Ingrida Eglė Žindžiuvienė

ABSTRACT

The aim of the article is to examine possibilities and challenges for translation of gender and to discuss the impact of translation to the overall impression of a literary text. Gender and related issues remain problematic in research of translation of fiction. Feminist theory and “development of gay and lesbian studies alongside theoretical works that question duality of gender”, do not always provide answers for translators (Castro, p. 7). In addition, cultural differences and transcultural aspects often determine (im)possibility of translation. The case study of a short story “Sun” by one of the most famous British modernists, D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930), can be viewed as a challenge for translators. The research into gender issues in translation of this short story into French, German, Italian and Lithuanian initiates transcultural explorations of the role of gender in translation of fiction. According to Olga Castro, “what most current approaches to gender and translation share is a common interest in scrutinizing how an interdisciplinary understanding of gender conceptualizations can be fostered in relation to translation” (Castro, p. 8). These views become most important when translating D. H. Lawrence’s works that contain a great number of symbolic references and understatements. As Luise von Flotow and Joan W. Scott observe, “the translatability of concepts which are deemed to be or are presented as ‘universal’, and which must adapt or change when they move into local idioms and systems” remains an urgent problem of translation (von Flotow and Scott, p. 353). Mainly, translatability into different languages becomes the central issue when examining D. H. Lawrence’s short story “Sun”.

Keywords

Translation; gender; modernism; British literature; symbolism; transculturality

References

1. Castro, O. (2013). Introduction: Gender, language and translation at the crossroads of disciplines. Gender and Language, 7.1, 5–12. Equinox.

2. Von Flotow, L. & Scott, J. W. (2016). Connecting the Transdisciplines: Translation Studies and Gender Studies. Border Crossings: Translation Studies and Other Disciplines, 349-374. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.