Sensitivity to Genre in Literary Translation

Abstract

The article analyzes genre-related issues in the process of literary translation. The research is based on the analysis of genre of two novels that belong to the genre of contemporay thriller: Dan Brown’s technothriller Digital Fortress (1998) (Lithuanian translation “Skaitmeninė tvirtovė”, 2005, by Jonas Čeponis) and John Grisham’s legal thriller Firm (1998) (Lithuanian translation “Firma”, 1997, by Romualdas Petraitis and 2008 by Jonas Čeponis). Particular choices made by the author may become clear analyzing the genre that a book belongs to; however, the translator’s responsibility lies in translating the source text (ST) within the boundaries of the same genre. The features of a technothriller and legal thriller as a subgenre of the detective novel are analyzed to determine the role of genre in the process of translation and to demonstrate how the qualities of these types of thrillers are conveyed in Lithuanian versions of the novels. Since the novel contains a great number of professional (technical and legal terms), the discussion of the translation of professional vocabulary, as genre-specifying determinant, has been a part of the research. However, the focus of the research is to discuss the awareness of genre during the process of translating contemporary popular fiction and to investigate the translator’s role and attitude — sensitivity to or disregard of genre-related issues. It has been determined that sensitivity to genre and, thus, to the function of the text, is one of the most important factors in discussing the general quality of translation.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.sal.0.20.1138