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Transportable but untranslatable?

A style-sensitive approach to the Russian translation of Virginia Woolf’s essay On Being Ill

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Abstract
This paper examines Virginia Woolf’s distinctive English and the challenges of translating it into Russian. To this end, it provides an analysis of Woolf’s essay On Being Ill, considering the stylistic features which define her language. This includes separating subjects and predicates with multiple subordinate clauses, parataxis, and mixing direct and indirect discourse. Woolf’s prose rhythm is created through alternating long and short sentences, repeating syntactic structures, pairing homogeneous elements, anaphora, inversion, and parenthesis. She also uses words similar in sound and rhythm. Moreover, translating Woolf’s work involves not just linguistic but also cultural transference, as her texts contain hidden quotations. All its features are a challenge for the translator who has chosen a style-sensitive approach.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Annotation of the essay On Being Ill
  • 3.Virginia Woolf in the Russian context
  • 4.Virginia Woolf’s reinvention of the English language
  • 5.Special features of Virginia Woolf’s language
    • 5.1Multiple meanings of the title
    • 5.2Complex syntax
    • 5.3Rhythm and poetry in prose
    • 5.4Allusions and references
  • 6.Conclusion
  • References
References (46)
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