Mi az eredeti? : A nyelvváltás mint fordítási probléma Terézia Mora Das Ungeheuer című regényében

Abstract

The following study is part of my research work on self-reflection in literary translation. Using this case study, I intend to present the aspects and dilemmas faced by literary translators attempting to gauge the success of their work. My baseline questions were: Is the success or failure of a translation solution always determinable? What external and internal expectations must be observed, and to what extent? Where does the process of self-examination start, and when (if ever) can it be considered over? To investigate these questions I chose a special, perhaps even extreme case; namely an element of Terézia Mora’s novel Das Ungeheuer / The Monster which the author had originally written in Hungarian, and then translated into German. The translation issue lies in the fact the translator must first decide which text to view as the original, considering how its earliest version was written in the target language of translation. This condition led to a chain of decisions, ending up in an outcome which may be evaluated by different aspects in terms of successful cultural transfer, to different conclusions. My aim is not to evaluate the produced translation, but to present and analyze the process of translation and subsequent self-reflection. Because the translation in question is my own work, this provided an opportunity to apply introspection in research. An unconventional situation arose from the author’s language competence, whereby she could assess the quality of the translation, and thus participate in the process of editing and evaluation alongside the translator and publisher (editor). Besides the original text and the translation, I also investigated my own written self-reflections, the translator-editor commentary accumulating during the correction process, dialogues with the author, and the author’s follow-up comments on the translation. I’ve showcased how, by including these paratexts, assessing the success of cultural transfer is deepened and modified in the translator’s self-reflection.