5. Social Classes in Translation
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Hivatkozások
Válaszd ki a számodra megfelelő hivatkozásformátumot:
Harvard
Sohár Anikó (szerk.) (2024): Varietas delectat. : Akadémiai Kiadó.
https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636640002 Letöltve: https://mersz.hu/dokumentum/m1143vd__52/#m1143vd_50_p1 (2024. 11. 21.)
Chicago
Sohár Anikó, szerk. 2024. Varietas delectat. : Akadémiai Kiadó. https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636640002 (Letöltve: 2024. 11. 21. https://mersz.hu/dokumentum/m1143vd__52/#m1143vd_50_p1)
APA
Sohár A. (szerk.) (2024). Varietas delectat. Akadémiai Kiadó. https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636640002. (Letöltve: 2024. 11. 21. https://mersz.hu/dokumentum/m1143vd__52/#m1143vd_50_p1)
It sounds archaic today that the two main characters Marian and Duncan, meet in a laundromat in The Edible Woman. In the report, the Hungarian reviewer uses the word “Patyolat”, the name of a state-owned laundry and cleaning company that was very popular during Communism.1 This “domesticating” translation strategy (Venuti, 1995: 1–42) is also typical for the way Canadian social classes are described in the reader’s reports. Almost every single reviewer describes the social context that Atwood’s characters belong to. The reports describe the 1960s of Canada in a way that is consistent with the Socialist world view of the 1970s in Hungary and meaningful to the editors of Európa Publishing House. Canada as presented in Surfacing is “an urbanized, uniformized, and Americanized world” (1974), where the “Francophone-Anglophone conflict appears”. The four reports on The Edible Woman make reference to the USA in one way or the other. The first (1977) points out that the novel “(this early piece of writing already) is a bit of an anti-American caricature of consumer society”. The main character is a “young intellectual woman” (1977, second review), and the story takes place in the “world of the young intellectuals: the characters in the story have completed their university studies” (1981, third review). The novel portrays “young Canadian-American intellectuals […] attracted to the order of social norms (1982, fourth review), in other words “young American intellectuals who belong to the lower-middle class” (1982).
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Hivatkozások
Válaszd ki a számodra megfelelő hivatkozásformátumot:
Harvard
Sohár Anikó (szerk.) (2024): Varietas delectat. : Akadémiai Kiadó.
https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636640002 Letöltve: https://mersz.hu/dokumentum/m1143vd__52/#m1143vd_50_p2 (2024. 11. 21.)
Chicago
Sohár Anikó, szerk. 2024. Varietas delectat. : Akadémiai Kiadó. https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636640002 (Letöltve: 2024. 11. 21. https://mersz.hu/dokumentum/m1143vd__52/#m1143vd_50_p2)
APA
Sohár A. (szerk.) (2024). Varietas delectat. Akadémiai Kiadó. https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636640002. (Letöltve: 2024. 11. 21. https://mersz.hu/dokumentum/m1143vd__52/#m1143vd_50_p2)
Bodily Harm, reviewed also in 1982, takes place mostly outside of Canada. Two negative and one positive reports were submitted. The first opinion describes the novel as “remarkable, […] interesting, well written”, but does not recommend it for translation, as Joan Didion’s A Book of Common Prayer (Hungarian title: Imádságoskönyv, 1981), which tells a similar story and was published around that time. The second reviewer expresses disappointment and expects that the book will attract only “a small number” of readers, concluding that “[t]his book is not ready for publication, at least for the time being”. The third report, unlike the previous two, is a five-page document that praises the writer for her brilliance, and gives a detailed description about the plot: “it portrays a well-known version of a Latin American scenario: a corrupt dictatorship that pretends to be a democracy, the votes are bought, with a strong but threatened opposition, active, sect-like guerilla groups”. The reviewer is quite blunt when explaining that the protagonist accidentally becomes “a witness of political conspiracies”, after “an isolated and hasty uprising attempt fails, and in the hysteria of a bloody retaliation, the police arrests Rennie as well”. The description of the social unrest is thus not “domesticated” according to the expectations of the editors of the publishing house. At the same time, the reviewer probably did not work very often as a reviewer for Európa Publisher, because he or she does not follow the strict form of the report and at the end of the document, a clear statement is missing whether to publish the book or not. The publisher decided not to translate Bodily Harm.
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Hivatkozások
Válaszd ki a számodra megfelelő hivatkozásformátumot:
Harvard
Sohár Anikó (szerk.) (2024): Varietas delectat. : Akadémiai Kiadó.
https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636640002 Letöltve: https://mersz.hu/dokumentum/m1143vd__52/#m1143vd_50_p3 (2024. 11. 21.)
Chicago
Sohár Anikó, szerk. 2024. Varietas delectat. : Akadémiai Kiadó. https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636640002 (Letöltve: 2024. 11. 21. https://mersz.hu/dokumentum/m1143vd__52/#m1143vd_50_p3)
APA
Sohár A. (szerk.) (2024). Varietas delectat. Akadémiai Kiadó. https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636640002. (Letöltve: 2024. 11. 21. https://mersz.hu/dokumentum/m1143vd__52/#m1143vd_50_p3)
In 1984 and 1986, two collections of short stories were reviewed in Európa: Bluebeard’s Egg and Dancing Girls and Other Stories. Three out of the four reports did not recommend the translation of the whole volume, instead, they suggested a selection. Apart from the excellent portrayal of characters, the readers considered the characters and their life situations too commonplace. “Her heroes are everyday women – an elderly farm woman and a simple housewife, young girl and a freelance journalist, a lonely old woman and a woman giving birth – everyday fates.” (1986) The Hungarian word used for an elderly woman living on an isolated farm (tanyasi asszony), however, evokes the atmosphere of the Hungarian Great Plains. The reviewer does not use a “foreignizing” translation strategy (Venuti, 1995: 1–42) here, which would make it clear that the story is set in Canada.
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Hivatkozások
Válaszd ki a számodra megfelelő hivatkozásformátumot:
Harvard
Sohár Anikó (szerk.) (2024): Varietas delectat. : Akadémiai Kiadó.
https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636640002 Letöltve: https://mersz.hu/dokumentum/m1143vd__52/#m1143vd_50_p4 (2024. 11. 21.)
Chicago
Sohár Anikó, szerk. 2024. Varietas delectat. : Akadémiai Kiadó. https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636640002 (Letöltve: 2024. 11. 21. https://mersz.hu/dokumentum/m1143vd__52/#m1143vd_50_p4)
APA
Sohár A. (szerk.) (2024). Varietas delectat. Akadémiai Kiadó. https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636640002. (Letöltve: 2024. 11. 21. https://mersz.hu/dokumentum/m1143vd__52/#m1143vd_50_p4)
Of the two reports on The Handmaid’s Tale in 1987, only one recommended a translation. The positive first report describes the social order of Gilead in brief statements.
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Hivatkozások
Válaszd ki a számodra megfelelő hivatkozásformátumot:
Harvard
Sohár Anikó (szerk.) (2024): Varietas delectat. : Akadémiai Kiadó.
https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636640002 Letöltve: https://mersz.hu/dokumentum/m1143vd__52/#m1143vd_50_p6 (2024. 11. 21.)
Chicago
Sohár Anikó, szerk. 2024. Varietas delectat. : Akadémiai Kiadó. https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636640002 (Letöltve: 2024. 11. 21. https://mersz.hu/dokumentum/m1143vd__52/#m1143vd_50_p6)
APA
Sohár A. (szerk.) (2024). Varietas delectat. Akadémiai Kiadó. https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636640002. (Letöltve: 2024. 11. 21. https://mersz.hu/dokumentum/m1143vd__52/#m1143vd_50_p6)
The president of the United States was shot, the members of the Congress were disarmed, the military declared a state of emergency. People became disoriented, hid in their homes and watched TV. The Constitution was “temporarily” suspended. There was no resistance, since no one knew where to look for the enemy. Censorship. Newspapers were banned. The female shop assistants were replaced by men.
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Hivatkozások
Válaszd ki a számodra megfelelő hivatkozásformátumot:
Harvard
Sohár Anikó (szerk.) (2024): Varietas delectat. : Akadémiai Kiadó.
https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636640002 Letöltve: https://mersz.hu/dokumentum/m1143vd__52/#m1143vd_50_p8 (2024. 11. 21.)
Chicago
Sohár Anikó, szerk. 2024. Varietas delectat. : Akadémiai Kiadó. https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636640002 (Letöltve: 2024. 11. 21. https://mersz.hu/dokumentum/m1143vd__52/#m1143vd_50_p8)
APA
Sohár A. (szerk.) (2024). Varietas delectat. Akadémiai Kiadó. https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636640002. (Letöltve: 2024. 11. 21. https://mersz.hu/dokumentum/m1143vd__52/#m1143vd_50_p8)
In the description of the plot, the reviewer obviously tries to push the novel through the selection process when the taboo topics are mentioned but notes that the sexual relationship between Offred and the Commander is “pronouncedly free of any eroticism”, thus it meets the aesthetic requirements of Socialist literature as described above. The reviewer emphasizes that the lack of humor in the novel is resolved only in the last chapter, which is rich in humor and irony. And since before the political change the genre of science fiction fell into the permitted and mostly in the not promoted category (Sohár, 1999; Sohár, 2022), the reviewer adds: “An excellent writer, a fairly well written sci-fi /without sci/?” At the end of the reader’s report, the author notes the “inconsolable hopelessness” of the novel: “Only the lives cannot be replaced any more. /How many times has this been the case in our own history?!/” This overt personal reflection does not appear in any of the twenty-two examined reports before 1987. This first report, on the one hand, mentions key aspects why the novel conforms to the ideals of Socialist literature, on the other hand, makes a straightforward, clear political statement at the end of the report. The second reviewer is outspoken about why the novel is not for publication. The reviewer rejects the idea of “a revolution that creates a totalitarian dictatorship” along gender lines and considers the novel to be boring, even disgusting, and merely a copy of George Orwell’s prose that carries a “real trouvaille” (1988). The name of Orwell is an important reference here, as none of his books were published in Hungarian until 1989 (Czigányik, 2011: 226) and only samizdat copies of Nineteen Eighty-Four in Hungarian were circulating among intellectuals. The reviewer considers the novel to belong to the genre of utopia and science fiction, and harshly criticizes Atwood for using templates that are stereotypical of sci-fi. The literary genre of dystopia is not mentioned, probably due to the fact that this category was prohibited during the Communist era.
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Hivatkozások
Válaszd ki a számodra megfelelő hivatkozásformátumot:
Harvard
Sohár Anikó (szerk.) (2024): Varietas delectat. : Akadémiai Kiadó.
https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636640002 Letöltve: https://mersz.hu/dokumentum/m1143vd__52/#m1143vd_50_p9 (2024. 11. 21.)
Chicago
Sohár Anikó, szerk. 2024. Varietas delectat. : Akadémiai Kiadó. https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636640002 (Letöltve: 2024. 11. 21. https://mersz.hu/dokumentum/m1143vd__52/#m1143vd_50_p9)
APA
Sohár A. (szerk.) (2024). Varietas delectat. Akadémiai Kiadó. https://doi.org/10.1556/9789636640002. (Letöltve: 2024. 11. 21. https://mersz.hu/dokumentum/m1143vd__52/#m1143vd_50_p9)
After the political change, in November 1990, Cat’s Eye, a novel which had been published in Canada in 1988, was considered by the Hungarian publisher. A change can be noted in the way the plot is summarized in the report. Not only success is referred to be a driver for translation, but the 1956 revolution is also mentioned. This historical event was a taboo during the Communist era. The first reviewer considers the novel to be “a deservedly successful novel, worth publishing in Hungarian translation” in which a 1956 Hungarian refugee, a teacher of the protagonist, also appears,2 although only briefly. The second reviewer does not go into detail about the multilayered nature of Canadian society, only mentions: “Elaine is on a time travel between the present time and the time of her childhood and youth, that is the 1940s and 50s’ Canada.”