О цензури и самоцензури у превођењу: double entendre у Шекспировим сонетима 135 и 136
On Censorship in Translations: Double Entendre in Shakespeare’s Sonnets 135 and 136

Summary/Abstract: This paper deals with the subject of word-play and double entendre, specifically in Serbian translations of Shakespeare’s Sonnets 135 and 136 published in the past 70 years. Lexical ambiguity, polysemy, and multiple connotations are notoriously difficult to deal with in translation. In the case of double entendre, the meaning that is risqué is ignored and/or many instances of double entendre are bowdlerized, which is to say that the original work is mutilated through the conscious or subconscious (self-)censorship of the translator. This paper submits that the poetic freedom of the poet is to be respected. Тhe subject of censorship is addressed generally, and specifically as it has been practiced in the Serbian translations of Shakespeare’s Sonnets. History has seen many appropria tions of Shakespeare sometimes in the mode of censorship: banning or suppressing of what has been considered socially inappropriate and morally unacceptable or self­cen sorship: meaning the self-imposed subconscious distorting and inhibiting activity of the translator himself. Shakespeare’s sonnets are brimful with masterful examples of double entendre: words and expressions capable of two interpretations with one usually risqué, verging on impropriety, sexually provocative and likely to attract controversy. The exam ples of sexual puns in the Sonnets 135 and 136 are extreme: suggestively erotic and wicked, sometimes producing an uncouth humorous effect. Such examples are notorio usly difficult to handle in translation. We have analyzed and compared the work of three translators: Raičković, Angjelinović, and Milojević, pinpointing instances of self-cen sorship. We argue in favour of the separation of literary from the literal truth, allowing the writer his poetic license.

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