Seminar 4

1 Translation of Belles-Lettres Texts: From Classics to Modern Times

Les Belles Lettres offers the world's most extensive library of classical works. Since 1919, this French publisher has enabled readers to access the literary heritage of ancient civilizations, thanks to its meticulous editing and translation of often previously unpublished texts, further enhanced by in-depth introductions and annotations.

Today, our unique catalogue encompasses more than one thousand Greek, Latin, Chinese and Sanskrit texts, featured in bilingual reference volumes derived from the diverse fields of study which have marked the progression of our knowledge: philosophy, religions, philology, sciences, medicine, history, poetry and theatre.

In keeping with the rigorous principles involved in publishing ancient texts, Les Belles Lettres works in association with the most respected experts in France, as well as abroad. This painstaking work, carried out in the Renaissance Humanist tradition, has produced a direct line of sources stretching from Antiquity to the Renaissance, and from the West to the East.

Also featured are the works of contemporary thinkers and historians whose books delve into all fields of learning (history, science, philosophy and art) and whose knowledge and ideas deserve to be shared.

Our catalogue exemplifies how strongly our world still resonates with that of the ancients and strives to ensure that the future will not be lost. As long as there is a world, our books will be a part of it

2 The Influence of the Author’s Idiostyle on the Translator’s Choice

Idiostyle and translation

Individual style of the author is unique combination of language usage expressive means the unique stylistic devices peculiar to the thoughts of writer which makes that writer's works or even utterances easily recognizable

Functional style - system of interrelated language means serving a defining function of communication

Individual style of the speaker is a special manner of presentation the text or an utterance in order to achieve adequate understanding of the speaker, adresser and addressee

The phenomenon of linguistic personality and the concept of the individual style of the author of the literary text became the subject of extensive and profound research for many native and foreign scholars beginning from the second half of the twentieth century, namely Ahmanova (1966), Bahtin (1986), Bloch (1948), Bloomfield (1973), Drozdovskij (1972), Fowler (1977), Grigor’ev (1983), Larin (1974), Preobrazhenskiy (1991), Shhukin (1984), Vinogradov (1961), Vinokur (1991). The conducted analytical review of modern scientific works devoted to the study of the aforementioned notion indicates that in recent years interest to given issue has increased significantly.

We consider it worthwhile to note that the vast majority of researchers consider the terms “individual style” and “idiostyle” synonymous, but some still state that notion of “idiostyle” is more modern than “individual style” since it means new and broader, according to its content, linguistic phenomenon (Bolotnova 2007, Chernyk 2016). In addition, recently we can observe the unfolded discussions on the delimitation of the concepts of “idiostyle” and “idiolect” in academic circles. While in linguistic terminology dictionaries and in the works of single researchers (Baranov 1997, Grigor’ev 1983, Kostecjka 2014) aforementioned definitions almost coincide, most modern linguists come to the conclusion that idiolect of the author as a combination of only linguistic forms of individual speech is a narrower concept than idiostyle and can be considered as a constituent of the latter.

The analysis of the scientific works devoted to the study of author’s individual speech indicates that most researchers understand and interpret the concept of “idiostyle of the author” following Vinogradov as a complex, multilevel, but structurally connected and internally linked system of specific language stylistic means and forms of verbal creative expression inherent in the textual activity of a certain author when creating his own artistic world (Vinogradov, 1971, p.105). The scientist himself, in particular, notes that individual style is the individual use of various linguistic means in new functions depending on the linguistic taste of the writer, a peculiar selection of these means, an individual synthesis of forms of speech expression and content plan (Vinogradov, 1971, p.107)

Two “fields” of idiostyle. Thus, one may conclude that the notion of authorʼs individual style is one of the most important expression of the anthropological approach in translation studies. Accordingly, we propose to consider the following two fields” of idiostyle: the idiostyle of an author and the idiostyle of a translator. Then, in our opinion, the translation process can be seen as occurring in two stages:

a) the insight in the source text and its perception in the psyche and consciousness of the translator according to his outlook and cognitive peculiarities;

b) the process of translation, that consists in a transfer of the information in such a way as it was perceived by the author, using the following linguistic and stylistic features that are characteristic of his literary language.

Illustrations for the “two field” concept of idiostyle. The illustration of this point is provided in the example from the novel “Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens (translated by V. Cherniahivska):

“Lor bless her dear heart, when she has lived as long as I have, sir, and had thirteen children of her own, and all on 'em dead except two, and them in the wurkus with me, she'll know better than to take on in that way, bless her dear heart! Think what it is to be a mothe” [12]. – Хай вона, сердега, проживе стільки, як я, та приведе тринадцятеро дітлахів, і всі вони їй помруть – тільки двійко лишиться, та й ті сидітимуть, як і мої, з матір'ю в робітному домі, тоді вона іншої заспіває…Самі подумайте, серденятко моє, що то бути матір'ю!” [5, р. 16-17].

This example shows that Dickens’ literary language is colorful and has many different features of the author's style, among them – imagery (landscape, situational, emotional). From the given example, we see that the translator has retained this feature of the author's style, but by means of changing the imagery. It is evident that the author deliberately repeats “Lor bless her dear heart”. The equivalent variant will be “Боже, помилуй її (душу)”, “Помилуй її Бог”. The word combination “dear heart” is used to describe a nice person and has a positive connotation (“серце моє”, “душа моя”), in addition it can also be translated as “Боже мій!” The translator totally withdraws the religious motive that could have served as a definite feature of the character , and instead uses the noun “сердега”, the appeal “серденятко моє”, while they are absent in the original.

All these translation solutions are based only on the translator’s perception of the novel , the translator understood words of the character with a faint of regret, sorrow, and in the second case – the affectionate reference to another character. The same can be said about the phraseological unit “заспівати іншої” that is also introduced by the translator herself. But this phraseological unit has a clear negative semantic coloring that doesn’t correlate with the previous noun “сердега”, where the treatment to the character is rather good. Thus, we see that the translator took charge to change figurative meanings, to withdraw something, and to add something – the translator felt the author’s idiostyle and its semantic dominant according to his own worldview, and delivered it by the linguistic means typical for his style of language.

Another example is Hemingway's economical writing style which often seems simple and almost childlike, but his method is calculated and used to complex effect. In his writing Hemingway provided detached descriptions of action, using simple nouns and verbs to capture scenes precisely. By doing so he avoided describing his characters' emotions and thoughts directly. Instead, in providing the reader with the raw material of an experience and eliminating the authorial viewpoint, Hemingway made the reading of a text approximate the actual experience as closely as possible.

When translating Hemingway into Ukrainian, it is advisable for the translator to stick to the above-mentioned style . This stylistic distinction calls for accommodation, by which writer’s style is well-preserved. If the translator, for the sake of the readership, wants to make his/her version more acceptable and appealing, I suggest that they must always bear in mind the central principle---style.