Two-dimensional theory of style in translations: an investigation into the style of literary translations

Vajn, Dominik (2009). Two-dimensional theory of style in translations: an investigation into the style of literary translations. University of Birmingham. M.Phil.

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Abstract

The aim of this thesis was to address the issue of authorship of translations from two perspectives: firstly, the aim was to engage in the debate, and propose a theory on the authorship of translations; and secondly, to propose a method that would support the theory with empirical evidence. For this purpose a corpus of two translations of Plato’s Republic was used, and the two translations were compared for their style. Firstly, a method that ensures a step-by-step analysis of the texts, rather than the analysis of the whole texts was developed. The results showed that the method successfully compared two translations, demonstrating high degrees of correlation between the styles of the two translations. In other words, the method demonstrated that the unitary style of a translation is in fact a fusion of the translator’s and the author’s styles. Thus, this research demonstrated the two-dimensional nature of the style of translations. Consequently, since the style and authorship are closely related, the research showed that a translation is in fact a result of the collaboration between the author and the translator. In other words, a translation is a result of co-authorship.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Masters by Research > M.Phil.)

Award Type:

Masters by Research > M.Phil.

Supervisor(s):