Narration and translation

Abstract

This opening essay of the special issue on ‘Narration and Translation’ discusses the overlaps between the fields of narratology and translation studies. The fact that translation scholars have merely skimmed the surface of narratological issues relevant for the study of translation can be understood within the context of early developments in translation studies. The first explicit use of narratological models in this discipline has grown out of unease with the extant focus on the macrostructural level of translations. In recent decades, translation scholars have begun to include narrative approaches in their research. Some conceptualize the translator’s discursive presence by referring to a model of narrative communication, or borrow concepts from narratology in order to analyse observed shifts in literary translations. Outside the domain of literary translation studies, scholars have looked into the way translation can refashion narratives in the real world. Conversely, narrative theories have rarely dealt with translational issues, even though they often rely on translations of literary texts. The issue as a whole wants to enhance the dialogue between narratology and translation studies. Each essay explores aspects of the relation between narration and translation.

A comparable comparison? A corpus stylistic analysis of the Italian translation of Julian Barnes’ Il Senso di una Fine and the original text The Sense of an Ending

“…It would seem that, by and large, the ‘aboutness indicators’ in both ST and TT are fairly similar, while differences may be found in the elements making up the narrative structure. Though I share the view that translation is essentially a creative undertaking (Boase-Beier, 2011b: 156), it should be remembered that ‘the rendering of place and time, perspective and narrative voice can, and does, vary from source to target text’ (Bernaerts et al, 2014: 204) and thus the translation process can also affect the narrative structure of texts.…”