Master in Literary and linguistic studies 2012-2013 Mid- term paper

A review of Stylistics and Translation by J.Boase-Beir: It is High Time Translators Did Full Justice to Stylistics

Said Bouwakioud Professor S.MALIKI Translation

26 February 2013

The article Stylistics and Translation by Boase-Beir examines the ways in which a stylistic approach to translation affects both reading of the source text and the writing of the target text. Before she delves into the analysis, Boase-Beir provides different definitions of style as a vehicle to express attitude and imply meaning, carrying "second order" meanings, which go beyond lexical and syntactic levels. Then, she gives her own definition of style in which she emphasizes the choices made by the author of source and target language that make up the text (Boase-Beir 2006). Moreover, she distinguishes between indirect translation which concerns itself with rendering content only and direct translation which translates both content and style. Furthermore, Boase- Beir draws a clear cut line between literary and non- literary translations. She states that the former is described as performing a creative task. In this sense, this type of translation imparts more freedom and choices to the translator in Advertisement can be an illustration of non- literary text where the importance lies in the function that the ad aims to serve, namely selling a product. In this case, the style is of minor importance to the translator. According to the author, there is a major paradox in translation, namely the translation's neglect of stylistics; while this latter is indispensable to translation as it describes what a text means and what it suggests, which are in the heart of the act of translation. This paradoxical relationship, in Boase- Beir's view, is due to two reasons: firstly, the heavy reliance of Stylistics on linguistics, bearing in mind that the latter fails to describe the functional and complex aspects of the text. The second reason is translation theorys ignorance of stylistics, which is basically of substantial importance to translation. Before she starts her analysis, she reviews the literature to pinpoint the shift from linguistic stylistics to contextualized stylistics. The latter transcends the former as it goes beyond the structural and formal features to incorporate other necessary features that surely benefit translation, namely cultural background, mental representations, readers inferences and their cognitive contexts.

In the light of this conceptual framework, the author starts her analysis, which falls into two main parts: stylistics and reading for translation and stylistics and writing of translation. In the first section, she asserts that contemporary stylistics concerns itself with reading. In this respect, stylistics approach to translation focuses more on the source text and all the elements, such as inferences, gaps, ambiguity and completeness that help the reader climb aboard" the text and interact with it. This stylistic approach considers reading as a dynamic activity and the reader as a producer of the text. Yet, this applies more to literary texts, which underlines the difference between literary and non- literary translation. As for the second sectionstylistics and the writing of translation; the author focuses on how stylistics affects the writing of the target text. Based on this effect, the translator is creative in the sense that he boasts more freedom while rewriting the style of the source text. In other words, Boase- Beir argues that the translator has to take into account the difference in cognitive and cultural background of both source and target texts. By so doing, the translator produces another text with regards to stylistic features of the source text.

In the last section, the author raises the question of whether stylistic theory has a mere descriptive power in translation or it has also an impact on the act of translation itself. In this respect, the author argues that stylistic theory does describe the features of the source and the target text, but most importantly it affects the act of translation. Thereupon, the stylistic knowledge theory is essential to the translator as long as it equips him with the necessary stylistic elements, which can be reproduced in the target text. Given this importance of this stylistic knowledge, the author wraps up her article by suggesting the incorporation of stylistics in translation training.

Boase-Beir's article is highly significant because it raises an issue that is of paramount importance in the field of translation, namely its relationship with stylistics and how this latter can benefit translators as it equips them with the efficient toolkit to use in reading the source text and reproducing a new one in the target language. It is true that the debate on translation and stylistics is to be found through history. Yet, approaches and insights from stylistics have had little effect on the developing of the discipline of translation studies. Nida(1965), Catfird(1965), Gentzler(1993) and Mundy(2001) Were all concerned with how meaning survived the transposition From language to language, and yet paid little attention to matter of style. (Boase-beir2011) Thus, this article comes to assert the natural affinity between translation and stylistics and redress the balance between them. The article raises awareness about the value of stylistics as an approach that can assist translators in the translation act. Certainly, this approach will change the translators' view towards stylistics and will prompt them to take into consideration knowledge of stylistic theory before embarking on the translation act. In other words, the translator will include stylistics while examining the source text and thus provide him with support to produce the target text. Moreover, the article under review is to be credited with the idea of incorporating stylistics in the training of translators. This is insightful as it will fill in that existing gap between stylistic theory and translation studies and make translation trainees sensitive to the substantial importance of stylistics in translation. If it had been the case, the relation between stylistics and translation would not have been paradoxical at all. This idea is also an innovative idea in the field of translation as nobody else has suggested before such embodiment of stylistics in the syllabus of translation training. The rationale behind this suggestion is to have future translators who are endowed with a kind of "stylistic competence"

to back up the linguistic and the pragmatic competences they already have. However, bridging the gap between translation and stylistics should by no means be at the expense of the structural level. The rational should be striking a balance between all the stylistic, linguistic and pragmatic elements in the translation act. This article will benefit me as student in the sense that it has raised my awareness to the importance of stylistics in translation and will surely change my way of dealing with both the reading of the source text and the writing of the target text in the translation act.

WORKS CITED

Boase-Beir, Jean. Stylistics and Translation. 2010. Web. Boase-Beir, Jean. Translation and Style: a brief introduction. 2011. Web.