Etienne Borgers (freeweb@rocketmail.com)
Wed, 22 Dec 1999 02:23:49 -0800 (PST)
--- James Rogers <jetan@ionet.net>
wrote:
> I pass this on as a curiosity:
>
> ''When I translated a book, especially
hard-boiled
> detective novels, like
> those by Mickey Spillane, from English into
Italian,
> I often had to do a
> parody of Italian detective novels to get the
right
> tone.
> "I could not do a literal translation of slang
like
> 'Mr. Big,' or have the
> detective say to a cab driver, 'Take me
downtown.'
> Italian readers would
> think that the American city was built
like
> Florence, partly on a hill,
> with an upper and lower town. - Umberto
Eco
Well, Umberto must be joking! Maybe that was all said
with tongue in cheek? And could be detected by the context
(?) of this declaration.
First, I cannot believe UE will only translate the english
text by a *literal* equivalent for each word: downtown? could
be easily translated by a word meaning central town,
commercial district..etc
I know that some English translation of some of his essays
did not satisfy him and he started to translate them later by
himself, with the help of a specialist... and he discovered
that he wrote finally something different in meaning in the
second language, and continued to develop it directly in
English - finally he translated this one back to Italian as
it was a totally different work, and now with another
title!
As you know, UE is not only a literary critic but also a
specialist in semiotics, applied to aesthetics and...
language. So, I guess the declaration was tinted with some
humor.
Anyway, the Italian language is the best to express shortly
what translation is all about:
"Traduttore, traditore!" (translator, traitor!)
Especially true for lit and even more so for pop lit!
Finally: Happy Birthday, list! And a very good Season's
Holiday to all of you.
Y2K seems to promise to be really HB thanks to a bunch of old
computer neirds, now mostly retreated as multimillionaires,
and whom never gave a damn for the consequences of their past
behavior.
So, stay tuned... and be prepared to take a peek on
globalisation of chaos during the coming months.
E.Borgers Hard-Boiled Mysteries http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6384
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