紀要論文

紀要論文

text

大阪大学言語文化学. 2022, 31, p. 83-101

日本語

text

2022-03-31

Inherent in the translation of foreign literary works, the inevitable occurrence of ennoblement̶the taking of source text and converting it into target text in a way that is more readable and rid of original complexity found in the source language̶has been a widely-focused area of interest among scholars, translators and publishers alike over the years. Ennoblement was included in the scholar Antoine Berman’s now-famous twelve deforming tendencies as a common consequence of translators trying to enhance the meaning intended by the author where necessary. Berman described source text as being ‘raw material’ that sometimes undergoes refinement and smoothing out of any original clumsiness in order to produce “elegant” sentences accessible to the target foreign audience. At the same time, academics have yet to settle on a uniform definition of ennoblement, which has only added to the complexity of research surrounding the translation of foreign literary works. This paper examines how ennoblement is played out in the English translation of Spring Snow, one of Mishima Yukio’s last novels before he committed suicide at the age of 45. As is often the case with Mishima’s writings in general, Spring Snow contained numerous play on words̶intentional repetitions, metaphors and the like̶that robbed the translator and the editors alike the ability to perform a mechanical, straightforward English translation of this Japanese masterpiece. Evidence uncovered by earlier research notes the many back-and-forths that took place behind the scenes as the Spring Snow commentators struggled to find the best way to interpret and convey Mishima’s words for the English audience without committing any inadvertent ennoblement on their part. This paper will argue that ennoblement occurs in Spring Snow̶as is often the case across many of Mishima’s translations̶in the following instances: (i) to better homogenize the rhetorics (e.g., repetitions and oxymorons) used in the story, (ii) to portray the characters in a more positive light and (iii) to refine the word choices and metaphors that would otherwise come out “funny” if translated verbatim into the target language. In so doing, this paper attempts to add to the growing body of research concerning the various causes for, as well as the definitive meaning of, ennoblement.

10.18910/87496

87496

三島文学の英語翻訳の高雅化 : 『豊饒の海』『春の雪』を中心に

寺浦, 麻由

大阪大学言語文化学会

日本語

2022-03-31

大阪大学言語文化学

31

83

101

https://hdl.handle.net/11094/87496

10.18910/87496

https://doi.org/10.18910/87496