Abstract | The topic of this master's thesis is research on the creation of reality through specific
language or linguistic constructions that serve to build an imaginary world, as well as the
concepts supporting it in fiction, more precisely, in selected works of science fiction featuring
similar fictional worlds in terms of their initial premise.
I will deal with the translation of selected passages extracted from three classical works of
science fiction, and I will supply the translations with an additional analysis of linguistic
constructions that are prevalent in the genre of science fiction and dystopian novels. Following
the comparative analysis of my own translation of selected passages as well as the comparison
of syntactic elements of the translated passages with the original literary creations, my endeavor
throughout this thesis will be to propose the most effective and concise translation solutions for
specific linguistic constructions in the original novels, in order to retain and faithfully convey
the concept of "building worlds", from one language to another, in a structured and succinct
manner. The English locution for this linguistic instance would be "world-building", which
prevails in all the three works of science fiction-dystopia, that I have chosen to translate and
analyze. The three classical works of science-fiction, the selected passages of which I will
translate as well as analyze the prevailing linguistic constructions for the purposes of producing
a credible and structured translation, abiding by the literary concept of "world-building", are as
follows:
1. Brave New World, penned by Aldous Huxley, first published in 1932.
2. Nineteen Eighty-Four (also published as 1984), penned by George Orwell, first
published on June 8th, 1949.
3. Fahrenheit 451 penned by Ray Bradbury, first published on October 19th, 1953. In
particular, I will deal with the translation of Neil Gaiman's introductory word into Fahrenheit
451, written by Bradbury (2013), which is the opening section that provides an insight into the historical context, the background of the author, as well as depicting the development and
culmination of the author's creative literary endeavors, which was transferred and translated
into the said novel.
I will select seven to eight pages from each of the mentioned works (for the purposes of this
research work, I strategically selected the paragraphs from all three science fiction works that
are imbued with the corresponding or equivalent structural premise and theme so that they are
suitable for a comparative analysis of all the three works based on the thematic and linguistic
structuring of the paragraphs), then I will offer my own translation of the selected paragraphs,
followed by a comparative analysis of the translation choices at the level of grammatical,
morpho-syntactic and semantic structuring. I will compare the linguistic structuring of the
produced translation, with that of the original works, in order to elicit a credible and complete
transmission of the ‘literary bubble’, that is, the linguistically imagined dystopian world, which
Aldous Huxley, George Orwell and Ray Bradbury created eliciting their own creatively charged
language structures.
I will conclude by describing the method of translating dystopian novels that I found
useful from backed research of literary translators whose established translations provided a
helpful tool to recognize and amend my own mistakes in translation. I will attempt to identify
the linguistic constructions that are specific for each author and his literary bubble, given that
the dystopian world is built through such linguistic constructions, which are then to be faithfully
transferred into the target language of translation.
Based on my own analysis of the produced translation as well as the linguistic constructions of
the two languages (English to Croatian translation), I will offer the thesis that, in order to
produce a structured and concise translation of works of science fiction, which are specific to
literature in terms of their creativity, their unusual and unexpected plot based on the
construction and creation of new literary worlds using linguistic expertise of their authors, it is necessary to incorporate a combination of literal translation and the creativity of the translator
himself/herself, who should, based on his/her own expertise and literary translation skills,
introduce innovative and creative translation solutions in order to retain the mystery and intrigue
of the original and thus be able to convey the excitement of reading to the local audience. The
translation of each individual literary work becomes a sort of "research" and a creative feat of
translation creativity, combining the innovation and creativity of both languages (original and
the target language of translation) for the purpose of a complete and fulfilling experience of
reading a literary work of science fiction; the goal is to lead readers (with the elicited translation
endeavor) to successfully ‘immerse’ themselves in the creative worlds of science fiction that
are built with linguistic constructions that aim to credibly shape and build a new world created
from the fruits of the author's imagination, and it is up to the translator to achieve the same in
the target language of the translation. |
Abstract (croatian) | Tema ovog diplomskog rada istraživanje je o kreaciji stvarnosti putem specifičnih
jezičnih konstrukcija kojima se gradi imaginaran svijet, kao i koncepti koji ga podupiru, u
fikciji, točnije, u odabranim djelima znanstvene fantastike čiji su fikcijski svjetovi slični po
početnoj premisi. Konkretno, bavit ću se prijevodom odabranih odlomaka iz tri kultna djela
znanstvene fantastike, te dodatnom analizom jezičnih konstrukcija koje prevladavaju u žanru
znanstvene fantastike i romanima distopije. Prilikom komparativne analize vlastitog prijevoda
odabranih odlomaka i usporedbe s originalnim književnim ostvarajima, pokušat ću predložiti
učinkovita i jezgrovita prevoditeljska rješenja za pojedine jezične konstrukcije, kako bi se
zadržao i iz jednog jezika u drugi vjerno i strukturirano preveo koncept „gradnje svjetova“ engl.
„world-building“, koji prevladava u sva tri znanstveno-fantastična romana distopije koja ću
prevoditi i analizirati. Tri kultna znanstveno-fantastična romana čije ću odabrane odlomke
prevoditi i analizirati prevladavajuće lingvističke konstrukcije za potrebe vjerodostojnog i
cjelovitog prijevoda književnog koncepta „gradnje svjetova“, engl. „world-building“ istih su:
1. „Vrli novi svijet“ – engl. Brave New World, autor: Aldous Huxley, prvi put objavljeno
1932. godine.
2. „1984“ – engl. Nineteen Eighty-Four (također objavljena i kao 1984), autor: George
Orwell, prvi put objavljeno 8. lipnja 1949. godine.
3. „Fahrenheit 451“, engleski izvornik istog naziva, autor: Ray Bradbury, prvi put
objavljeno 19. listopada 1953. godine. Konkretno, bavit ću se prijevodom uvodne riječi Neila
Gaimana (2013), početni odjeljak koji pruža uvid u povijesni kontekst, pozadinu autora te
razvitak i kulminacija autorova stvaralaštva koje se pretočilo u navedeni roman.
Odabrat ću sedam, odnosno osam stranica svakog od navedenih djela (za potrebe izrade ovog
rada, odabir odlomaka za prijevod izvršila sam pazeći da svaki od odlomaka iz tri navedena
djela ima sličnu početnu premisu i strukturu radnje, tako da su odlomci pogodni za komparativnu analizu na temelju tematske i lingvističke strukture), te ću ponuditi vlastiti
prijevod istih, nakon čega slijedi komparativna analiza prevoditeljskih izbora na nivou
gramatičke, morfo-sintaktičke i semantičke strukture, koju ću usporediti s izvornicima s ciljem
vjerodostojnog i cjelovitog prijenosa „književnog balončića“ odnosno distopijskog svijeta, koje
su Aldous Huxley, George Orwell i Ray Bradbury kreirali vlastitim kreativnim jezičnim
strukturama. Naposljetku, zaključit ću nudeći provjerenu metodu prijevoda romana distopije u
kojima se gradi znanstveno-fantastični svijet jezičnim konstrukcijama koje se vjerno prenose u
jezik prijevoda. Također ću na temelju vlastite analize prijevoda (s engleskoga na hrvatski jezik)
i lingvističkih konstrukcija dvaju provedenom analizom obuhvaćenih jezika, ponuditi tezu da
je za strukturirani i jezgrovit prijevod djela znanstvene fantastike, koja su za književnost
specifična po kreativnosti, neobičnoj i neočekivanoj radnji na temelju gradnje novih književnih
svjetova lingvističkom stručnošću, potrebna kombinacija doslovnog prijevoda te kreativnosti
samog prevoditelja, koji treba, na temelju vlastite stručnosti i vještine književnog prevođenja,
uvesti inovativna i kreativna prevoditeljska rješenja, kako bi zadržao misteriju i zanimljivost
originala i prenio uzbuđenje prilikom čitanja domaćoj publici. Tako prevođenje svakog
individualnog djela postaje svojevrsno „istraživanje“ i kreativni podvig prevoditeljskog
stvaralaštva, spajajući inovativnost i kreativnost oba jezika (originala i prijevoda) u svrhu
cjelovitog doživljaja čitanja književnog djela znanstvene fantastike; cilj je navesti čitatelje da
čitanjem uspješno „urone“ u kreativne svjetove znanstvene fantastike koji se grade
lingvističkim konstrukcijama koje imaju za cilj vjerodostojno izgraditi novi svijet autorove
zamisli, a na prevoditelju je da učini isto na ciljnom jeziku prijevoda. |