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Polysystems Theory

Polysystems Theory. Literary Translation. Russian Formalism – literature as ‘technique’ and literature as ‘system’. Matejka, Pomorska (ed), Readings in Russian Poetics, MIT, 1971 Shklovskij Tynjanov Jakobson.

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Polysystems Theory

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  1. Polysystems Theory Literary Translation

  2. Russian Formalism – literature as ‘technique’ and literature as ‘system’ • Matejka, Pomorska (ed), Readings in Russian Poetics, MIT, 1971 • Shklovskij • Tynjanov • Jakobson

  3. Structuralism – Robert Scholes, Structuralism in Literature, Yale University, 1974 • Universal principles that govern the literary use of language • Structuralism seeks to establish a model of the system of literature as the external reference for individual literary works • Structuralism seeks to explore the relationship between the system of literature and wider culture

  4. System and polysystem • Nation (language, ethnicity, religion, politics) >> national literature • Influence, ‘contact zones’ * >> genres • * M.L. Pratt, Imperial Eyes

  5. System and polysystem • Dynamic • Competing • Heterogeneous • Historical

  6. System and polysystem • Centre <> periphery • High <> low • Canon <> marginal genres • Stability <> instability/ change

  7. Literary communication Institution (context) Repertoire (code) Producer---------------------------------------------Consumer (writer) Market (contact) (reader) (addresser) Product (message) (addressee)

  8. Translation and literature • How are the source texts selected? Is this selection connected to the target literary system? • Is translated literature a system with its own characteristics? (See Venuti on demestication/foreignasation, or Anderman on European drama in Britain)

  9. How important is translated literature? • 1. When a literary system is ‘young’* • 2. When literature is peripheral • 3. Turning point or crisis * • See V. Macura in Translation, History and Culture (ed. S. Bassnett), M. Tymoczko,

  10. Evan Zohar • The dynamics within the polysystem creates turning points, that is to say, historical moments where established models are no longer tenable for a younger generation. At such moments, even in central literatures, translated literature may assume a central position. This is all the more true when at a turning point no item in the indigenous stock is taken to be acceptable, as a result of which a literary ‘‘vacuum’’ occurs. In such a vacuum, it is easy for foreign models to infiltrate, and translated literature mayc onsequently assume a central position.

  11. Examples • Epic and sonnet in Europe (see Mirror on Mirror) • Manga (see Stefansson in G.Palsson, Beyond Boundaries) • Eurocrime • Children’s literature • ‘’Scar’’ literature

  12. Polysystems approach • Translation strategies • If translation is important/primary, then the innovation through translation is more likely, target models are not necessarily followed • If translated literature is secondary, then target models may influence the translation strategy

  13. Polysystems approach • Target orientation – the study of translated texts and their functions in the TS • The study of translated texts within the target norms Itamar Even-Zohar • http://www.tau.ac.il/~itamarez/

  14. Polysystem and global culture • Transnational writing • Global literary system?

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