The Importance of Translation

#1:As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.

Syntax:

• Adjectives to add to the sentence structure
• No pauses in the sentence
• The lack of commas or breaks in the sentence could cause grammatical confusion
• Direct

Imagery/Details:

• “Uneasy dreams” → perhaps a nightmare
• “Gigantic insect” → negative, gross, nasty connotations

Structure:

• The sentence begins with “as”, which sort of eases the readers into beginning the novel

Any other stylistic/figurative elements:

• Diction: “transformed” → sounds scientific-y and sudden
• Setting: “in his bed” → the sudden transformation occurred in the comfort in his own home→ why?

#2:Gregory Samsa woke from uneasy dreams one morning to find himself changed into a giant bug.

Syntax:

• Short, choppy
• Not much detail
• Straight-forward

Imagery/Details:

• Very little imagery or detail

Structure:

• Gregory, instead of Gregor, like the other translations
• Jumps straight into what occurred→ very blunt
• Very absurdist→ this sentence doesn’t seem hopeful like Camus argued

Any other stylistic/figurative elements:

• Diction: “changed” sounds like something simple, easy, like there’s not much to it

#3:When Gregor Samsa awoke from troubled dreams one morning he found he had been transformed in his bed into an enormous bug.

Syntax:

• Regular length sentence, detailed
• More adjectives

Imagery/Details:

• A bit more detail than the other translations
• More description of the morning
• “Troubled dreams” → suggests that there is an internal problem he must deal with because he’s having bad dreams

Structure:

• “When” sort of sounds like the incident occurred a while ago
• “He found” → sounds as though he’s accountable for his transformation into a bug, placing a blame

Any other stylistic/figurative elements:

• Diction: “enormous bug”--> different from the first translation which says “gigantic insect”
• “Bug is general and open-ended”

#4:One morning, upon awakening from agitated dreams, Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin.

Syntax:

• Very long
• Lots of commas
• A lot of description
• A bit choppy/over the place
• Not one concise sentence but a sentence that sounds as if it could be “spoken”

Imagery/Details:

• The words “monstrous vermin” provide an image of a large and disgusting bug

Structure:

• The other 3 translations begin with Gregor/y Samsa versus this one that describes the morning
• “Upon awakening” suggests a kind of peacefulness until it follows with “agitated dreams” → provides contrast

Any other stylistic/figurative elements:

• Diction: “agitated dreams” → Gregor is dealing with severe problems to have dreams that manifest in an agitated state→ frustrated and anxious connotation

Awoke vs. woke vs. awakening

• All part of the past tense
• Awoke sounds “proper”
• Woke is more casual→ “he woke up”
• Awakening sounds like a major revelation; something very serious

Translated texts are always harder to read because we as the readers must rely on the translator to accurately describe the events in the novel. It is also challenging because meaning is lost in translated novels. There are some sayings or phrases in other languages that don’t have literal translations, so reading a translated book isn’t always what the author intended to describe. As seen with the 4 translations punctuation and literary devices can alter the meaning of the sentence. The first translation lacks any punctuation which makes the sentence choppy and bit hard to understand whereas the fourth translation has too much punctuation, in my opinion, for something that could be said in a more constructed way. The tones are also different with each translation. Translation #1’s tone is informative and direct. Translation #2’s tone is short and simple. Translation #3’s tone is descriptive and is in the same structure that I would typically read. Lastly, Translation #4’s tone is “open”-- as though the translator wanted to give the reader specific descriptions on what happened that morning. Although all of the sentences are objective and informative, some sentences seem like they’re just written as fact, whereas others are flowing and story-like.

The word choice, as well as the other literary devices used, reflect the translator and how they chose to portray the original idea the author tried to create. The sentences with more detail and imagery suggest that the translator thought the the author would like something more descriptive and interesting to read. However, I do believe that the translators try to put their own spin on things in order to add their style to the novel, so whether or not the description was for the author or the translator himself, it is still reflective on the translator’s writing personality. The syntax in the translations change, and the longer, detailed sentences make the meaning of the work less “absurd” and more story like. The blatant sentences with less description are more absurd because, similar to Camus’ The Stranger, there is no sense of hope in the sentences. It is direct and almost like the narrator is listing a series of events that occurred.

For the purpose of portraying the idea of the absurd, I think that Translation #2 is the most effective. It has the least amount of description, there are no punctuation, the imagery and diction is minimal. Although only knowing the first sentence and not knowing whether or not Gregor Samsa is searching for meaning, this translation shows that there is no meaning in the world and lack of purpose, which is the foundation of absurdism. This translator did the best to prove to Camus that the story displays absurdism, contrary to what Camus argues. The difficulty of reading translated texts is that we never know the author’s true intentions for the story or the literary devices he/she tried to use which in turn, ultimately alter the story’s meaning.