“Supertext” as a Form of a “Strong” Fiction Text Existence

Abstract

The emergence and existence of a systemic-structural texts’ unity, defined as a center of translation attraction and formed by a “strong” text of fiction and its secondary versions of various semiotic nature, are considered in the article. The study is addressed to the hypothesis of formation of a “supertext” within the boundaries of the above mentioned center, which has polylingual, polycode, multimodal and polyauthory parameters. Being a multidimensional information object, a “supertext” unites the variations of the original information in translation, which increases the limits of its translatability and degree of its translatedness. The formation and functioning of a center and the corresponding “supertext” are defined as a prolonged, continuous and limitless semiosis, described primarily through the interpretation and adaptation. As a complex semiotic object, a “supertext” is formed as interpretations continuum of a “strong” original information potential, which makes it possible to reveal its aesthetic resources and contribute to its preservation in spatio-temporal coordinates of culture. The hypothesis of “supertext” is considered on the material of a “strong” text of W. Shakespeare’s tragedy “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”, which is world culture heritage, and its numerous secondary versions generated for more than 400 years. In accordance with the Jakobsonian types of translation, main attention is paid to the interlingual and intersemiotic versions of the original. A brief history of play’s Russian translations covering the period of the 18th-21st centuries is given. As one of the most filmed literary texts, “Hamlet” has numerous screen adaptations, revealing their close connection with the world cinema history. There are cases of the Shakespeare’s text retranslation (In the broad sense of the process of original information reinterpretation by means of one foreign language or one semiotic system), as well as shifts in the ontological categories of primacy and secondarity related to verbal, nonverbal and not only verbal secondary texts belonging to the center of translation attraction. The analysis of “Hamlet” as a “supertext” presupposes its consideration in the trajectories of description and prescription and can contribute to the emergence of the history and theory of “supertext” as an object of translation semiotics.

About the authors

Veronica A. Razumovskaya

Siberian Federal University

Author for correspondence.
Email: veronica_raz@hotmail.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0751-7964
SPIN-code: 8263-8539
Scopus Author ID: 57188839995

PhD in Philology, Professor, School of Economics, Public Administration and Finance

79/10, Svobodny pr., Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation, 660041

References

  1. Kuz’mina, N.A. (2009). Intertext: Theme with Variations. Phenomena of Culture and Language in Intertextual Interpretation. Omsk: Omsk State University Publ. (In Russ.).
  2. Etkind, E.G. (1963). Poetry and Translation. Moscow—Leningrad: Soviet Writer. (In Russ.).
  3. Bassnett, S. & Lefevere, A. (1998). Constructing Cultures: Essays on Literary Translation. Topics in Translation 11. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
  4. Monastyrsky, A. (1999). Dictionary of the Moscow Conceptual School Terms. Moscow: Ad Marginem. (In Russ.).
  5. Lotman, yu.M. (2002). To the typology of culture. In: History and Typology of Russian Culture. St. Petersburg: Iskusstvo-SPb. pp. 56–57. (In Russ.).
  6. Tchaikovsky, R.R. & Lysenkova, E.L. (2001). Inexhaustibility of the Original. 100 Translations of R.M. Rilke’s “Panther” into 15 languages. Magadan: Kordis. (In Russ.).
  7. Filippova, I.N. (2017). On Some Factors of Translational Multiplicity. RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics, 8(2), 241–248. (In Russ.).
  8. Razumovskaya, V.A. (2019). A Center of Translation Attraction as the Tower of Babel Replica: Intersemiotic Translation Perspectives. Mundo Eslavo, 18, 202–215.
  9. Livergant, A.ya. (2021). Austen J. Pride and prejudice. Fragments of the novel. Translation and introduction by Alexander Livergant. Foreign literature, 1. URL: https://magazines. gorky.media/inostran/2021/1/gordost-i-predubezhdenie. html (accessed: 20.05.2022). (In Russ.).
  10. Berman, A. (1984). L’épreuve de l’étranger: Culture et traduction dans l’Allemagne romantique. Paris: Gallimard. (In French).
  11. Berman, A. (1990). La retraduction comme espace de la traduction. Palimpsestes, 4, 1–8. (In French).
  12. Sherstneva, E.S. (2020). Translational multiplicity in the context of the evolution of the translation reception of the original: culturological and ethical aspects. Scientific Notes of Petrozavodsk State University, 42(3), 96–102. (In Russ.).
  13. Lewis, R. (2017). Hamlet and the Vision of Darkness. Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press.
  14. Zak, W.F. (2015). Hamlet’s Problematic Revenge: Forging a Royal Mandate. Lanham— Boulder—New york—London: Lexington Books.
  15. Lukov, V.A., Zakharov, N.V. & Gaidin, B.N. (2010). Hamlet as an Eternal Image of Russian and World Culture. Moscow: University of the Humanities publ. (In Russ.).
  16. Anand, M.K. (2019). An Overview of Hamlet Studies. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publ.
  17. Werstine, P. (1988). The Textual Mystery of Hamlet. Shakespeare Quarterly, 1(39), 1–26.
  18. Anikst, A.A. (1963). Shakespeare’s Creative Work. Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura. (In Russ.).
  19. Index Translationum. URL: https://www.unesco.org/xtrans/bsstatexp.aspx?crit1L=5&nTyp=min&topN=50 (accessed: 27.07.2022).
  20. Roig-Sanz, D. & Fólica, L. (2021). Big Translation History. Translation Spaces, 10(2), 231–259.
  21. Cioni, F. (2010). Hamlet in Italy (1700–1945). URL: http://triggs.djvu.org/global-language.com/ENFOLDED/index.php?page=texts.php?sects=globalh/ (accessed: 25.07.2022).
  22. Li, R. (2010). Hamlet in China: Translation, Interpretation and Performance. MIT Global Shakespeares: Video and Performance Archives: Essays and Written Interviews. URL: https://globalshakespeares.mit.edu/extra/hamlet-in-china-translation-interpretation-andperformance/ (accessed: 27.07.2022).
  23. Bilge, F.Z. (2020). History of Hamlet Translations in Turkey. Litera, 30(2), 603–620. https:// doi.org/10.26650/LITERA2020-0099
  24. Nikitina, L. (2008). The First Translation of Shakespeare into Russian: A Metamorphosis of Hamlet on Russian Soil. Phililogie im Netz, 43, 17–27.
  25. Levin, yu.D. (1973). Russian translations of W. Shakespeare. In: Mastery of Translation. Collection 9. Moscow: Nauka. pp. 5–25. (In Russ.).
  26. Kunitsyna, E.yu. (2009). Shakespeare’s Drama: Translation Performability and translation Discourse. Bulletin of Irkutsk State Linguistic University, 4(8), 48–56. (In Russ.).
  27. yang, G. (2019). “Hamlet”’s Influence in China and Chinese Translation Studies. In: 2019 International Conference on Education, Management, Social Science and Humanities Research (EMSSHR 2019). URL: https://clausiuspress.com/conference/article/artId/2057. html. (accessed: 25.07. 2022).
  28. Assay, M. (2021). ‘The rumble of continuing life’: Kozintsev’s Hamlet and its distorted reception. Cahiers Èlisabèthains: A Journal of English Renaissance Studies, 104(1), 3–22.
  29. Eastman, R.M. (1982). Is It Time to Translate Shakespeare? The English Journal, 41–46.
  30. Cioni, F. (2018). Italian Alternative Shakespeare. Carmelo Bene’s Appropriation of Hamlet. SKENÈ Journal of Theatre and Drama Studies, 4(1), 163–181.

Copyright (c) 2024 Razumovskaya V.A.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

This website uses cookies

You consent to our cookies if you continue to use our website.

About Cookies