Cover not available
Article published In:
Target
Vol. 13:1 (2001) ► pp.1–28

The adequate translation as a methodological tool

Dante’s onomastic wordplay in English

| University of Manchester, UK
This paper argues that the question of theoretical translatability is crucial both to source-oriented and target-oriented approaches. Reflecting on translatability requires a discussion of Toury’s notion of ‘adequate translation’, which has two senses: the general or ideal approximation to source-text norms, and the tertium comparationis represented by a source-text-oriented translation (i.e. showing how the original ‘can’ be translated). It is argued that both senses have heuristic value in Translation Studies. The explanatory power of target-orientedness is demonstrated by discussing the various strategies pursued by seven Anglo-American translators of Dante who either re-create or avoid rewriting grotesque onomastic wordplay in Inferno. Zero translation policy of Dante’s names is not considered to be evidence of their inherent ‘untranslatability’ since for an empiricist nothing is untranslatable. Evocative names may be translated in a creative way provided the rewriter is willing (or allowed) to be innovative.
Article outline
  • 1.Translatability and the notion of ‘adequate translation’
  • 2.Onomastic wordplay and the issue of (un)translatability
  • 3.Onomastic wordplay in Dante’s Inferno and the construction of a hypothetical ‘adequate translation’
  • 4.An explanation of the avoidance policy (or zero translation strategy)
  • 5.The rewriting of Dante’s onomastic wordplay
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 27 May 2002
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.13.1.02cri
References (47)
References
Texts
Alighieri, Dante. 1966–1967. La Commedia secondo l’antica vulgata, ed. G. Petrocchi, 41 vols. Milan: Mondadori.Google Scholar
Binyon, Laurence, tr 1947–1979. Dante. The Divine Comedy. London: Agenda Editions.Google Scholar
Cary, Henry Francis tr. 1844. The Vision or Hell, Purgatory and Paradise of Dante Alighieri. London: George Bell and Sons.Google Scholar
tr. 1994. The Divine Comedy, The Vision of Dante. ed. R. Pite. London: Everyman.Google Scholar
Ciardi, Johned. 1954. The Divine Comedy. New York and London: Norton.Google Scholar
Ellis, Steveed. 1994. Dante’s Hell. London: Chatto & Windus.Google Scholar
Mandelbaum, Allentr. 1995. The Divine Comedy. London: Everyman’s Library.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Susantr. 1993. “Canto XXI-XXII”. D. Halpern, ed. Dante’s Inferno: Translations by 20 Contemporary Poets. Hopewell: The Ecco Press, 1993. 96–104.Google Scholar
Musa, Marked. 1984. The Divine Comedy. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Phillips, Tomtr.. 1985. Dante’s Inferno. London: Thames and Hudson.Google Scholar
Pinski, Roberttr.. 1994. The Inferno of Dante. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.Google Scholar
Sayers, Dorothytr. 1949. The Divine Comedy. Hell. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Sisson, C.H.tr. 1981. The Divine Comedy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Secondary sources
Bannet, Tavor Eve. 1993. “The Scene of Translation: After Jakobson, Benjamin, de Man and Derrida”. New Literary History. 24: 3577–595.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. 1818. “Dante (from Lecture X, 1818)”. I.A. Richards, ed. The Portable Coleridge. New York: The Viking Press, 1950. 405–409.Google Scholar
Crisafulli, Edoardo. 1996. “Dante’s Puns in English and the Question of Compensation”. The Translator 2: 2. 259–276.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1999. “The Translator as Textual Critic and the Potential of Transparent Discourse”. The Translator 5:1 5: 1. 83–107.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Delabastita, Dirk. 1991. “A False Opposition in Translation Studies: Theoretical versus/and Historical Approaches”. Target 3: 2. 137–152.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1993. There’s a Double Tongue: An Investigation into the Translation of Shakespeare’s Wordplay. Amsterdam and Atlanta, GA: Rodopi.Google Scholar
. 1994. “Focus on the Pun: Wordplay as a Special Problemin Translation Studies”. Target 6: 2. 223–243.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eco, Umberto. 1992. “Overinterpreting Texts”. Stefan Collini, ed. Interpretation and Overinterpretation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. 45–66.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Edinburgh Magazine. 1818. “Observations on the Poetical Character of Dante”. Edinburgh Magazine 3: 2. 223–229.Google Scholar
Ellington, John. 1991. “Wit and Humour in Bible Translation”. The Bible Translator 42: 3. 301–313. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Embleton, Sheila. 1991. “Names and Their Substitutes: Onomastic Observations on Astérix and Its Translations”. Target 3: 2. 175–206.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hermans, Theo. 1985. “Translation Studies and a New Paradigm”. Introduction to Theo Hermans, ed. The Manipulation of Literature: Studies in Literary Translation. London & Sydney: CroomHelm, 1985. 7–15.Google Scholar
. 1999. Translation in Systems: Descriptive and Systemic Approaches Explained. Manchester: St. Jerome. Google Scholar
House, Juliane. 1973. “Of the Limits of Translatability”. Babel 191. 166–167.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Iser, Wolfgang. 1995. “On Translatability: Variables of Interpretation”. The European English Messenger 4: 1. 30–38.Google Scholar
Jakobson, Roman. 1959. “On Linguistic Aspects of Translation”. Reuben A. Brower, ed. On Translation. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1959. 232–239.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lefevere, André. 1992. Translation, Rewriting & the Manipulation of Literary Fame. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Manini, Luca. 1996. “Meaningful Literary Names: Their Forms and Functions, and Their Translation”. The Translator 2: 2. 161–178.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mariotti, L. 1847. “The Spirit of Dante”. The New Monthly Magazine 80:5. 1–19.Google Scholar
Newmark, Peter. 1981. Approaches to Translation. New York: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
North American Review. 1819. “Review of Dante’s Alighieri Divine Comedy and H.F. Cary’s The Vision”. North American Review 8: 3. 322–347.Google Scholar
OED. 1973–1993 The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Padoan, Giorgio. 1970–1978. “Demologia”. Enciclopedia dantesca, 6 vols. Rome: Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana II. 368–374.Google Scholar
Pym, Anthony and Horst Turk. 1998. “Translatability”. Mona Baker, ed. Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. 273–277.Google Scholar
Rickard, Peter. 1975. “Alice in France, or: Can Lewis Carroll Be Translated?”. Comparative Literature Studies 121. 45–66.Google Scholar
Robey, David. 1985. “Literary Theory and Critical Practice in Italy”. Comparative Criticism71. 73–101.Google Scholar
Spitzer, Leo. 1988. “The Farcical Elements in Inferno XXI-XXIII”. A. Forcione, H. Lindenberger and M. Sutherland, eds. Leo Spitzer: Representative Essays. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988. 172–177.Google Scholar
Toury, Gideon. 1980. In Search of a Theory of Translation. Tel Aviv: The Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics. Google Scholar
. 1995. Descriptive Translation Studies and beyond. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1997. “What Is It That Renders a Spoonerism(Un)Translatable?”. Dirk Delabastita, ed. Traductio: Essays on Punning and Translation. Manchester: St. Jerome, 1997. 271–291.Google Scholar
Venuti, Lawrence. 1995. The Translator’s Invisibility. London and New York: Routledge.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1998. The Scandals of Translation. London and New York: Routledge.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zimmer, Rudolf. 1981. Probleme der Übersetzung formbetonter Sprache: Ein Beitrag zur Übersetzungskritik. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Pablé, Adrian
2005. The importance of re-naming Ernest?. Target. International Journal of Translation Studies 17:2 ► pp. 297 ff. DOI logo
Ptaszyński, Marcin
2004. On the (un)translatability of jokes. Perspectives 12:3 ► pp. 176 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 19 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.