| The present study is not only rooted in normal curiosity about a certain aspect of human behavior--literary contacts and translation. It is also born out of a feeling of irritation with the theoretical frameworks that made it possible. Over the past decade, advocates of a new approach to the study of translation and literature have deplored the state of affairs in the field. In paper upon paper, conference upon conference, the need for a new type of translation studies has been expressed, new theories have been formulated and reformulated, and fresh and ambituous research programs have been called for.('+) But the fashionable obsession with theory and statements of purpose has tended to overshadow the considerably less glorious activity of concrete research. Hence my irritation. Hence also this study and its double character: an inquiry into a particular corpus, translations of Dutch prose fiction into English over the last two decades, and a demonstration of (and critical reflection on) a new approach. No comprehensive study of the proposed material has been undertaken, and what has been done is scattered over a few articles on one particular book, author or aspect. This study does not pretend to be complete or exhaustive, but it provides more extensive and more fully integrated information on the topic than was formerly available. More generally speaking, it sheds light on some factors that may be at work in the translation of prose fiction--a genre which is all too often neglected in translation studies.; Like all new things this new approach is provoking and seductive. I would like to believe that it is superior to previous frameworks and tools of analysis. But in the realm of science and research, these things can never be absolutely proven, only argued in a more or less convincing manner. I might want to call attention to the fact that the new insights gained make it possible to observe, define and understand aspects which have previously been neglected. I hope that the present study contributes to this, and that it will therefore be of modest assistance in helping innovative concepts acquire more credibility.; For the sake of economy, fluency and readability, I have given^preference to a selective and illustrative, rather than an exhaustive^and abstract expose without, however, losing sight of the general^picture. I have used 'translation' and 'the study of translation' as^convenient shorthands for '(the study of) translation with respect^to literature'. Diligent and attentive students of translation will^undoubtedly be puzzed by the absence of the obligatory touch of^semiotics, elegant diagrams 'elucidating' the translation process,^and concepts like 'equivalence' or 'translatability'. Their absence is; no accident and the reasons for it will become clear later.; ('+) More specifically the colloquia on "Literature and Translation", Louvain 27-29 April 1976; "Translation Theory and Intercultural Relations", Tel Aviv 28-31 March 1978; "Translated Literature and Interliterary Communication", Antwerp, 8-11 April 1980. Proceedings in Holmes et al (eds.) 1978; Even-Zohar and Toury 1981; Lefevere 1982b respectively. |
