THE POETICS OF IRISHNESS: 2Oth-CENTURY ANGLO-IRISH POETRY TRANSLATED INTO ...

358 Pages·2013·2.17 MB·English

THE POETICS OF IRISHNESS: 2Oth-CENTURY
ANGLO-IRISH POETRY TRANSLATED
INTO GREEK

by

Theodora Valkanou

A thesis submitted to the Department of Translation and Intercultural
Studies, School of English, Faculty of Philosophy, Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki, Greece,

in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

September 2012
Table of Contents

Acknowledgments v
Abstract vii
Abbreviations ix

INTRODUCTION
0.1 The Scope of Research: Initial Definitions 1
0.2 Aims of the Study 3
0.3 Method and Limitations 5
0.4 Significance of the Thesis 6
0.5 Chapter Outline 11
0.6 Notes 13
0.6.1 The Concept of Anglo-Irish Literature 13
0.6.2 A Note on Punctuation, Capitalization, and 14
Transliteration

CHAPTER 1 – IDENTITY AND TRANSLATION
Introduction to the Chapter 16
1.1 The Quest for Irishness: An Identity Quest 17
1.2 The Concept of Identity 18
1.3 The Construction of Identity 19
1.4 National Identity (and Its Connection to Ireland) 22
1.5 The Formation of Irish Identity 24
1.5.1 Ireland Imagined as England’s Other 24
1.5.2 Historical Overview of Irishness 28
1.5.3 Why is Interest in National Identity So Accentuated 35
in Ireland?
1.5.4 Ireland’s Colonial/ Postcolonial Experience 39
1.6 National and Cultural Identity: The Traits of Irishness 41
1.7 Is National Identity a Suitable Unit for Cultural Analysis? 48
1.8 Literatures Defined as “National” : The Case of Irish 50
Literature
1.9 The Role of Literature for Irish National Identity: 53
Representation
1.10 Cultures in Contact 56
1.11 The Translation of Culture and Cultural Translation 57
1.12 Representation through Translation 61
1.13 Translation as Ethnography: Translators as Interpreters of 62
Cultures
1.14 Τhe Translatability of Culture: A Path to Reception 65
1.15 Translation in the Context of Postcolonialism 68
1.16 Postcoloniality and Translation: Translation and Ireland 72
ii
1.17 The Multiplicity of the “Other”: The “Other” in Translation 75
Conclusion 77

CHAPTER 2 –MATERIAL AND METHOD
Introduction to the Chapter 78
2.1 Why Poetry 79
2.2 The Writers 83
2.2.1 William Butler Yeats 84
2.2.2 Patrick Kavanagh 88
2.2.3 Seamus Heaney 92
2.3 The Translations of Yeats’s Work into Greek 96
2.4 The Translations of Kavanagh’s Work into Greek 100
2.5 The Translations of Heaney’s Work into Greek 101
2.6 Methodology 104
Conclusion 111

CHAPTER 3 – MACROANALYSIS
Introduction to the Chapter 112
3.1 What Gets Translated: The Importance of Selection 113
3.1.1 What Gets Translated: W. B. Yeats 113
3.1.2 What Gets Translated: Patrick Kavanagh 118
3.1.3 What Gets Translated: Seamus Heaney 121
3.2 Peritextual Analysis 125
3.2.1 Peritextual Analysis: W. B. Yeats 127
3.2.2 Peritextual Analysis: Patrick Kavanagh 130
3.2.3 Peritextual Analysis: Seamus Heaney 133
Conclusion 135

CHAPTER 4 –ANALYSIS OF THE TRANSLATIONS: FORM
Introduction to the Chapter 138
4.1 From the Source Culture to the Target Culture 139
4.2 The Particularities of Anglo-Irish Poetry: Orality 142
4.3 Orality in Greek Poetry: The Case of “Political Verse” 143
4.4 The Irish Ballad 145
4.5 Yeats and the Irish Ballad 146
4.6 The Translation of Yeats’s Ballads 148
Conclusion 158

CHAPTER 5 –TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF THE TRANSLATIONS
Introduction to the Chapter 161
5.1 The Use of Translation Strategies: Domestication or 161
Foreignization?
5.2 Factors Determining the Use of Different Strategies 165
5.3 The Structure of the Analysis 169
5.4 Culture-Specific Elements 170
5.5 Culture-Specific Elements as Markers of Irish Identity 176
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5.5.1.1 Place Names 176
5.5.1.2 Place 186
5.5.2 Politics, History, and Memory 202
5.5.3 Religion, Mythology, and Folklore 214
Conclusion 240

CHAPTER 6 –CONCLUSIONS
6.1 Overview of Significant Findings 245
6.2 The Representation of Irishness through Greek Translations 248
6.3 Limitations of the Study and Suggestions for Further Research 252

APPENDICES 255
APPENDIX A: LIST OF TRANSLATIONS OF YEATS’S POETRY 256
APPENDIX B: LIST OF TRANSLATIONS OF KAVANAGH’S POETRY 270
APPENDIX C: LIST OF TRANSLATIONS OF HEANEY’S POETRY 271
APPENDIX D: To Alfadi Cover 278
BIBLIOGRAPHY 279

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Acknowledgments

I would like to express my gratitude to the three-member committee who supervised my
thesis. First and foremost, I offer my sincerest gratitude to my supervisor, Prof David
Connolly for his constant support over the years. Not only has he followed closely every
step of the process of my PhD writing, but he has been more than generous in sharing his
knowledge, guiding without patronizing, as well as always offering moral support and
encouragement. I would also like to thank Dr Effie Yiannopoulou for discussions,
communication and her meticulous corrections over several drafts of my thesis. Her
patience is greatly appreciated. Last but not least, I wish to express my appreciation to Dr
Nick Kontos for his understanding and his prompt assistance with my manuscripts.
Special thanks go to Dr Tatiani Rapatzikou; her encouragement during rough
times was invaluable. Thanks also go to Foteini Stavrou, and Kleoniki Skoularika—
members of staff in the library of the English Department—and Chrysoula Papiopoulou
and Effie Kapetanaki from administration for their assistance—practical and moral. I am
especially indebted to Dafni Moustaklidou, for all her help and friendship.
Over the years I have been lucky to be surrounded by fellow students, friends and
relatives who have helped me in various ways. My friends Karen Emmerich, Areti
Leopoulou, Natalia Kouremeti, and I have been on parallel tracks for several years,
sharing the disappointments and joys of completing our PhD theses. Infinite appreciation
goes especially to Karen for dedicating her precious time in discussions and careful
readings of my work. I cannot thank enough Ivi Kazantzi for our stimulating academic
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discussions, but, most importantly, for her precious friendship. I am also grateful to my
uncle Nikos Valkanos and my aunt Mary Plastira-Valkanou for their faith in me. Words
cannot describe my infinite gratitude to my mother, Maria; I could never have achieved
anything without her help and support. Last but not least, I wish to thank my my sons
Alexandros and Yiorgos, who have been the most adorable and patient toddler and baby,
as well as my partner Kyriakos Apostolopoulos. He has borne patiently (and often
heroically) the brunt of my anxiety, shared my moments of excitement, offered
invaluable insight into various aspects of my work. Equally importantly, though, he has
managed to relieve me from everyday stress, doing more than his share around the house,
constantly making sure I always had sufficient resources to go on. Thank you—words are
not enough.

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Abstract

The present thesis sets out to explore how Irish cultural identity is rendered in the Greek
translations of 20th-century Anglo-Irish poetry, and more specifically in the translated
works of William Butler Yeats, Patrick Kavanagh, and Seamus Heaney. Taking as a
starting point the notion that the distinct national culture of Ireland is both shaped by and
reflected in its literary production, this thesis investigates how the literary image of
Irishness is represented when Irish writing in English is translated—an issue which has
received scant attention in the literature.
For the purposes of this thesis, Irishness is understood as fluid and multifaceted,
owing its formation to the colonial/postcolonial experience. Its traits are described with
the help of various definitions of culture and nation; its specific cultural markers—
namely place, politics, history; memory, religion, mythology and folklore—are located
and discussed in the original poems and their translations.
The study involves not only a textual analysis of the translations with emphasis on
the way culture-specific elements are rendered into Greek, but also an analysis of the
form of the translated poems, an examination of the peritexts, as well as a macro-analysis
of what part of the three poets’ work has been selected for translation. Having
contextualized the poems in the source culture from which they originated, this study
explores the extent to which cultural specificity comes across in the Greek translations.
The findings of this study suggest that domesticating practices have prevailed,
obscuring to a certain extent the cultural particularities of the source texts. Moreover, the
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various conceptions of Irishness as manifested in the work of the three poets are not fully
captured in the Greek translations. Although the translation of Anglo-Irish poetry
undeniably creates a meeting point between source and target culture, the image of
Irishness is altered in the process. Taking into consideration the issue of translatability,
this thesis offers an insight into the way cultural transfer between two minor cultures
performs.

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Abbreviations

ΒΤΤ Back Translation of Text
NIV New Testament: New International Version

28Π 28 Ποιήµατα
70Ε 70 Ερωτικά
ΑΒ Αλφάβητα
ΤοΑλφ Το αλφάδι
ΑγγλΕπ Αγγλοελληνική επιθεώρηση
ΑγγλΛ Άγγλοι λυρικοί
ΑγγλΦ Αγγλόφωνη φιλολογία:συγκριτικές µελέτες
ΑΑΠΕΕ Ανθολογία άγγλων ποιητών εµπνευσµένων από την
Ελλάδα
ΑΕΑΠ Ανθολογία της ευρωπαϊκής και αµερικανικής
ποιήσεως
Αντι Αντιγραφές
ΑπΕπ Η απόγνωση της επίγνωσης
Βακχ Βακχικόν
ΒΘΠΚ Βασικά θέµατα της ποίησης του Καβάφη
∆εν Το δέντρο
∆ια ∆ιαβάζω
ΕΚ Εθνικός κήρυξ
Εντ Το εντευκτήριον
Επ Εποχές
ΕρΜετ Το εργαστήρι του µεταφραστή
Ευθ Ευθύνη
ΕφΣπ Εφήµερον σπέρµα
ΚΕ Καινούρια εποχή
ΚΛ Κυπριακός Λόγος
ΜΠ Η µεγάλη πείνα
Μ & Ο Μυθολογίες και οράµατα
ΜυθΕ Ο µύθος της Ελένης
ΝΕ Νέα εστία
ΝΠΠΑ Νέα παγκόσµια ποιητική ανθολογία
ΝΓ Νεοελληνικά γράµµατα
ΝοµπΛ Οι νοµπελίστες της λογοτεχνίας
ΞΠο Ξένα ποιήµατα
ΠΠΑ Παγκόσµια ποιητική ανθολογία
ΠΜΜ Τα πέτρινα µάτια της Μέδουσας
ΠοΕΘ Ποιήµατα, Εκδοτική Θεσσαλονίκης
ΠοΜΙΕΤ Ποιήµατα, Μορφωτικό Ίδρυµα Εθνικής Τραπέζης
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ΠΒ Τα ποιήµατα του βάλτου
Ποι Ποίηση
ΑνΑπ Σ’αναζήτηση του απόλυτου: Ιστορική ανθολογία
της παγκοσµίου ποιήσεως
ΦΠ Φιλολογική πρωτοχρονιά

x