Irreparable Loss and Exorbitant Gain: On Translating Agaat

Abstract

This essay attempts an after-the-fact reflection on the process of translating a complex literary text, Marlene van Niekerk’s Agaat. Central to the essay is the question of whether a translation should “foreignise” or “domesticate” the text, or as Umberto Eco puts it: “should a translation lead the reader to understand the linguistic and cultural universe of the source text, or transform the original by adapting it to the reader’s cultural and linguistic universe?” Although it is impossible to opt for either of these positions exclusively, this essay inclines towards the former, and attempts to demonstrate from the translation of Agaat both the difficulties of negotiating a transition between two cultures, and its rewards. If much of the original culture is inevitably lost, especially where the language is itself strongly culture-specific, the translation may also gain something by its immersion in the receiving culture, establishing revitalising links with a whole new context. 

Opsomming

Hierdie essay poog om ex post facto te bespiegel oor die vertaal van ’n komplekse literêre teks, Marlene van Niekerk se Agaat. ’n Sentrale vraag in die essay is of ‘n vertaling moet poog om die teks getrou te hou aan die oorspronklike kulturele konteks of om dit toeganklik te maak in terme van die gasheerkultuur. Alhoewel dit onmoontlik is om uitsluitlik die een of ander van hierdie benaderings te aanvaar, neig hierdie essay na die eersgenoemde opsie, en poog om uit die vertaling van Agaat beide die probleme en die belonings van hierdie soort interkulturele onderhandeling te demonstreer. Terwyl veel van die oorspronklike kultuur onafwendbaar verlore raak, veral waar die taal ‘n sterk weerspieëling van kulturele norme is, is daar tog ook baat te vind, deurdat die vertaling deur die omgang met die gasheerkultuur vrugbaar kan skakel met ’n heel nuwe konteks.