Trying to set foot in the translator’s laboratory is an effective method for figuring out which stylistic features are considered in the transfer from the source text to the target text, how they are relayed in the target language and why. This is the aim of an empirical study of a corpus of novels written by the Victorian author, E. G. Bulwer-Lytton (1803 – 1873) and translated by the famous Italian historian and contemporary to the author, Francesco Cusani (1802 – 1879). To that end, it is important to draw on studies on translational stylistics (Baker 2000, Malmkjær 2003, Boase-Beier 2006, Saldanha 2011) and theories on the relationship between paratexts andtranslation (Batchelor 2018), the conceptualization of ‘transtextuality’ (Genette 1997a, 1997b) and of ‘style of a text’ (Leech and Short 1981). Bulwer-Lytton, with his international profile, was one of the most coveted novelists by the European editors of his epoch, as demonstrated by Bulwer-Lytton’s biographies (Mitchell 2003, Bulwer-Lytton 1913) and by the different and several translations of his literary works (which sometimes became also operas, like Rienzi (1842) or Viola Pisani (1872) – this last one is a theatrical version of his novel Zanoni, written in 1842). Francesco Cusani, before becoming a famous historian, was the preeminent translator of Bulwer-Lytton’s novels of his time (Vittori 1985), translating The Last Days of Pompeii (1834), Rienzi (1835), Ernest Maltravers (1837), Alice (1838) and Zanoni (1842). In this presentation I will show how Cusani's use of paratexts in his translations of Bulwer-Lytton’s novels helps us to identify the author’s profile and his stylistic choices as writer, as well as some of the main aspects of the translational process, the target text’s stylistic features and the profile of Cusani.

Paratexts in E.G. Bulwer-Lytton’s Novels: Towards a Translational Stylistic Analysis

Marco Barletta
2021-01-01

Abstract

Trying to set foot in the translator’s laboratory is an effective method for figuring out which stylistic features are considered in the transfer from the source text to the target text, how they are relayed in the target language and why. This is the aim of an empirical study of a corpus of novels written by the Victorian author, E. G. Bulwer-Lytton (1803 – 1873) and translated by the famous Italian historian and contemporary to the author, Francesco Cusani (1802 – 1879). To that end, it is important to draw on studies on translational stylistics (Baker 2000, Malmkjær 2003, Boase-Beier 2006, Saldanha 2011) and theories on the relationship between paratexts andtranslation (Batchelor 2018), the conceptualization of ‘transtextuality’ (Genette 1997a, 1997b) and of ‘style of a text’ (Leech and Short 1981). Bulwer-Lytton, with his international profile, was one of the most coveted novelists by the European editors of his epoch, as demonstrated by Bulwer-Lytton’s biographies (Mitchell 2003, Bulwer-Lytton 1913) and by the different and several translations of his literary works (which sometimes became also operas, like Rienzi (1842) or Viola Pisani (1872) – this last one is a theatrical version of his novel Zanoni, written in 1842). Francesco Cusani, before becoming a famous historian, was the preeminent translator of Bulwer-Lytton’s novels of his time (Vittori 1985), translating The Last Days of Pompeii (1834), Rienzi (1835), Ernest Maltravers (1837), Alice (1838) and Zanoni (1842). In this presentation I will show how Cusani's use of paratexts in his translations of Bulwer-Lytton’s novels helps us to identify the author’s profile and his stylistic choices as writer, as well as some of the main aspects of the translational process, the target text’s stylistic features and the profile of Cusani.
2021
1-5275-7244-7
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11586/373784
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