Abstract
The article discusses the Polish translation of selected proper names from the nine Moomin books (1945–1970) written by the Finnish-Swedish author Tove Jansson. The analysis focusses on double address—a technique which is today more and more explicitly employed by authors and intensively discussed within academia. Although it has numerous names (ambiguity, crossover, Scandinavian allålderslitteratur—literature of all ages, dual/double or multiple address, fusion literature), it is not new and is typical of, for example, Jansson’s Moomin books, which are an excellent example to study the dilemma of double address in translation. The analysis includes a compact presentation of the source-language meaning in correlation with the referent’s characterisation and/or its origin. When investigating the interpretation of target-language names, both expert and novice readers will be considered. Methodologically, the study follows the taxonomy of translation techniques applied by Anna Fornalczyk (Translating Anthroponyms as Exemplified by Selected Works of English Children’s Literature in Their Polish Versions, 2010, based on Krzysztof Hejwowski, Translation: A Cognitive-Communicative Theory Approach, 2004) and Yvonne Bertills (Intertextualities, Continued. The Connotations of Proper Names in Tove Jansson. In Children’s Literature as Communication: The ChiLPA Project, ed. Roger D. Sell, 2002, based on Theo Hermans, On Translating Proper Names, with Reference to De Witte and Max Havelaar. In Modern Dutch Studies: Essays in Honour of Peter King, ed. M. Wintle and P. Vincent, 1988). This approach allows one to pose questions about the impact of double address on translation and translation studies, and in particular the future of translation for children and its theory as a separate field of research.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
These are conclusions of my further analyses which have not been included in this study.
- 2.
This is a Norwegian variant of this term. Before there was used its Swedish version – allålderslitteratur.
- 3.
The quote is my translation [H.D.T].
- 4.
For example Children’s Books in Translation (Klingberg et al. 1978) can be considered as an important contribution to the development of CLTS.
Secondary Sources
Bertills, Yvonne. 2002. Intertextualities, Continued. The Connotations of Proper Names in Tove Jansson. In Children’s Literature as Communication: The ChiLPA Project, ed. Roger D. Sell, 71–84. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
———. 2003. Beyond Identification. Proper Names in Children’s Literature. Åbo: Åbo Akademi University Press.
Chłapowska, Teresa. 1995. Próba ukazania sylwetki Tove Jansson. In Świat Muminków. Materiały z sesji literackiej. Gdańsk, 26-27 maja 1994, ed. Maryla Hempowicz, 9–14. Gdańsk: Nadbałtyckie Centrum Kultury.
Dahle, Gro. 2013. Bilderböcker som lekplats. In En fanfar för bilderboken, eds. Ulla Rhedin, Oscar Koch, and Lena Eriksson, 101–119. Stockholm: Alfabeta.
Dymel-Trzebiatowska, Hanna. 2016. Secrets of Universal Reading. The Moomin Books by Tove Jansson from a Perspective of Implied Reader and Literary Response. Yearbook of Finnish Literary Research 2016: 58–73.
———. 2017. «Nie można stać się Mamą Muminka tylko dlatego, że się wyniosło stół na dwór». Bibliograficzno-intertekstualna interpretacja postaci Mamy Muminka w książkach Tove Jansson. Studia Scandinavica 21 (1): 9–22.
Fornalczyk, Anna. 2010. Translating Anthroponyms as Exemplified by Selected Works of English Children’s Literature in Their Polish Versions. Łódź-Warszawa: Społeczna Wyższa Szkoła Przedsiębiorczości i Zarządzania.
Hejwowski, Krzysztof. 2004. Translation: A Cognitive-Communicative Theory Approach. Olecko: Wydawnictwo Wszechnicy Mazurskiej.
Hermans, Theo. 1988. On Translating Proper Names, with Reference to De Witte and Max Havelaar. In Modern Dutch Studies: Essays in Honour of Peter King, ed. Michael Wintle and Paul Vincent, 11–24. London: Athlone.
Klingberg, Göte. 1986. Children’s Fiction in the Hands of the Translators. Lund: Gleerup.
Klingberg, Göte, Mary Ørvig, and Amor Stuart, eds. 1978. Children’s Books in Translation. The Situation and the Problems. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International.
Nikolajeva, Maria. 2004. Till otrohetens försvar. Om att svika texten till förmån för barnläsaren. Barnboken 27 (1): 23–32.
O’Sullivan, Emer. 2005. Comparative Children’s Literature. New York: Routledge.
Oittinen, Riitta. 2006. No Innocent Child. On the Ethics of Translating for Children. In Children’s Literature in Translation: Challenges and Encounters, eds. Jan van Coillie and Walter P. Verschueren, 35–45. Manchester: St Jerome.
Ommundsen, Åse-Marie. 2018. Picturebooks for Adults. In The Routledge Companion to Picturebooks, ed. Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer, 220–230. London; New York: Routledge.
Rogoż, Michał. 2011. Muminki Tove Jansson na polskim rynku wydawniczym. Toruńskie Studia Bibliograficzne 2 (7): 43–67.
Shavit, Zohar. 1986. Poetics of Children’s Literature. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press.
Westin, Boel. 2012. Tove Jansson. Mama Muminków. Trans. B. Ratajczak. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Marginesy.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dymel-Trzebiatowska, H. (2020). The Dilemma of Double Address. Polish Translation of Proper Names in Tove Jansson’s Moomin Books. In: Dybiec-Gajer, J., Oittinen, R., Kodura, M. (eds) Negotiating Translation and Transcreation of Children's Literature. New Frontiers in Translation Studies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2433-2_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2433-2_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-15-2432-5
Online ISBN: 978-981-15-2433-2
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)