Localization of narrative deictic centre in Russian translations of prose in English (XX–XXI centuries) Cover Image

Локализация дейктического центра нарратива в русских переводах англоязычной прозы (XIX–XXI вв.)
Localization of narrative deictic centre in Russian translations of prose in English (XX–XXI centuries)

Author(s): Anastasia Urzha
Subject(s): Recent History (1900 till today), Pragmatics, Comparative Study of Literature, Russian Literature, Translation Studies, Theory of Literature, Sociology of Literature
Published by: Polskie Towarzystwo Rusycytyczne
Keywords: deixis; deictic centre; focalisation; Russian translated narrative;

Summary/Abstract: The research is focused on the means of localizing the deictic center of a narrative in Russian translations of prose in English. Comparative analysis of translated variants and originals shows the approximating trend (widespread, but not universal) in Russian texts, marked by inserting proximal deictic words like ‘today’, ‘here’, ‘now’ in the passages concerning past events, employing historic present instead of past tense forms. These changes are usually made within the segments of narrative with internal focalization. The approximation is influenced by specific features of Russian grammar system (there are no strict rules for sequence of tenses, no constructions with Complex Object etc.) and by different narrative tradition (historical present is not so marked stylistically, and more widespread). Making the deictic center closer to the readers in Russian translations is often connected with the translator’s strategy highlighting author’s devices for internal focalization in a narrative.

  • Issue Year: 2021
  • Issue No: 174
  • Page Range: 128-143
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Russian