Tłumacz zaplątany w sieć, czyli kognitywna analiza wybranych problemów przekładu komiksu

Hubert Kowalewski

Tytuły

Abstrakt

In many respects, the translation of comics presents challenges of the same kind as literary translation. For instance, in Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus the author’s father speaks English with interferences from Polish, but how to translate this “Polglish” into Polish? In this case, the difficulty arises only on the level of language, but it is not hard to predict problems specific to this medium, i.e. resulting from the graphic character of the linguistic sign and the interaction between written words and non-linguistic graphic signs. For example, in Art Spiegelman’s In the Shadow of No Towers the English idiom “to drop the other shoe” can be translated into an equivalent Polish expression, but since such an expression does not mention a shoe, the semantic connection to the frame featuring a gigantic shoe falling on a panicked crowd, a metaphor of a terrorist attack, will be lost.

The analysis of translation problems can be formalized by means of Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner’s Conceptual Blending Theory. The theory allows for describing the content derived from various codes and semantic frames (linguistic and visual meanings, cultural scripts, etc.), which makes it suitable for describing complexities of the comics medium. For the purpose of this article, I distinguish three classes of problems pertaining to the translation of comics: problems related to the overlap of linguistic content and image, the overlap of written texts, and the overlap of different languages. The article poses questions rather than provides answers; it draws attention to problems without proposing definitive solutions. There are no universal and definitive answers in the art of translation, and technical limitations may prevent a practicing translator from implementing idealized solutions devised by a theorist. The theorist, however, can point out the complexity of certain problems and consequently the distinct character of comics translation in general.

In many respects, the translation of comics presents challenges of the same kind as literary translation. For instance, in Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus the author’s father speaks English with interferences from Polish, but how to translate this “Polglish” into Polish? In this case, the difficulty arises only on the level of language, but it is not hard to predict problems specific to this medium, i.e. resulting from the graphic character of the linguistic sign and the interaction between written words and non-linguistic graphic signs. For example, in Art Spiegelman’s In the Shadow of No Towers the English idiom “to drop the other shoe” can be translated into an equivalent Polish expression, but since such an expression does not mention a shoe, the semantic connection to the frame featuring a gigantic shoe falling on a panicked crowd, a metaphor of a terrorist attack, will be lost.

The analysis of translation problems can be formalized by means of Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner’s Conceptual Blending Theory. The theory allows for describing the content derived from various codes and semantic frames (linguistic and visual meanings, cultural scripts, etc.), which makes it suitable for describing complexities of the comics medium. For the purpose of this article, I distinguish three classes of problems pertaining to the translation of comics: problems related to the overlap of linguistic content and image, the overlap of written texts, and the overlap of different languages. The article poses questions rather than provides answers; it draws attention to problems without proposing definitive solutions. There are no universal and definitive answers in the art of translation, and technical limitations may prevent a practicing translator from implementing idealized solutions devised by a theorist. The theorist, however, can point out the complexity of certain problems and consequently the distinct character of comics translation in general.

Słowa kluczowe

amalgamaty pojęciowe, przestrzenie mentalne, semiotyka kognitywna

conceptual blending, mental spaces, cognitive semiotics

Bibliografia

Duncan R., Smith M.J. 2009. The Power of Comics: History, Form and Culture, Nowy Jork: Continuum Books.

Fauconnier G., Turner M. 2002. The Way We Think: Conceptual Blending and the Mind’s Hidden Complexities, New York: Basic Books.

––––– 2007. Conceptual Integration Networks, w: V. Evans, J. Zinken, B. Bergen (red.), The Cognitive Linguistics Reader, Londyn-Oakland: Equinox, s. 360–419.

Kowalewski H. 2015. From Icono-Linguistic Unity to Semiotic Continuity: An Alternative Description of Semiotic Repertoire of Comics, „International Journal of Comics Art” 17 (1), s. 24–44.

Kusina K., Ambrzykowski M. 2015. Niesłychane losy Ivana Kotowicza, Warszawa: Kultura Gniewu.

Libura A. 2010. Teoria przestrzeni mentalnych i integracji pojęciowej: struktura modelu i jego funkcjonalność, Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego.

McCloud S. 2015 [1994]. Zrozumieć komiks, przeł. M. Błażejczyk, Warszawa: Kultura Gniewu.

Satrapi M. 2015. Persepolis, przeł. W. Nowicki, Warszawa: Egmont Polska.

Sfar J. 2015. Kot rabina. Afrykańska Jerozolima, przeł. G. Przewłocki, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Komiksowe.

Spiegelman A. 1986. Maus: A Survivor Tale, New York: Pantheon Books.

––––– 2004a. Maus: relato de un superviviente, przeł. R. Rodríguez, Barcelona: Planeta De Agostini.

––––– 2004b. In the Shadow of No Towers, Nowy Jork: Pantheon.

––––– 2016. Maus. Opowieść ocalałego, przeł. Piotr Bikont, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Komiksowe.

Szawerna M. 2017. Metaphoricity of Conventionalized Diegetic Images in Comics: A Study in Multimodal Cognitive Linguistics, Frankfurt–Nowy Jork: Peter Lang.

Toeplitz K.T. 1985. Sztuka komiksu. Próba definicji nowego gatunku artystycznego, Warszawa: Czytelnik.

Toussaint B. 2013 [1976]. Ideografia i komiks, w: J. Szyłak, Komiks w szponach miernoty, przeł. W. Birek, T. Wróbel, Warszawa: timof comics, s. 367–83.

Informacje

Informacje: Przekładaniec, 2017, Numer 34 – Słowo i obraz w przekładzie 1, s. 108 - 126

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/16891864PC.17.006.8212

Typ artykułu: Oryginalny artykuł naukowy

Tytuły:

Polski:

Tłumacz zaplątany w sieć, czyli kognitywna analiza wybranych problemów przekładu komiksu

Angielski:

Translator Tangled in a Web. A Cognitive Analysis of Selected Problems in the Translation of Comics

Autorzy

Hubert Kowalewski

Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej, Lublin
Polska

Publikacja: 18.09.2017

Status artykułu: Otwarte

Licencja: CC BY-NC-ND

Udział procentowy autorów:

Hubert Kowalewski (Autor) - 100%

Korekty artykułu:

-

Języki publikacji:

Polski

Liczba wyświetleń: 1794

Liczba pobrań: 2120

<p> Tłumacz zaplątany w sieć, czyli kognitywna analiza wybranych problemów przekładu komiksu</p>

Pobierz pełny tekst

Tytuły

Abstrakt

Słowa kluczowe

Bibliografia

Informacje

Autorzy