Exploring (un)translatability: a practice-based case study on translation of Norwegian poetry

Abstract

This thesis explores the feasibility of three different poetry translation approaches for two contrasting styles of Norwegian poetry using a practice-based, case-study methodology. The poetic styles in question are the rhyming, metrical poetry of Halldis Moren Vesaas (1907–95) and the hybrid, genre-transgressing poetry of Cecilie Løveid (1951– ). The poetry translation approaches in question are the literal approach, as championed by Stanley Burnshaw and Vladimir Nabokov; the double-aim approach, as championed by James S. Holmes; and the poetically viable approach, as championed by Barbara Folkart. By exploring the feasibility of these approaches for these two styles of poetry, I aim to find out how effective practice-based research can be in terms of creatively illustrating scholarly debates within Translation Studies, with the debate explored in this thesis being the question of poetic (un)translatability. This debate can also be described as the tension between instrumentalist and hermeneutic approaches to translation, as outlined by Lawrence Venuti. The three poetry translation approaches explored in this thesis have therefore been chosen based on their respective positions within this debate. The literal approach is a strictly instrumentalist approach as it takes the alleged untranslatable nature of poetry as a given and dictates that a literal translation must include an extensive analytical commentary. The double-aim approach dictates that a translation must reflect enough of the source poem content and microstructures for it to be considered a translation yet still function as a poem in its own right, and this approach can, therefore, be described as hermeneutic. The poetically viable approach dictates that the translator cut ties with the source poem as ruthlessly as may be necessary in order to create an entirely new poem, and this approach can be said to contain elements of both instrumentalism and hermeneutics. By engaging with the source poems using these three approaches, I aim not only to explore the feasibility of these approaches, but also to show how practice-based research can be used within the discipline of Translation Studies and to outline the benefits of engaging with this methodology, particularly in light of the appreciation of translation and creative writing as research in their own right.