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Editor / Translator:
Stuart Robson
Contributor:
Hadi Sidomulyo
Javanese, a major language of Southeast Asia, possesses a little-known literature, occurring in various phases, Old, Middle and Modern. This publication presents a remarkable example, from the poetical literature of Middle Javanese, in an edited text with English translation and an extensive commentary. The aim is to acquaint a wider audience with this literature, in the hope of drawing attention to its fascinating qualities. Set principally in the Singhasari area of East Java, the narrative follows the journey of the lovers, Pañji Margasmara and Ken Candrasari, offering a glimpse of the beauty of the Javanese landscape in the 15th century. The cultural, historical and archaeological details preserved in the text help to shed light on the closing years of Majapahit, a largely unexplored period in Javanese history, before the age of Islam.
A Middle Javanese Romance
Javanese, a major language of Southeast Asia, possesses a little-known literature, occurring in various phases, Old, Middle and Modern. This publication presents a remarkable example, from the poetical literature of Middle Javanese, in an edited text with English translation and an extensive commentary. The aim is to acquaint a wider audience with this literature, in the hope of drawing attention to its fascinating qualities. Set principally in the Singhasari area of East Java, the narrative follows the journey of the lovers, Pañji Margasmara and Ken Candrasari, offering a glimpse of the beauty of the Javanese landscape in the 15th century. The cultural, historical and archaeological details preserved in the text help to shed light on the closing years of Majapahit, a largely unexplored period in Javanese history, before the age of Islam.
Volter Kilpi in Orbit Beyond (Un)translatability
One of the hottest battles emerging out of the theoretical and methodological collisions between Comparative Literature and Translation Studies—especially on the battleground of World Literature—has to do with translatability and untranslatability. Is any translation of a great work of literature not only a lamentable betrayal but an impossibility? Or is translation an imperfect but invaluable tool for the transmission of works and ideas beyond language barriers?
Both views are defensible; indeed both are arguably commonsensical. What Douglas Robinson argues in Translating the Monster, however, is that both are gross oversimplifications of a complex situation that he calls on Jacques Derrida to characterize as “the monster.”
The Finnish novelist Robinson takes as his case study for that monstrous rethinking is Volter Kilpi (1874-1939), regarded by scholars of Finnish literature as Finland’s second world-class writer—the first being Aleksis Kivi (1834-1872). Kilpi’s modernist experiments of the 1930s, especially his so-called Archipelago series, beginning with his masterpiece, In the Alastalo Parlor (1933), were forgotten and neglected for a half century, due to the extreme difficulty of his narrative style: he reinvents the Finnish language, to the extent that many Finns say it is like reading a foreign language (and one contemporary critic called it the “Mesopotamian language … of a half-wit”). That novel has been translated exactly twice, into Swedish and German. Translating the Monster also gives the English-speaking reader an extended taste of the novel in English—en route to a series of reframings of the novel as allegories of translation and world literature.
Both views are defensible; indeed both are arguably commonsensical. What Douglas Robinson argues in Translating the Monster, however, is that both are gross oversimplifications of a complex situation that he calls on Jacques Derrida to characterize as “the monster.”
The Finnish novelist Robinson takes as his case study for that monstrous rethinking is Volter Kilpi (1874-1939), regarded by scholars of Finnish literature as Finland’s second world-class writer—the first being Aleksis Kivi (1834-1872). Kilpi’s modernist experiments of the 1930s, especially his so-called Archipelago series, beginning with his masterpiece, In the Alastalo Parlor (1933), were forgotten and neglected for a half century, due to the extreme difficulty of his narrative style: he reinvents the Finnish language, to the extent that many Finns say it is like reading a foreign language (and one contemporary critic called it the “Mesopotamian language … of a half-wit”). That novel has been translated exactly twice, into Swedish and German. Translating the Monster also gives the English-speaking reader an extended taste of the novel in English—en route to a series of reframings of the novel as allegories of translation and world literature.
Volter Kilpi in Orbit Beyond (Un)translatability
One of the hottest battles emerging out of the theoretical and methodological collisions between Comparative Literature and Translation Studies—especially on the battleground of World Literature—has to do with translatability and untranslatability. Is any translation of a great work of literature not only a lamentable betrayal but an impossibility? Or is translation an imperfect but invaluable tool for the transmission of works and ideas beyond language barriers?
Both views are defensible; indeed both are arguably commonsensical. What Douglas Robinson argues in Translating the Monster, however, is that both are gross oversimplifications of a complex situation that he calls on Jacques Derrida to characterize as “the monster.”
The Finnish novelist Robinson takes as his case study for that monstrous rethinking is Volter Kilpi (1874-1939), regarded by scholars of Finnish literature as Finland’s second world-class writer—the first being Aleksis Kivi (1834-1872). Kilpi’s modernist experiments of the 1930s, especially his so-called Archipelago series, beginning with his masterpiece, In the Alastalo Parlor (1933), were forgotten and neglected for a half century, due to the extreme difficulty of his narrative style: he reinvents the Finnish language, to the extent that many Finns say it is like reading a foreign language (and one contemporary critic called it the “Mesopotamian language … of a half-wit”). That novel has been translated exactly twice, into Swedish and German. Translating the Monster also gives the English-speaking reader an extended taste of the novel in English—en route to a series of reframings of the novel as allegories of translation and world literature.
Both views are defensible; indeed both are arguably commonsensical. What Douglas Robinson argues in Translating the Monster, however, is that both are gross oversimplifications of a complex situation that he calls on Jacques Derrida to characterize as “the monster.”
The Finnish novelist Robinson takes as his case study for that monstrous rethinking is Volter Kilpi (1874-1939), regarded by scholars of Finnish literature as Finland’s second world-class writer—the first being Aleksis Kivi (1834-1872). Kilpi’s modernist experiments of the 1930s, especially his so-called Archipelago series, beginning with his masterpiece, In the Alastalo Parlor (1933), were forgotten and neglected for a half century, due to the extreme difficulty of his narrative style: he reinvents the Finnish language, to the extent that many Finns say it is like reading a foreign language (and one contemporary critic called it the “Mesopotamian language … of a half-wit”). That novel has been translated exactly twice, into Swedish and German. Translating the Monster also gives the English-speaking reader an extended taste of the novel in English—en route to a series of reframings of the novel as allegories of translation and world literature.
Volume Editor:
Lucyna Harmon
The viscerally haunting and politically disturbing Painted Bird, the most famous novel by the Polish-American writer, Jerzy Kosinski, finally receives a long overdue fresh scientific perspective: a truly insightful study of linguistic and cultural controversy in translation against the benchmark of a tailor-made iron-clad methodology of such concepts as involved culture, detached culture and the universe of the opus. The study presents the kaleidoscopic cross section of renditions into as many as thirteen languages, making it a pioneering elaboration of a macrocosm of the afterlife of a translated novel and a tour de force of comparative translation studies. The dark contents of the work, heavily loaded with political and moral issues, vulnerable to shifts and refractions in the process of translation, have been analysed, unaffected by ideological sway, debunking any persistent myths about Kosinski’s harrowing work.
Volume Editor:
Lucyna Harmon
The viscerally haunting and politically disturbing Painted Bird, the most famous novel by the Polish-American writer, Jerzy Kosinski, finally receives a long overdue fresh scientific perspective: a truly insightful study of linguistic and cultural controversy in translation against the benchmark of a tailor-made iron-clad methodology of such concepts as involved culture, detached culture and the universe of the opus. The study presents the kaleidoscopic cross section of renditions into as many as thirteen languages, making it a pioneering elaboration of a macrocosm of the afterlife of a translated novel and a tour de force of comparative translation studies. The dark contents of the work, heavily loaded with political and moral issues, vulnerable to shifts and refractions in the process of translation, have been analysed, unaffected by ideological sway, debunking any persistent myths about Kosinski’s harrowing work.
Studies in a European Context
This is the first complete study of the relationship between Retranslation and Reception. Although many translation scholars have cited Reception Theory in their work, this is the first systematic study of its relationship to Retranslation. The book starts from the hypothesis that frequent retranslations of the same literary text into the same language may be indicative of its impact in the target culture. The volume encompasses both theory and practical analysis of Retranslation and Reception as mutually dependent concepts. The sixteen chapters relate the translations analysed to their socio-historical contexts in order to assess the impact that they have had on the target culture in terms of the reception of the authors studied, and also explore the relationship that may exist between the appearance of new translations and historical, social or cultural changes.
Studies in a European Context
This is the first complete study of the relationship between Retranslation and Reception. Although many translation scholars have cited Reception Theory in their work, this is the first systematic study of its relationship to Retranslation. The book starts from the hypothesis that frequent retranslations of the same literary text into the same language may be indicative of its impact in the target culture. The volume encompasses both theory and practical analysis of Retranslation and Reception as mutually dependent concepts. The sixteen chapters relate the translations analysed to their socio-historical contexts in order to assess the impact that they have had on the target culture in terms of the reception of the authors studied, and also explore the relationship that may exist between the appearance of new translations and historical, social or cultural changes.
Abstract
This paper looks at the field of world literature through the lens of the narratives of paperless migrants. I propose a paradigm of world literary texts that criticize the barriers preventing or restricting Southern border crossers’ ability to circulate freely in this so-called global village. Hakim Abderrezak coined the neologism “illiterature” in order to refer to the literature of “illegal” migration. This paper situates illiterature within the ongoing debate over the redefinition of world literature. It sheds light on contemporary theorizations of world literature in order to show that illiterature represents a transnational genre that incarnates a cross-national interaction exemplary of a world literary model that criticizes the hierarchy of mobility and the unequal access to movement.
with Annotated Transcription of Geniza Fragments
Targum Canticles, composed in the dialectally eclectic idiom of Late Jewish Literary Aramaic (LJLA), had immense historic popularity among Jewish communities worldwide. In this work, Paul R. Moore thoroughly analyses several of the Targum’s grammatical peculiarities overlooked by previous studies. Through this prism, he considers its literary influences, composition, and LJLA as a precursor of the highly eccentric Aramaic of the 13th century Spanish cabalistic masterpiece, The Zohar. The study includes transcriptions and analysis of the previously unpublished of fragments of the Targum from the Cairo Geniza, and what is possibly its earliest, known translation into Judaeo-Arabic.
with Annotated Transcription of Geniza Fragments
Targum Canticles, composed in the dialectally eclectic idiom of Late Jewish Literary Aramaic (LJLA), had immense historic popularity among Jewish communities worldwide. In this work, Paul R. Moore thoroughly analyses several of the Targum’s grammatical peculiarities overlooked by previous studies. Through this prism, he considers its literary influences, composition, and LJLA as a precursor of the highly eccentric Aramaic of the 13th century Spanish cabalistic masterpiece, The Zohar. The study includes transcriptions and analysis of the previously unpublished of fragments of the Targum from the Cairo Geniza, and what is possibly its earliest, known translation into Judaeo-Arabic.