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Translation and the Intersection of Texts, Contexts and Politics pp 157–177Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The Politics of Relay Translation and Language Hierarchies: The Case of Stanisław Lem’s Solaris

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Abstract

This chapter proposes that the presence of doubly translated literary texts in English points to a political dimension of literary trends. Relay translations are commissioned and published because minority and less translated languages are not accorded importance or prestige. The chapter’s central argument is twofold. First, it argues that doubly mediated English translations indicate the position of source languages and literatures within the global hierarchies of cultural prestige. Second, by using as a case study the 1970 relay translation (via French) of Stanisław Lem’s critically acclaimed novel, Solaris, the chapter demonstrates that by introducing a third linguistic layer, cultural context, and translator, relay translation increases the likelihood of inaccuracies and errors, making it a method particularly unsuited to literary translation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    By the award-winning translator Bill Johnston and available as Audio and Kindle only. As of July 2013, the Lem estate had “not yet managed to arrange publication” of the direct translation (B. Johnston, personal communication, July 19, 2013). A publisher is the sole owner of a translation for which it has purchased rights as long as the edition remains in print, and has monopoly over it until the original falls into public domain (Bellos 2011: 295–297).

  2. 2.

    A variety of terms ranging from mediated, second-hand, secondary to intermediate, filtered, and indirect continues to refer to the same process. See, for example, Ringmar (2012: 141), St. André (2008: 231), Dollerup (2000: 23), Toury (1995: 134), Gottlieb (2008: 64), Shuttleworth and Cowie (2014 [1997]: 76) and Kellman (2010: 14).

  3. 3.

    Recently (2014), Bill Johnston translated The Invincible directly from the Polish as he did Solaris in 2011. Both are available only as Kindle and audio books.

  4. 4.

    It is very difficult to figure out which English translations are not based on original texts. If such information is included, it is usually buried somewhere on the copyright page. Consequently, this is not enough evidence to claim that only texts in Eastern European languages are relayed into English. The authors and titles listed here come from the article titled “Twice Removed” (2003) and from Steven G. Kellman’s “Alien Autographs.”

  5. 5.

    I personally take exception to such linguistic exoticizing. Albanian certainly isn’t strange or difficult for Albanians. Any language can appear strange or difficult to those unfamiliar with it.

  6. 6.

    In Polish, French, and Johnston’s direct translation, Kris Kelvin’s ex-wife is named Harey, not Rheya, and Kelvin’s crewmate on the Solaris Station is named Snaut, not Snow. Perhaps the English relay translators did not like the masculine sounding Harey, opting for the name’s anagram Rheya, and instead of the piggish Snaut, the more neutral Snow.

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Lindenwood University’s scholarship committee for providing the time needed for this project. Many warm thanks to Bill Johnston, Travis McMaken, and Anthony Alvarez who generously shared their time and insight.

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  1. English, Lindenwood University, St Charles, MO, USA

    Justine M. Pas

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  1. Justine M. Pas
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Correspondence to Justine M. Pas .

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  1. English and Applied Linguistics, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA

    Mohammed Albakry

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Pas, J.M. (2017). The Politics of Relay Translation and Language Hierarchies: The Case of Stanisław Lem’s Solaris . In: Albakry, M. (eds) Translation and the Intersection of Texts, Contexts and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53748-1_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53748-1_8

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