Lecture 10 translation of literary texts rendering of stylistic devices

“… a blockbuster of a novel. Each chapter leaves the reader banging and eager for more”. Сногсшибательный роман! После каждой главы читатель напряженно ждет продолжения. The reversed epithet is translated by a Russian epithet which is equally colloquial and expressive. Although the semantic aspect is not preserved, the two epithets may be regarded as equivalents because they possess a common seme, namely ―to knock down‖.

• “… a blockbuster of a novel. Each chapter leaves the reader banging and eager for more”. Сногсшибательный роман! После каждой главы читатель напряженно ждет продолжения. The reversed epithet is translated by a Russian epithet which is equally colloquial and expressive. Although the semantic aspect is not preserved, the two epithets may be regarded as equivalents because they possess a common seme, namely ―to knock down‖.

Original Metaphors and Their Translation.

• The preservation of original metaphors in imaginative prose is obligatory as they belong to the main features of a writer‘s individual style. If for some linguistic reason (different valence, different semantic structure, etc.) the original metaphor cannot be preserved, resort is taken to stylistic replacements or compensation either by substituting another image or by using another stylistic device, e.g.

A trite metaphor is sometimes revived by adding to it a new image expressed by one or more words. He was a rich vein of information, and I mined him assiduously. (G.Durrell). Он был неиссякаемым источником информации, и я без устали черпал из него. Sometimes the difficulty of rendering metaphors in translation is due to the fact that the metaphor is based on some phraseological unit which has no equivalent in Russian. Never before had Lucy met that negative silence in its full perfection, in its full cruelty. Her own edges began to curl up sympathy. (J. Tey). Никогда еще Люси не сталкивалась с таким абсолютным молчанием, столь характерным для англичан и столь беспощадным; и в ней самой начало закипать негодование.

• A trite metaphor is sometimes revived by adding to it a new image expressed by one or more words. He was a rich vein of information, and I mined him assiduously. (G.Durrell). Он был неиссякаемым источником информации, и я без устали черпал из него. Sometimes the difficulty of rendering metaphors in translation is due to the fact that the metaphor is based on some phraseological unit which has no equivalent in Russian. Never before had Lucy met that negative silence in its full perfection, in its full cruelty. Her own edges began to curl up sympathy. (J. Tey). Никогда еще Люси не сталкивалась с таким абсолютным молчанием, столь характерным для англичан и столь беспощадным; и в ней самой начало закипать негодование.