Mediating metaphor in English translations of Dante's Inferno, Canto 13

ABSTRACT

The study is a product-oriented investigation into the translation of metaphor in four modern English versions of a stretch of text from Dante's Inferno. Its first aim is to establish the extent of equivalence of semantic field between the metaphors of the source text and their realizations in the target texts. This then provides the basis for exploring the mediation of metaphor by the translators and for analyzing the strategies they use. Toury's norms model is the frame of reference drawn on to explain the patterns of equivalence that emerge in the group. The discussion analyzes the findings of the data collection, as well as individual examples of mediation from the translated texts, for what they reveal about orientations towards ST- or TT-norms. Though there are interesting correspondences across the English versions, the study focuses on divergent mediations of source text metaphor because this is the perspective that enables features of the praxis of individual translators to emerge most clearly. The data are presented in a detailed table in an appendix to the study to supplement the material under discussion and provide a point of reference for it.

KEYWORDS:

• metaphor
• semantic equivalence
• mediation
• source and target text orientation
• norms

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Isobel Grave is an Italianist teaching language and literature within Italian Studies at the University of South Australia. She has a strong interest in comparative grammar and issues of syntax and lexical semantics in the context of translation. She is a published translator of poetry and narrative from Italian into English, contributes to assessment and policy of the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI) and is herself a NAATI-qualified professional interpreter and translator.

Notes

1 The sonnet exchange is composed of Cino's ‘Dante, quando per caso’ and Dante's reply, ‘Io sono stato’ (Foster and Boyde, 1967).

2 The stretch of ST text contains three distinct metaphors (only two of which are expressed figuratively by Musa); the numbering 7‒9 reflects the fact that these lines (and their translations) appear cited three times in Table A1.