It's clearly not just about authorial intent. Authorial intent is only one of many problems in translating. When poetry gets translated these other factors are even more apparent. Word flow, the sound of certain phrases and how a translation is stylistically executed are as important, or even more important, than simple considerations of authorial intent.
The "broken" bridle point in the article is more a question of how cluttered and encumbered a simple French sentence should become in English. The dancing Salome point is a question of whether or not to explain a cultural reference via footnote (and break the scene flow), explain it by changing what is written or to just let it slip by the reader's attention and lose a bit of metaphor.
Most of the questions raised in the article have little to do with intent and much more to do with replicating stylistic devices (or not) and trying to find the right balance between literal translation and sentence flow in the second language. Did you read the article or just skim it?
The "broken" bridle point in the article is more a question of how cluttered and encumbered a simple French sentence should become in English. The dancing Salome point is a question of whether or not to explain a cultural reference via footnote (and break the scene flow), explain it by changing what is written or to just let it slip by the reader's attention and lose a bit of metaphor.
Most of the questions raised in the article have little to do with intent and much more to do with replicating stylistic devices (or not) and trying to find the right balance between literal translation and sentence flow in the second language. Did you read the article or just skim it?
Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
Julian Barnes on translation
- 18/11/2010 05:49:37 PM
1156 Views
That's a very interesting article. Though it does sound like he'd never be happy.
- 18/11/2010 08:06:09 PM
799 Views
That was a long article.
- 19/11/2010 07:05:12 PM
722 Views
Re: That was a long article.
- 19/11/2010 09:59:24 PM
708 Views
Yeah, I think English translations on average are better than those in smaller languages.
- 19/11/2010 10:16:44 PM
838 Views
On balance, I'm glad I read the Steegmuller translation when I read the novel.
- 20/11/2010 05:14:42 PM
654 Views
Vas-tu faire s’enculée, Camille!
- 20/11/2010 05:26:08 PM
743 Views
If you don't mind a few grammatical corrections of your swearing...
- 20/11/2010 05:42:57 PM
764 Views
- 20/11/2010 05:42:57 PM
764 Views
It was a quick and dirty rendering
- 20/11/2010 05:53:13 PM
687 Views
And I didn't order from France. It's a US-based company that I bought it from. *NM*
- 20/11/2010 05:54:55 PM
308 Views
I love Pleiade editions
- 21/11/2010 12:14:14 AM
694 Views
How tall are they, out of curiosity?
- 21/11/2010 12:50:57 AM
827 Views
Not tall
- 21/11/2010 09:59:55 AM
724 Views
I got my books today.
- 23/11/2010 05:38:20 AM
922 Views
Re: I got my books today.
- 23/11/2010 10:33:10 AM
734 Views
Regardless, if Pleiade is the best France has to offer, their book industry is awful.
- 23/11/2010 07:17:13 PM
987 Views
Re: Oh Authorial intent.
- 21/11/2010 02:07:27 AM
824 Views
Like hell it's about authorial intent.
- 21/11/2010 05:40:22 AM
740 Views
Re: I didn't even read it, I guessed based on the author's initials.
- 21/11/2010 01:37:40 PM
932 Views
So I take it you missed the whole part about Nabokov's translation of Eugene Onegin.
- 21/11/2010 03:28:14 PM
688 Views
Re: Yes, I missed all of that. Such a conclusion clearly follows from my previous response. *NM*
- 21/11/2010 03:57:16 PM
391 Views
Actually it does. Your responses are just cheap tricks, not discussions. *NM*
- 21/11/2010 04:44:21 PM
312 Views
Re: Cheap tricks?
- 21/11/2010 10:45:39 PM
785 Views
Barnes' article has little to do with authorial intent
- 21/11/2010 11:37:25 PM
724 Views
I think it is more about the "authentic experience" than about intent.
- 21/11/2010 10:01:57 AM
723 Views

