Translating the city: the conceptualisation and reconceptualisation of Johannesburg

Abstract

Abstract The translation of literature almost always entails shifts in text-function. A text from a foreign culture inevitably takes on an informative function in translation. The informative function, if overzealously presented in the target-text, has the potential to undermine the intended functions and cultural identity of the source-text. For this reason translation can be seen as a negotiation between source-oriented functions and target-oriented functions. The present research is a comparative analysis concerning this process of negotiation in the translation by Christian Surber of The Exploded View (2004) by Ivan Vladislavić into French as La Vue Éclatée (2007). It is a process oriented Descriptive Translation Study using a broad application of Jeremy Munday’s (2002) DTS model. In this research shifts on the micro-textual level are identified in terms of Vinay and Darbelnet’s (1954) seven translation procedures. Aspects of Wilson and Sperber’s Relevance Theory are used to account for these shifts and their impact on the function of the text is analysed (in Ward 2004: 607). Of particular concern is the effect translation has on the satirical function of the source-text, the full impact of which relies on a high level of familiarity with Johannesburg. An overall functional comparison of the two texts is provided. On the basis of the findings of the text-function based comparative micro-textual and macrotextual analyses of the source and target texts, the present research also presents conclusions regarding the overall orientation of the target text on the target/source orientation spectrum. Extrapolating from these conclusions an evaluation is presented of the validity of the target-text as a postcolonial South African novel.