictional subject of the short story.
The literary device of playing with the reader, inserted by W. G. Simms in his novel, is quite difficult to make out and even more difficult to translate in case we do not use the combination of two types of the equivalence: formal and dynamic. In Simm's text there is "a right merry of seven; four professional hunters and three amateurs". Let us note that the professionals' names are Jim Fisher, Aleck Wood and Sharp Snaffles, alias "Yaou", Nathan Langford, alias the "Pious" and the amateurs Columbus Mills and "Jedge" - a very important figure, discharging the involved role of the narrator and the hearer at one and the same time.
Analyzing the sense of the names we come to the conclusion that each name speaks for itself which is very important to preserve in the translation version of the short story, that is to use formal type of equivalence. Some of the hunters are given brief descriptions by the author. While translating this part of the literary text, the translator should use dynamic type of the equivalence. W. G. Simms describes his heroes taking into account the recipients of the text - the Southerners, people that live in the Southern Carolina: Jim Fisher, evidently the patriarch of the professionals, "was seventy years old, and a veteran hunter, the most famous in all county"; Columbus Mills "a wealthy mountaineer, of large estates"; Jedge who had received his "nom de guerre" for "vener able aspect" and, of course, Sam Snaffles who "from his special smartness, had obtained the farther sobriquet of "Sharp Snaffles" [11].
W. G. Simms used the device of the border mingling of real and irrational worlds, though in quite an original way. He "shaded" Sharp's fantastic story by the hero's numerous appeals to Jedge: "You see then, Jedge"; "Well, Jedge"; "I tell you, Jedge". Thus Simms repeatedly returned his reader to the starting point of narration - the camp of hunters with its "realistic" atmosphere. So the replies of Sharp Snaffles pierced "fantastic space" connecting "real" and "unreal" levels of the text. Simms stressed the acuteness of certain moments in his short story while increased the frequency of using Sharp Snaffles's appeals to Jedge. On page 260 in "How Sharp Snaffles Got His Capital and Wife" there could be found nine appeals of Sharp to Jedge [11]. We suggest that the translator should preserve this amount of appeals of Sharp Snaffles to Jedge, using the formal type of equivalence because the author in such a way pointed out the culmination of the narration.
We should also pay special attention to the so called system of "narrative voices" used by W. G. Simms. In case with "Sharp Snaffles" the researcher deals with original writer's experiment as far as the formal level of the story is concerned. The author artistically orchestrates the voices of narrators, masterly alternates the remarks of listeners composing the special rhythm of prose, skillfully using rhythmical interchanges of pauses in the text which mark certain phases of narration. Simms used a kind of pause-refrain which should also be preserved in the Russian version of translation of his short story. The literary device used by Simms produced humorous effect: "I must liquor now!"; "It's such a recollection, Jedge, that I must rest and liquor"; "I must liquor , Jedge" [11].
There are two narrators in Simms's short story but their "interconnections" are fairly more complicated than it may seem. As a matter of fact Simms created the illusion that the story was told by Sharp Snaffles. In fact the tall tale was told by Jedge who just adopted Sharp Snaffles's language as closely as possible and from time to time made remarks in the text: "Here, Yaou paused to renew his draught of peach and honey"; "Yaou, after a great swallow of peach and honey, and a formidable groan after it, resumed his narrative as follows"[11]. So Jedge is playing in the text at least three roles: at the beginning of the story he is the interlocutor and afterwards he combined the roles of the narrator and the listener. While translating this short story the specialist should use the combination of formal and dynamic equivalence in order to presume not only the dialect of the 19th century but also to contain the fantastic level of the story based on the folklore
material. As we can see W. G. Simms carried out an original experiment with the literary text forms developing such folklore genres as tall tale and anecdote.
As it is acknowledged fictional texts usually contain the so called world of imagination of the author which is surely different from both the imagination of the readers and the imagination of the translator. In the literary text this imaginary scenes formed by the author may contain elements of special culture and language code which formulate great cultural distance between the author of the literary text and the recipients. In this case fictional time and space, described by the author, might not coincide with time and space formed in the reader's imagination. To solve this problem the translator should contain some special translating instruments (translation transformations, translation comments) using the combination of formal and dynamic types of equivalence. The translator creates his own text which should contain artistic, aesthetic and linguistic peculiarities of the source text and also the great variety of stylistic devices to provide almost the same communicative effect as the effect made by the author of the original text upon his audience.
In our opinion the translation of literary texts demands from the translator the combination of both dynamic and formal types of equivalence in order to provide the necessary correspondence of the literary source text with the literary target text.
1. Catford, J.C. A Linguistic Theory of Translation. New York, Oxford University Press, 1965. 208 p.
2. GadamerH.-G. Truth and Method, 2nd edn, Sheed and Ward, London 1989. 637p.
3. Guilds J.Caldwell. Simms: A Literary Life. Fayetteville, AR: Univ. of Arcansas Press, 1992. 456 p.
4. House, J. Translation. New York, Oxford University Press, 2013.122 p.
5. Koller, W. Equivalence in Translation Theory // Ed. A.Chesterman, Readings in Translation Theory. - Helsinki: Oy Finn Lectura Ab., 1989. 214 p.
6. Komissarov, V.N. Theory of Translation (Linguistic Aspects). Moscow: Vshkola, 1990. 253 p.
7. Morozkina, E.A., Nasanbaeva E.R. Hermeneutic "Circle" and "Sphere" of Modality in Hemeneutic Model of Translation // Vestnik of BSU, Ufa: BSU, 2013. T.18. №4. P.1191-1194.
8. Nida, E. Toward a Science of Translation: with Special Reference to Principles and Procedures Involved in Bible Translating. Leiden: Brill, 1964. 331 p.
9. Poe, Edgar Allan. Prose and Poetry. Moscow: Raduga Publishers, 1983. 263 p.
10. Simms, W.G. Martin Faber, the Story of a Criminal. Vol.1 New York: Harper and Brothers, 1837, 2 vols. 262 p.
11. Simms, W.G. Tales of the South / Ed. by M. A. Wimsatt. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1996. 352 p.
