1930s Russian translation of James Joyce's novel Ulysses, fifth episode

For the first time the specificity of the translation of James Joyce's novel Ulysses made in the 1930s by the team of the first translation association headed by I.A. Kashkin is studied. The material of the analysis is the fifth episode of the novel. It takes a special place in the novel as Ulysses is Bloom. It is in this episode that Bloom, the title character of Joyce's novel, first reveals to the reader. The episode translation is studied in the aspect of its compliance with the complex plan of the author, which he explained in special schemes of the novel. The basis of the fifth episode is the ninth chapter of Homer's The Odyssey - "Lotus eaters''. Besides, the episode is defined by such semantic dominants as botany, chemistry and the Eucharist. The given episode is characterized by the lack of action; its task is to specify the value of leisure as it gives an opportunity to best show the inner life of the character. Therefore, the entire episode represents the walks of the main character, Bloom, along the streets of Dublin. Lotus is famous for its narcotic effect. Joyce used the lotus influence allegorically. It is shown by the reference to heat and hot countries where the climate relaxes people and makes them as lazy as if they were under the influence of the lotus. So there appears the floral theme that runs through the entire episode. We find numerous references to flowers. They are the name and nickname of the main character that are not translated; idioms; names of flowers made-up by the author, etc. In a sense, lotus is compared to a drug. In the episode the notion of the drug is represented by mentioning chemical substances in the pharmacy Bloom enters, as well as through Eucharist, which by Joyce has an impact similar to opium on people. Bloom's loneliness is equated to the condition of narcotic intoxication, his desire to escape from the reality, which is even more obvious after his internal monologue in the pharmacy. When translating the monologue and the scene of the Eucharist in church, V.M. Toper replaced some words as idioms and author's word-formations cause difficulties in the transformation process of the material into Russian. We noted that the problem had been solved creatively - idioms had been transferred by the corresponding Russian equivalents, author's word creation found reflection in the work of the translator. The choice of the translation of a certain word was based on the episode content, not on its dictionary meaning. Thus, the comparison of the given translation with the original allows us to say that V.M. Toper preferred the creative type of translation typical for the Kashkin group of translators, therefore, not all of the details and nuances of the original text had been translated into Russian. But, on the other hand, V.M. Toper managed to reproduce the main idea of the fifth episode of the novel that goes back to chapter nine of Homer's The Odyssey, "Lotus eaters".

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