Translating a self-translated text into a third language: a case study of Vladimir Nabokov’s autobiographical novel and its translation in Romanian
Translating a self-translated text into a third language: a case study of Vladimir Nabokov’s autobiographical novel and its translation in Romanian

Summary/Abstract: The present article is centred around Vladimir Nabokov‘s autobiographical novel ―Speak,Memory ‖ and its translation into the Romanian language. The writer in question is known tobe one of the most famous bilingual authors of the 20th century. His works stand out due tothe mixture of a number of specific features typical of both languages that the author used tospeak as a native – English and Russian. As far as novel under analysis is concerned, ―Speak,Memory‖ is the second English version of Nabokov‘s autobiographical novel, which also hasits Russian version – ―Другие берега‖. The latter can be regarded, according to theclassification suggested by Michaѐl Oustinoff, as a case of recreative self-translation – a typeof self-translation that presupposes a high level of independence of the two texts. The writerintroduces a large number of changes when elaborating the Russian version, dramaticallymodifying the original. The reason for this is not difficult to see: he addresses anotheraudience and another reader, with other preoccupations, background and attitude concerningthe history of Vladimir Nabokov‘s homeland. The present paper will look closely at theRomanian translation of ―Speak, Memory‖ under the title ―Vorbeşte, memorie‖ by SandaAronescu. We will try and highlight some possible difficulties concerning the translation of aself-translated text into a third language and underline the advantages a translator can gaindue to the bilingual character of the original.

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