Drama translation: specificity, problems and approaches

The article focuses on the specialized nature of drama translation, which is determined mainly by the unique status of drama, belongingsimultaneously to theatre and literature. Performance as a goal set a priori demands from the translator to bear in mind that the dramatictext will be delivered by the actor towards the audience in a theatre situation. The problem emanating from it is brought into focus incritical works devoted to literature or philological translations, which do not meet the requirements of dramatic text transpositiononto the stage, as well as in opposing dramas to be read and dramas to be acted. The analysis of foreign research provided in thisarticle (S. Bassnett, K. Bednarz, E. Fisher-Lichte, R. Hoffmann, I. Levy, G. Mounin, P. Pavis, B. Schultze, M. Snell-Hornby, S. Totseva,and others) determines mainstreams in drama translation theory (since 1970s) and reveals the cross-disciplinary nature of the problem,manifested in various approaches to its solution (within theory of literature, linguistics, pragmatics, theatre and culture studies). Whileliterature and linguistic approaches (I. Levy, K. Bednartz, S. Bassnett, S, Totseva) are mostly targeted at preservation of thosepeculiarities of the original text which are essential for its scenic embodiment (features of live colloquial speech; polysemy, brevity,pliability of phrase; special nature of drama word, accompanied by mimics, gesture and action, etc.), the representatives of pragmatic,theatrical and cultural approaches (G. Mounin, P. Pavis, E. Fisher-Lichte) draw mostly on the idea of productivity of the translateddramatic text for the target-culture, which presupposes its significant transformation aimed at adopting the text to the level ofhermeneutic competence (P. Pavis) of the spectator and to foreign theatrical tradition on the whole and theatrical idiolect (E. Fisher-Lichte) of a director in particular. Within the approaches described above it is possible to determine a number of notions which revealvarious strategies of translating drama as a text with unique status in translation culture: selective accuracy (I. Levy), stage effectivenessof translation (G. Mounin, R. Hoffmann, S, Bassnett), performability (S. Totseva), deictic translation (I. Levy, P. Pavis, S. Totseva),direction of word (K. Bednarz), word-gesture image (P. Pavis). According to the concepts analysed above the function of translation asa score for future performance can be considered by the translator in two different ways. The first presupposes preservation ofmultiplicity of scenic embodiment inherent to the original text as, for example, its performability (S. Totseva). The other impliescreating translation which contains one ideal performance, according to a certain directors views. In his case translation keeps controlover the performance. The analysis makes it possible to conclude that special character of drama translation in contemporary research isdescribed at the crossroads of translation and theatre (stage) discourses. In this common environment we observe natural approximationof translation and performance as meta-texts on the basis of such notions as transformation, interpretation, specification and adaptation.

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