Style Considerations in Translating Fiction

This paper is a reflection on the role of style in translating literary texts, in particular fiction. More specifically, it focuses on challenges that awaiting translators in transferring the source language style into the target language. Translating literary texts, in contrast to nonliterary texts, is considered to be a laborious task for translators due to their distinguished features. Among many factors that mold the makeup of a literary text, style plays a major role in our perception of the content we face. Although, in translation practice, it has long been viewed that priority should be given to the meaning not the style, it cannot be divorced from content. In fact, in literary translation how one says something may be as significant, sometimes even more significant, than what one says in nonliterary translation. The dilemma arises is whether to preserve the style of the source language or follow that of the target language. Here, a contrastive linguistic analysis of the source text and the target text can be carried out to identify the main differences and similarities between the two texts. Potential stylistic differences between the source text and the target text point to the peculiarities of the translator’s style in the translation. Besides, since the translator is seen as the author of the text, the visibility of the translator’s voice and self-reference is undeniable.

Style Considerations in Translating Fiction Keywords:

style , fiction , translation