The representation of gender in translation from English into Russian (based on the example of V. Woolf’s novel "Orlando")

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Chelyabinsk State University irina_7j@inbox.ru

The representation of gender in translation from English into Russian (based on the example of V. Woolf's novel "Orlando")

Denisova Irina Vladimirovna, Ph. D. in Philology

Annotation

gender translation novel lexical

The article deals with the problem of the representation of the gender in translation of literary texts. The representation of the gender peculiarities which are the basis of the literary structure of the novel is studied based on the example of V. Woolf's novel «Orlando». The analysis of the original and its translation made at the lexical level has shown that the shift of gender stereotypes plays an important role in the creation of a literary image and the gender aspect was adequately reproduced in the Russian language.

Key words and phrases: gender; literary translation; gender marking of language; gender stereotypes.

Аннотация

Репрезентация гендера в переводе c английского языка на русский (на примере романа В. Вулф «Орландо»)

Денисова Ирина Владимировна, к. филол. н.

Челябинский государственный университет irina_7j@inbox.ru

В статье рассматривается проблема репрезентации гендера в переводе художественных текстов. На примере романа В. Вулф «Орландо» исследуется передача гендерной специфики, являющейся основой художественной структуры романа. Анализ оригинала и перевода на лексическом уровне показал, что смещение гендерных стереотипов играет важную роль в создании художественного образа и гендерный аспект был адекватно передан на русский язык.

Ключевые слова и фразы: гендер; художественный перевод; гендерная маркированность языка; гендерные стереотипы.

The gender aspect was not properly analyzed in the theory of translation. Inattention to the problem of gender in literary translation can lead to serious pragmatic mistakes: it especially concerns the Russian theory of translation when we work with the Russian language and other synthetic languages with strongly marked gender category.

This category may have the vital meaning. Consequently, we must take into account the gender category.

The purpose of the research is to make the comparative analysis of V. Woolf's novel “Orlando” and its translation into Russian and to substantiate the fact that translators must take into account the gender aspect while translating literary texts.

The literary work is closely connected with the language system in which it is created. During the process of translation we can speak about the transference of the literary work not only from one language system into another, but the transference from one mental sphere into another where all poetic sources are rather different [2, с. 102]. Consequently, one of the complicated problems is the problem of translatability of one gender-marked mentality into another. In this case the translator must be the intermediary in the dialogue of cultures; he or she must translate the language of one culture with its gender orientation into another language taking into account its masculinity or femininity [5, с. 57]. Translation is a different interpretation of the original, the use of different means of artistic expressiveness, the embodiment of different translation stylistics and the different gender-marked perception of the reality [3, с. 25]. Any original work is perceived as such by the native speakers only if all the requirements are observed including the gender aspect which can have more important meaning than any other stylistic and grammatical aspects.

The most complicated issue is the gender intrigue of the literary work in which there is the multilevel structure of gender relations initiated by the author of the original who creates the images of men and women in accordance with his or her personal conception of masculinity or femininity and social stereotypes accepted by the culture which the author belongs to or maybe in accordance with another culture which the author tries to depict in his or her work transferring the plot into another country. The translator must decipher this gender intrigue and appropriately embody the images created by the author of the original in the target language and at the same time the translator must not destroy the general structural storyline and the gender characteristics of the text [1, с. 70].

The literary works are opposed to all other speech works owing to the fact that their main characteristic is the artistic and aesthetic function. The primary purpose of each work of this type is to achieve the certain aesthetic impact and to create the artistic image.

Due to the research of the Russian scientists in the sphere of gender studies a new area of research has appeared recently - the gender aspect of translation. This area of research is aimed at analyzing the translation problems and finding the ways of their solution in relation to the influence of the gender aspect on the process and the result of translation.

The gender marking of the language plays an important role in the process of literary translation. This area of research deals with the lexical items because the gender peculiarities of the language are shown at the lexical level in the most distinct way. The translation of the gender-marked items at the lexical level is of great interest as the gender peculiarities of literary works are more vividly expressed by means of the lexical items. The translator must be very attentive while choosing the appropriate translation equivalent: contradictions in gender characteristics can turn out to be serious mistakes when correlation with certain sex and consequently with their own distinctive features constitutes the vital element of the artistic structure of the original.

The vivid example of the primary role of the gender aspect in literary translation is V. Woolf's novel «Orlando» (1928). The gender aspect of the novel constitutes the important element of the artistic structure of the text. V. Woolf analyzes the essence of masculinity and femininity through the unusual character of the main hero. Moreover, the author planned that the main hero Orlando would have male-to-female sex-change in order to show that majority of people is androgynies by mental structure - they can combine male and female features. This fact is the serious problem for translator as he or she must give adequate translation to a gender-marked image especially at the lexical level. The manifestation of gender in this case is connected with the gender stereotyping in particular the intentional shift of gender stereotypes. Gender stereotypes are the reflection of the views of society on the behavior which suits to men or women and the behavior which is expected of men or women. By means of the shift of gender stereotypes V. Woolf tried to prove that there are no clear borders between male and female qualities.

The gender-marked items at the lexical level in the novel «Orlando» can be classified according to three criteria: the description of the appearance, psychological qualities and the manner of behavior.

Let us consider the examples of these criteria:

1. V. Woolf points to the fact that the description of Orlando-the-man is associated with the female stereotype qualities. For example:

The young man withstood her gaze blushing only a damask rose as became him [6].

Он не дрогнул, только зарделся, как дамасская роза, что ему очень шло и подобало [4, с. 15].

Translator E. Surits used specification while translating the participle «blushing» - «зарделся»; the women are usually described blushing and flushing red. Moreover, the comparison with the rose (which is considered to be the perfection of beauty) has the clear feminine colouring of a word (even the figurative meaning of the word «rose» is a beautiful woman or a girl). However, V. Woolf uses this feminine colouring for the description of a man.

Another example is the following:

She was a feather blown on the gale [6]. Она была как листик на ветру [4, с. 136].

The modulation used in translation helps to keep the meaning of «lightness and grace». The word «листик» in the Russian language is of masculine gender, but the affectionate diminutive suffix gives femininity to the whole comparison.

2. The psychological qualities:

She thought, giving her legs a kick [6]. Подумала она, взбрыкнувши ножкой [4, с. 132].

E. Surits uses the change of the part of the speech and the change of grammatical category (in particular the category of number: «legs» - «ножкой») and the slide transformation («ножкой»). This method puts emphasis on the grace of the main hero Orlando.

V. Woolf constantly stresses such semes in the description of Orlando-the-man as shyness, timidity, sensitiveness, capriciousness, inclination to tears. These qualities are usually ascribed to women: His cheeks still flushed their habitual deep rose [6].

На щеках его, как всегда, играл нежный румянец [4, с. 113]. He stood there shaken with sobs [6]. Он стоял, сотрясаемый всхлипываниями [4, с. 57].

However, in spite of the female manner of Orlando's behavior, V. Woolf hints that the heroine possesses the male qualities:

Her clothes chosen rather at random, and sometimes worn rather shabby; love of power; she detested household matters, was up at dawn; she could drink with the best and liked games of hazard [6].

Выбирает она платья как-то наобум и носит их как-то небрежно; мужская жажда власти; она терпеть не может домашнего хозяйства, встаёт на рассвете; она не дура выпить, она обожает азартные игры [4, с. 164].

3. The shift of gender stereotypes is employed in the description of Orlando's habits and manners of behavior.

Orlando, being a woman, has the habits of a man:

She could drink with the best and liked games of hazard [6].

Она не дура выпить, она обожает азартные игры [4, с. 164].

And were not her clothes chosen rather at random, and sometimes worn rather shabby [6]. И выбирает она платья как-то наобум. И носит их как-то небрежно [4, с. 165].

We can see that the descriptions of Orlando-the-man and Orlando-the-woman do not coincide with the accepted gender stereotypes. Consequently, the translator must interpret correctly the gender orientation of the text. The analysis of the original and the translation has shown that the translation made by E. Surits should be considered to be adequate: she reproduced the gender peculiarities which is the basis of the artistic structure of the novel; at the lexical level the gender aspect was rendered correctly and contributed to the image combining masculine and feminine features created by V. Woolf. The peculiarity of the translation of the gender aspect in this novel is that the gender aspect goes through all the text. Therefore, the complex analysis of the language representation of the gender-marked image of the main hero/heroine was conducted.

Thus, the translator must be gender correct: lexemes and even the smallest word combinations can evoke verbalized and nonverbal images in the person's mind and almost all of these images have gender associations or orientation. However, the tasks for translators are not as simple as verbalization of the gender-specified image existing in both cultures [1, с. 69]. Adequate translation of the lexemes is often impossible without taking into account its basic or connotative field the gender aspect of which can play the vital role in the creation of the artistic image. The separate lexemes in the text form the complex system where different associations are actualized or moved to the background. All these associations create the connotative field as the integral part of the meaning of the text. It is very important for translator to understand the general character of the text and its gender marking and orientation.

References

1. Бурукина О. А. Гендер в переводе: Проблема трансформации менталитета // Гендерные исследования в гуманитарных науках: современные подходы. Иваново: Юнона, 2000. С. 63-72.

2. Бурукина О. А. Гендерный аспект перевода // Гендер как интрига познания. М.: Рудомино, 2000. С. 99-107.

3. Бурукина О. А. Личность переводчика в контексте гендерных исследований // Гендер: язык, культура, коммуникация. М.: МГЛУ, 1999. С. 25-26.

4. Вулф В. Орландо: Роман. СПб.: Азбука-классика, 2004. 304 с.

5. Траилина Е. В., Бурукина О. А. Переводчик и гендер: вечное противостояние // Гендерные исследования в гуманитарных науках: современные подходы. Иваново: Юнона, 2000. С. 55-63.

6. Woolf V. Orlando [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/w/woolf/virginia/w91o/ (дата обращения: 20.02.2015).

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