GENDER CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TRANSLATOR AND THEIR INTERPRETATIVE ROLE IN THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF LITERARY TRANSLATION

GENDER CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TRANSLATOR AND THEIR INTERPRETATIVE ROLE IN THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF LITERARY TRANSLATION

Author:  Leontyeva K.I.

Abstract:  For the last two decades the problem of influence of the translator’s gender on the transformation of the source text meaning, especially when women’s writing is concerned, has been one of the central issues of Western Translation Studies and nearly completely ignored within Russian paradigm. 
The present article explores several possible causes for such transformation, namely asymmetry of gender world views typical for the recipients of the source and target texts and asymmetry of the gender values relevant for the author and the translator. The latter factor being the central issue of the article is demonstrated by the example of several Russian translations of two English poems (by Carol Ann Duffy and Sylvia Plat), based on deconstructed gender stereotypes. 
The author shows that when the translator’s gender differs from the author’s one, rather often a special neutralizing strategy, purely ideological by its nature, is used, which results in mainly deliberate elimination (partial or complete) or/and substantial modification of gender-marked meaning components of the source text in compliance with gender values normal for the translator’s gender subculture. Such adaptive strategy called woman- or manhandling is destructive for the source text concept. The author supposes that the translator (interpretor) should be at least aware of the gender problem of literary translation. The arguments mentioned above make the importance of further detailed researching the issue within Russian theoretical and practical framework evident.

Keywords:  literary translation, gender, gender stereotypes, adaptation, ideology, woman-/manhandling, women’s writing

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Pages:  55-62