their - The University of Texas at Dallas

translator must grasp the resulting concepts and then
recast those in another language within a different
cultural tradition.
The analysis of how the words come to have
meaning is the basis for the translator’s work. He must
examine the levels of language employed in a text, the
texture of the words (how harsh in sound, how broad
or limited in denotative and connotative possibilities,
whether concrete or abstract), and what images,
metaphors, rhythms, and other literary devices the
author has used to evoke the concepts and establish
the tone. A poem becomes a poem as it is being
written. The interpretation of a poem is not possible
until the reading includes the last word and last
punctuation mark. The translator must determine the
inner logic that evolves within the whole of the
original text. When the translator rather than the
author dominates, the texture of the writing with
respect to the level of language, the style, and the
originality of the author’s work are disregarded.
Appropriation of the text for its message is often
the intent of the translator whose motivation is the
ideological inclination of the author. This approach
has affected the translation of many protest poems. It
has promoted as poetry in English what is merely
verse, although the original in fact may have been
poetry. On the other hand, if the poem can be spelled
out adequately in a prose form in English, it was
undoubtedly prose in the original text.
To make the assertion that a translation of a
literary work should be identifiable with the original
author’s work evokes an important question: How can
this be accomplished in practice We have to assert in
the first place that a perfect translation does not exist.
Every translation is a version of the original. As
Gregory Rabassa states, “the quality of a translation
depends upon how closely it approaches the
original.” 4
The first task of the “ideal” translator is to
accumulate the available knowledge of the work of
the contemporary author, both personal and regional
cultural information, literary milieu, and ideological
persuasion. In short, the translator must establish for
himself the literary and cultural context of the text
itself and the author. Like a literary critic, he
undertakes an analysis of the particular text to
determine the characteristics of the diction, the
images, the metaphors, ambiguities or directness that
establish the emotional effect of the words. In this, the
translator is examining the “how” of how the text
came to have meaning and originality and importance.
She is working from within the entire text itself and
not imposing her own theory of interpretation.
The disconcerting fact is that although the
translator may have what approaches a total
comprehension of the original, he has accomplished
only the first step of this impossible but necessary
endeavor. The lack of equivalence between languages
and cultures places a heavy burden on the translator. It
requires his intuition, diligence, and skill in
considering the options. The translator is a creative
writer with boundaries imposed by an existing text.
Let us examine lines from poems by several poets
to hear their voices and consider some of the
challenges the selections present. We will begin with a
seemingly simple, seven-line fable by the prolific
Salvadoran writer David Escobar Galindo.
Characteristics of the original are concision and
rhythm and rhyme. As is typical of his work, the level
of language is elevated: in this fable, the words
“tozudez,” which could be “terquedad,” and
“jumento,” which could be “asno,” for example.
Literally, the fable says: The stubbornness of the
mule brought him countless beatings. The
stubbornness of the man gave him tyrannical power.
The luck of the vain vice that turns a human into a
mule and makes a mule human. The Spanish of
Galindo is: “La tozudez del jumento/ le acarreó palos
sin cuento.// La tozudez del humano/ le dio poder de
tirano.// ¡Ah suerte del vicio vano,/ que hace al
humano jumento// y al jumento lo hace humano!” I,
with my co-translator Helen D. Clement, attempt an
analogous though not strictly rhythmic rhyme and
retention of essential content. Our elevated language
comes in the word “dour.” The translation reads:
“While for stubbornness in a mule, the fate is dour./
Similar stubbornness in a man/ results in power.// A
strange destiny for a vain vice/ that makes men
mulish/ whereas mules become nice!” 5
Appropriate tone and voice are the major
requisites for a successful translation. Writers vary
their voices in their work, depending upon the theme.
As an example, Nela Rio of Argentina is a lyric poet
whose work is often harsh in tone. She writes poetry
with themes ranging from erotic to testimonial, always
within the feminist perspective. Her themes are related
to womanhood: the experience of pain — torture,
violation, abuse — and of sexuality — menstruation,
44