Algunos problemas prácticos de traducción relacionados con el
concepto de “traducción filológica” (en el ejemplo de la
traducción de las obras de C. Simon del francés al ruso)
Some practical translation problems related to the concept of “philological translation”
(on the example of the translation of C. Simon’s works from French to Russian)
Vishnyakov A. G.
1a
, Kasatkina O. A.
2
, Maslechkina S. V.
3
, Filatova N. A.
4
, Ivanova N. A.
5
State University of Humanities and Technology, Russia
12345
Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5906-9860
1
Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2409-9354
2
Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0351-6956
3
Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3386-4740
4
Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6190-8969
5
Recibido: 03 de enero 2020 Aceptado: 09 de junio 2020
Resumen
El propósito de este trabajo es presentar una hipótesis sobre la “traducción filológica” de textos
literarios de mayor complejidad y probarla en el material de obras específicas. Basado en el
material de los estudios de traducción rusa y extranjera, el documento formula el concepto de
"traducción filológica" en el apéndice de un proyecto editorial específico dentro de la serie
"Monumentos literarios" publicada por el Instituto de Literatura Mundial de la Academia de
Ciencias de Rusia, y considera los aspectos prácticos más importantes del problema de la
traducción adecuada de textos literarios de mayor complejidad. El análisis de la traducción de
dos obras por el representante de la Nueva Novela francesa Claude Simon ilustra claramente el
ejemplo de una “traducción filológica”. En el curso del estudio, los autores llegaron a la
conclusión de que una traducción filológica implica una apelación a un texto que es clásico en
su riqueza, complejidad y significado en la literatura mundial. El potencial comercial de traducir
un texto de este tipo no es obvio y requiere que el editor renuncie a la rentabilidad a corto plazo,
que el traductor renuncie al trabajo de rutina que se ajusta a un marco de tiempo predeterminado
y que el lector deje de centrarse en lo no problemático (no conflicto, sin complicaciones), lineal,
lectura / consumo de una sola vez del libro a favor de volver a leer / saborear.
Palabras clave: traducción filológica, adecuación de la traducción literaria, "biblioteca de las
Pléyades", "Monumentos literarios", Claude Simon, Nueva novela.
a
Correspondencia al autor
E-mail: a.g.vishnyakov@gmail.com
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Apuntes Universitarios, 2020:
10(3), julio-setiembre
I
SSN: 2304-0335 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17162/au.v10i3.479
apuntesuniversitarios.upeu.edu.pe
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to put forward a hypothesis about the “philological translation” of
literary texts of increased complexity and test it on the material of specific works. Based on the
material of Russian and foreign translation studies, this paper formulates the concept of
“philological translation” in the appendix to a specific publishing project within the series
“Literary monuments” published by the Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy
of Sciences, and considers the most important practical aspects of the problem of adequate
translation of literary texts of increased complexity. The analysis of the translation of two works
by the representative of the French New Novel Claude Simon illustrates clearly the example of
a “philological translation”. In the course of the study, the authors came to the conclusion that
a philological translation implies an appeal to a text that is classical in its richness, complexity,
and significance in world literature. The commercial potential of translating such a text is not
obvious and requires the publisher to give up short-term profitability, the translator to give up
routine work that fits into a predetermined time frame, and the reader to give up focusing on
non-problematic (non-conflict, uncomplicated), linear, one-time reading/consumption of the
book in favor of re-reading/savoring.
Keywords: philological translation, adequacy of literary translation, “library of the Pleiades”,
“Literary monuments”, Claude Simon, New novel.
Introduction
In the modern world, where the number and complexity of translated texts is rapidly
increasing, the problem of adequate translation of texts of increased complexity in general and
literary texts in particular is becoming more and more urgent. The experience of the last decades
has convincingly shown that it is impossible to solve this problem by using information and
computer technologies alone. In this light, this study, which analyzes the problem of translation
adequacy in its application to the most complex type of foreign language text, a literary text, is
very relevant and useful for literary critics and linguists.
The scientific novelty consists in the introduction of a new concept of translation studies
(“philological translation”) and the experience of its practical application to the translation of
specific literary texts. The object of the paper is the concept of “philological translation”, and
the subject is the application of this type of translation to the translation of Claude Simon’s texts
into Russian. The purpose of this paper is to put forward a hypothesis about the “philological
translation” of literary texts of increased complexity and test it on the material of specific works.
Materials and methods of research
The research material was Simon’s works “L'Herbe (The Grass)”, “La Route des
Flandres (The Flanders Road)”, “L'Invitation (The Invitation)” and their translations into
Russian, made by A. Vishnyakov (2015). The following methods were used during the study:
historical and genetic method, typological method, comparative and historical method, method
of theoretical poetics, hermeneutical and interpretative method.
Any attempts to classify in the humanitarian sphere, and in literary studies and translation
studies in particular, are always vulnerable and hampered by the initial impossibility of reducing
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the source material (language and literary works in the original language or translation) to a
mathematical “common denominator”. Nevertheless, the desire to classify is irresistible in most
humanitarians, what is described well by the French semiotician, who did it almost better than
anyone, Gerard Genette, who believed that of the various forms of libido already known or still
waiting to be discovered, libido classificandi and/or nominandi, is “the only one that can be
considered absolutely legitimate” (Charles, 2019; 5).
In our opinion, many Russian-language and translated works require additional reference
equipment in the form of comments, scientific papers about the author’s epoch and poetics, etc.
These additions are an integral part of the preparation and publication of a “philological
translation” of a foreign language text.
Results and discussion
The method of “philological translation” in practice (on the example of the translation of C.
Simon’s works from French into Russian)
The volume of selected works by the French writer Claude Simon, which is being
prepared for the Literary monuments series by one of the co-authors of this paper, will include
two of his works – the novel “The Grass” (“L'herbe”, 1958) and the 1988 work “The Invitation”
(“L'invitation”). Consideration of the features of the first of these two texts is beyond the scope
of this paper. Nevertheless, we note that this novel is characterized by a transitional, borderline
situation - between the norm (language, genre, stylistic) and its violation, or even destruction,
which is difficult to perceive and is perceived by native French speakers themselves and presents
significant difficulties when it is translated into a foreign language, which implies mandatory
rooting in the language norm of the translation language.
The basis of the energy potential of both novels is a dynamic fluctuation from the Norm
(in the broadest sense of the term) to its vanguard or modernist negation, a scurrying from one
to another level of the work texture, a transmuting passage through it, which results in the
original text of the work. But in most cases, because of the disparate nature of languages, the
translator must choose from two extremes (or even a multitude of teeming diverse
manifestations) of the “quivering sense” (“sens tremble”) – one of Simon’s favorite aesthetic
and rational attitudes – only one unambiguous side, characteristic, feature.
Just in such cases, comments are required that explain the acceptable—secret and
explicit—ways of understanding the text, as well as all sorts of allusions, stylistic figures, puns
created for a native speaker, connotative meanings of words that do not have parallels in the
translation language. The result of this “philological translation” will be not so much the
replacement of the original text with its translation, but rather their productive, often polemical,
dialogue, which encourages the reader to go beyond the usual boundaries of his aesthetic
expectations and wider – languages, traditions of literary translation and socio-cultural
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stereotypes.
In the practice of translation studies, critical analysis of specific translations is based, as
a rule, “on an intuitive view of the genre-stylistic norm” (Kazakova, 2003; Marandi, &
Homayonnia, 2019). But returning to the Claude Simon’s novels, we note that in relation to
them, as well as many masterpieces of world literature, it is often difficult, and in some ones it
is hardly necessary. In this light, interpretative commentary on the most complex and ambiguous
fragments of the original text based on the proposed translation (translation options) is acceptable
and even mandatory (especially in the framework of such a publication as “Literary
Monuments”, designed for a demanding and prepared reader, both a lover of literature and a
specialist in its study).
The principal linguistic feature of the translation of Claude Simon’s books, as well as
other representatives of the French New Novel, is the need, unfortunately ignored by many
translators, to convey their unusual treatment of grammar, vocabulary, stylistic registers, syntax
(complex multi-page phrases without capital letters and most of the usual punctuation marks,
unconventional use of the system of grammatical tenses, systematic play on the polysemy of
words) of the French language, which is traditionally proud of its regularity, “clarity”: “Ce qui
n’est pas clair n’est pas français”.
In order for the reader to understand these features adequately, the translator should, as
it seems, offer in the comments an overview of the genesis and evolution of the novel: from
Balzac to Proust, from the development of the matrix of the modern novel in the XIX century to
its significant – up to the destruction –adjustment by the avant-gardists of the XX century. It is
equally important to note for the reader of translation the fundamental differences in the
perception of syntax and, more generally, grammar of the text by the French readers, as many
phenomena of the Simon’s text is particularly challenging for direct translation generated by the
protest against this inert and extremely rationalized matrix of French grammar. Protest, but also
play with it, often eludes the Russian-speaking reader due to a number of fundamental
differences in languages.
The language of Claude Simon’s novels, including the “The Flanders Road” and “The
Invitation” discussed below, combines long ago noticed properties of the French language
originally and paradoxically that were rejected by this writer at a superficial glance: emotional
expressiveness and the desire for rational clarity and transparency, noted by the first
grammarians (for example, D. Buur, a French grammarian and Jesuit of the XVII century, to
whom the words quoted below belong): “the French are sharp and mobile by nature, irrepressible
and passionate – they have a laconic and ensouled language, in which there is not a drop of
languid bliss”. As a Frenchman is considered to be more concise and less prone to hyperbole or
metaphor than a Spaniard or an Italian, he will express himself in a more mature language, the
queen of which is brevity” (Tourrette, 2017; 83).
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The following quotation mentions a number of narrative and poetic features of Claude
Simon’s books that make them difficult to understand in the original language and even more
difficult for their adequate translation and further perception of the translated text by the reader,
and much will depend on the “similarities and differences in the language pictures of the world”
(Shatilova et al., 2018; Abolfathi, & Taebi, 2019), of the original and translation languages.
Unlike metaphors or similes, analogy, which is referred to in the quotation below – one of the
methodological and aesthetic foundations of the Claude Simon’s style – is much more difficult
to be adequately transmitted by means of a foreign language, in our case Russian (especially in
pure language level, tied to lexical and grammatical features of the French language), without
reference to the capabilities of the “philological translation” (commentary, variance,
explanations, deviations from standard Russian language). The composition of Claude Simon’s
novels is distinguished, at first glance, by the intertwining of different stories depicting different
characters in different eras and places. The combination of diegetic heterogeneity often falls to
the narrator-hero’s share, in whose memory the matter of these incompatible stories is bounded.
Moreover, the nature of the relations that unite these stories becomes clearer when referring to
the concept of analogy, understood both as a mental device and as a poetic principle of
composition. It is interesting that “the concept of analogy oscillates between two divergent and
even antagonistic definitions. For our contemporaries, an analogy is a kind of fuzzy similarity,
perhaps spectacular, but always deceptive. For the Ancients, on the contrary, it is a process of
clear reasoning, governed by strict laws” (Michel, 2014; 193). Interestingly, the concept of
analogy, “translation by analogy” is not allowed for obvious reasons when translating
terminology, where they are allowed “to appeal only in exceptional cases – when there is no
corresponding equivalent in the Russian language” (Pisarikhina, 2016 ; 82).
Summing up some results of my own experience of a translation of Claude Simon, one
of the authors of this paper wrote in the review of the novel “The Grass” intended for foreign
researchers and readers of Nobel laureate 1985: “Thus, I involve the reader in what Russian
formalists, so dear top Simon, called debarment, opening in what seems to be normal and well-
adjusted, something strange, unusual, through which comes forth the true and new. The reader
becomes a student in the Claude Simon’s workshop, where the chaotic and bizarre are fraught
with a rush to the world, “where everything is – order and beauty” (Vishnyakov, 2015; 118).
A practical illustration of the ideas of this paper can be the analysis of the experience of
translating into Russian the works of one of the most complex authors of the French New Novel
– Claude Simon. The material will be Elena Babun’s translation of Simon’s most famous novel
“The Flanders Roads”, a translation of the novel “The Grass” prepared for the “Literary
Monuments” series, and a very unusual example of the translation of Simon’s 1987 work “The
Invitation” by three translators who did not know about the work of the other two and,
consequently, found and made mistakes completely independently of each other.
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The translation of one of the most difficult to transmit by means of a foreign language
novel by Claude Simon and wider - modern French literature - “The Flanders Roads” is
performed at a fairly high level, especially in view of the ideological and socio-cultural situation
of the Soviet Union in the 1980s. The translator tried to convey as accurately as possible the
content of the novel (the usual for Simon, but exotic for Soviet literature mixture of Eros and
Thanatos) and its formal features. Let us first look at how she managed to do the second. The
most important features of this writer’s style are: the unusual use of tenses (present and imparfait,
first of all), verbal forms of participles and adverbs, which often destroy the usual hierarchy of
relationships, becoming, along with verbs and nouns, completely autonomous and independent
of them members of his “periods” (which are sometimes difficult to call sentences, because they
may lack the beginning, end, and most punctuation marks), translating the action from “reality”
with its mutually correlated perfective and imperfective tenses of verbs into a colloidal hybrid
of fantasy and memory.
E. Babun, trying to “comb” the text, often replaces the present tense with imparfait,
participles and adverbs with a verb in the present or in passé simple, which turns Simon’s
branded oniric descriptions into quite realistic ones, in the manner of Balzac or Zola. An example
of such a “corrective translation” is the scene of the death of a fellow soldier of the main character
Vack under German bullets, in which only two of the ten present participles are correctly
transmitted, and the rest are replaced by verbs in the past and present tense. The translator’s
omission of the last word is no less significant in this fragment, a personal prepositional pronoun,
which, despite the impossibility of using it in isolation from its verb, is used exactly this way:
despite the fact that in Russian such a deviation from the requirements of school grammar looks
much less heretical, the translator normalized it, giving completeness to what in the Simon’s
poetics is defiantly open and incomplete both the utterance itself and its form: see Illustration 1.
Illustration 1
Fragment of the translation of the novels “The Flanders Roads” and “The Invitation” by
Claude Simon
Fragment of the original text: see “La Route des Flandres” (Duffy & Duncan, 2002; 303).
“The Flanders Roads”, Elena Babun’s translation, 1983: “[...]kak budto on vsyo eshchyo
prodolzhal skakat' na kakom-to nevidimom Pegase kotoryj vzbryknuv perebrosil ego cherez
golovu vynudiv takim obrazom vypolnit' vsyo v tom zhe zamedlennom tempe i tak skazat' na
meste dvojnoe i ves'ma riskovannoe sal'to kotoroe on vskore pokazal mne vniz golovoj po
prezhnemu s shiroko otkrytym rtom vsyo v tom zhe krike (ili sovete kotoryj on pytalsya
prokrichat' mne) v etom bezmolvnom krike potom lezhashchim v vozduhe na spine kak lezhit v
gamake otdyhayushchij dachnik svesiv nogi sprava i sleva two words are omitted v vertikal'nom
polozhenii uzhe golovoj vverh a nogi postepenno teryali prezhnyuyu poziciyu vsadnika i
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sdvinutye vmeste svisali uzhe parallel'no potom ego razvernulo na zhivot obe ruki vytyanulis'
vperyod ladoni raskrylis' slovno on sobiralsya skhvatit' pojmat' chto-to chto nahodilos' na
nekotorom ot nego rasstoyanii kak cirkovoj akrobat v tot mig kogda on visit ni za chto ne derzhas'
mezhdu dvumya trapeciyami i telo ego ne podchineno zakonu zemnogo prityazheniya potom v
konce koncov golova ego snova ochutilas' vnizu nogi razoshlis' v storony a ruki raskinulis'
krestom budto on zhelal pregradit' mne put' no teper' polnost'yu nepodvizhnyj vlipshij v
pridorozhnyj otkos ne shevelyas' bol'she i glyadya pryamo na menya na ego lice zastylo
udivlyonno-glupoe vyrazhenie ya podumal Bednyaga Vak vsegda-to u nego byl idiotskij vid no
sejchas eshchyo bolee idiotskij chem obychno, / a word is omitted / [...]” (Duffy & Duncan,
2002; 462-463).
The facts of self-censorship in relation to the content (which would never be allowed by
a translator who adheres to the “philological translation” discussed in this paper) will be briefly
considered in the erotic passages from the novel by Claude Simon. The translator completely
omitted the erotic segments of the text (and with them also the Simon’s paradoxical arguments
on a variety of topics, which has always been his bright feature), appearing in the original text
of the novel on pages 325-326, 372-373, 385. None of the 12 uses of the verb pénétrer, almost
always accompanied by erotic connotations, is preserved in the translation. A description of the
classic for all times and peoples drawing “oval divided in two” (p. 385) and a whole fragment
about “two hieroglyphs of two primary elements” is omitted (p. 395-396).
A comparison of three translations of Simon’s small text “The Invitation” made by
translators, and none of them was aware of the work of the other two, almost in the same period,
in the late 1980s (see Illustration 2), can be no less indicative for the topic of this paper. The
main features of these translations are highlighted in the text of the illustration. And here it is
characteristic that the translation by a professional philologist, an employee of the Institute of
World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences Marina Arias-Vikhil should be recognized
as the most successful and adequate, which is quite close to what is called in this paper
“philological translation” - not only in essential adequate to the original transmission of the
content of the text, but also on the formal level, which in this example is quantitative, but very
important from the different points of view, criteria of volume of original text and translation
and that is difficult (and often not even set as a goal) identities in number and functions of used
punctuation. According to both these criteria, the translation of M. Arias-Vikhil is ahead of the
other two.
These examples show clearly that only a competent and conscious approach to solving
many subtle, implicit, complex linguistic, socio-cultural or aesthetic problems can provide
adequate translation of complex texts, which include many works of classical and modern
literature. It is in such cases that it becomes possible and even necessary to use the type that was
at the center of this paper – philological translation.
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Illustration 2
Fragment of the original text: see “L’Invitation” (Duffy & Duncan, 2002; 384).
“The Invitation”, translated by Natalia Gorbanevskaya, Marina Arias-Vikhil, Ekaterina
Lyamina.
Natalia Gorbanevskaya, 1989 (937 symbols. 31 punctuation mark): “V techenie vsego
vremeni, kotoroe oni proveli u podnozh'ya ispolinskoj gory, oni neprestanno slyshali gornuyu
reku. Ona byla zdes', nevidimaya, skrytaya v ushchel'e, gde rosli topolya, nedostizhimaya, po tu
storonu vysochennoj reshyotki, kotoraya okruzhala park s roskoshnymi dachami, i po eyo
shumu, neustannomu, yarostnomu shipen'yu, mozhno bylo eyo voobrazit', penistuyu, s
burlyashchej vodoj, /a word is omitted/ beskonechno skatyvayushchuyusya, probivshuyusya gde-
to iz kakogo-to fantasticheskogo lednika i nakonec vyryvayushchuyusya na ravninu (ravnina,
issushennaya step', gde ej predstoit ischeznut') posle togo, kak ona preodolela tesnye gorloviny,
perekatilas' s poroga na porog, vsyo eshchyo yarostnaya, otfyrkivayas', potryasaya svoej
vodyanoj, ischerna-serebryanoj grivoj, bez konca perepletaya svoi tekuchie kosy, kipya tak,
slovno ot staroj chudovishchnoj gory bezostanovochno donosilsya v vide gluhogo mychaniya
golos kakogo-to chudishcha, kakogo-to izdevatel'skogo orakula, ravnodushnogo, hranyashchego
nekuyu tajnu bez tajny” (Duffy & Duncan, 2002; 323).
Marina Arias-Vikhil, 1988 (quoted from a manuscript edited by A.G. Vishnyakov, 821
symbols, 28 punctuation marks): “Vsyo vremya, poka oni nahodilis' u podnozhiya gornoj
gromady, oni /a word is omitted/ slyshali shum potoka. On shumel sovsem ryadom, nevidimyj,
pryachas' v nizine, zarosshej topolyami, nedosyagaemyj za nepristupnoj ogradoj, okruzhavshej
park s roskoshnymi rezidenciyami, i po ego shumu, neskonchaemomu burleniyu, shipeniyu
mozhno bylo voobrazit' ego penyashchimsya, stremitel'no nesushchimsya vniz, vzdymaya vody,
istekayushchie otkuda-to iz /a word is omitted/ fantasticheskogo lednika, i vybirayushchimsya,
nakonec, na ravninu (zasushlivuyu step', v kotoroj emu suzhdeno zateryat'sya), projdya skvoz'
uzkie ushchel'ya, /a word is omitted/ yarostno obrushivayas' /the past infinitive is replaced by
the past participle/ vodopadami, /a word is omitted/ potryasaya vodyanymi grebnyami, cherno-
serebristymi, perepletaya bez konca svoi vodyanye kosy, burlya, budto s drevnej,
vnushayushchej uzhas gory neprestanno donosilos' gluhoe rychanie nevedomogo chudovishcha,
nasmeshlivogo, ravnodushnogo orakula, vladeyushchego nekimi tajnami bez tajny”.
Ekaterina Lyamina, 2003 (947 symbols, 35 punctuation marks): “V prodolzhenie vsego
vremeni, provedyonnogo imi u podnozhiya uzhasnoj gory, oni ne perestavali slyshat' potok. On
byl tam, nevidimyj, skrytyj v nizine, gde rosli topolya, nedosyagaemyj iz-za vysokoj i krepkoj
reshyotki, kotoroj byl obnesyon park s roskoshnymi rezidenciyami, i, slushaya ego shum,
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nemolchnyj i zhivoj, mozhno bylo predstavit', kak on bez ustali nesyot svoi vody vniz, penyas' i
podprygivaya, vyhodya na svet neizvestno gde, iz kakogo-nibud' fantasticheskogo lednika, i
nakonec ustremlyaetsya na ravninu (ravnina, issohshaya step', gde emu predstoyalo ischeznut'),
preodolev tesniny ushchelij, sprygnuv /the past infinitive is replaced by the past participle/ s
ustupa odnim, zatem drugim vodopadom, eshchyo serdityj, pleshchushchijsya, /a word is
omitted/ vstryahivayushchij zavitkami vodyanoj grivy, chyorno-serebryanyj, bez konca
perepletayushchij svoi tekuchie kosy, burlyashchij, kak esli by iz nedr drevnej i strashnoj gory
nepreryvno donosilsya gluhoj ryk – golos kakogo-to chudovishcha, kakogo-to nasmeshlivogo,
ravnodushnogo orakula, znayushchego tajnu, v kotoroj net tajny” (Duffy & Duncan, 2002: 59).
Illustration 3.
Comparative table of translation features of the three translators of the C. Simon’s work
“The Invitation”.
The author of the translation
Translation evaluation features
and criteria
N.Gorbanevskaya
E.Lyamina
Year and the translation status
1989, published
2003,
published
Number of symbols compared to the
original
937/988
947/988
Number of punctuation marks
compared to the original
31/24
35/24
Unsuccessful (incorrect) options
7
14
Omitting (missing) words
1
2
Successful translation options
9
2
Adequacy of translation in
accordance with the above criteria
High
Sufficient
Conclusions
As we can see, with more or less successful prevention of the almost inevitable increase
in volume when translating from analytical French into synthetic Russian (especially such a
complex text as a novel by Claude Simon), all four translators – consciously or unconsciously,
due to established traditions – on the one hand, normalized (most often clarifying, simplifying
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the original) the text of the translation, on the other hand – weighed down (trying to make the
text more “accessible” ) its grammatical and syntactic, primarily syntactic design, which found
expression in increasing the variety and number of punctuation marks. The philological
translation considers these and similar “translation solutions” unacceptable, striving for what can
be called “understanding of the text” of the original, as true as possible, if necessary, multi -
variant and annotated, the translation of its artistic and semantic features. The linguistic aspect
of this problem is considered in the article by N.A. Filatova “On the history of Russian-French
language contacts: biographical notes” (Duffy & Duncan, 2002).
Based on all of the above, we will try to offer a definition (or rather, due to the small
development of this topic and the specifics of its subject – a systematizing description) of a
philological translation, without fear of the inevitable exaggeration of schematics, in many of its
operating characteristics are not approval, and denial that characterize the phenomenon, not
narrowing it with a priori attitudes that are fundamentally important for such object of study as
a literary text, which is intended to be a linguistic translation of a literary text. For greater clarity,
we will resort to the form of abstracts.
1. Philological translation means referring to a text that is classical in its richness,
complexity, and significance in world literature.
2. The commercial potential of translating such a text is not obvious and requires the
publisher to give up short-term profitability, the translator to give up routine work
that fits into a predetermined time frame, and the reader to give up focusing on non-
problematic (non-conflict, uncomplicated), linear, one-time reading/consumption of
the book in favor of rereading/savoring
3. Priority of the translated text over the translation is recognized in this case as
undisputed, which leads to several consequences in the choice of translation tactics
and strategy: to abandon the attempt to hide the secondary nature of the read text, to
the resultant abandonment of “taming”, the assimilation of alien and not essential in
the form and content of the translated text and the rejection of prescriptively in favor
of descriptively (no matter how deeply the translator would dive into the world of the
translated text, he will never reach the author’s scale of the perception of the text,
which means that the hypothetical description in his work should be systematically
preferred to the categorical prescription), to the refusal to focus only on the single-
cultural reader and publisher; to the priority of loyalty in any difficult situations to
the alien, different and strange writer and his text.
4. A direct and unavoidable consequence of the above is a greater or lesser weighting
and complication of the translation text in comparison with both the original and the
usual models of the translated text, which is possible only with a “pact of trust”
between the translator, the reader and the publisher. The reader and publisher come
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to the signing of this pact with their own requirements and capabilities, which,
although they should be taken into account by the translator, should not have a
decisive impact on him. As far as the translator is concerned, the basis of such a pact
is the highest possible level of understanding of the translated text, the poetics and
problems of the translated author in this place and at this moment.
5. The translator must not only have all the usual professional competencies, but also
be in constant contact with experts in the work of the translated author, ideally – be
one of them.
6. The latter implies the need for the institute of scientific editing and reference-critical
apparatus that accompanies the text of the translation in order to mitigate its
inevitable rigid one-dimensionality in the conditions of entering a foreign language
and foreign cultural environment. The reference and critical apparatus of publishing
a philological translation is designed to avoid both overly dry and detailed factual
and scientific problems, and overly emotional subjectivity, essays of newspaper and
magazine criticism.
7. The essential task of this device is to compensate for the inevitable – various and
multi- level– losses of the original text in translation, which can be done in a variety
of ways: from simply pointing out the loss and explaining the reasons for it to trying
to indicate the lost in an informative or artistic way, giving the reader the opportunity,
if not to see, then at least to imagine the dynamic cosmogony of the original.
8. Occupying a relatively modest place in the hierarchy of scientific sources, this
apparatus must, however, meet the strictest formal criteria of scientific discourse
imposed on scientific publications, which does not exclude, but emphasizes its
significant content, methodological and stylistic freedom, if not analogous, then
congruent to the boundless and self-sufficient freedom inherent in the literary text.
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