Appearances: Character Description as a Network of Signification in Russian Translations of Jane Eyre (version before copyediting and last revisions), 2021
This article re-evaluates the theoretical import of networks of signification, one of Antoine Ber... more This article re-evaluates the theoretical import of networks of signification, one of Antoine Berman's twelve deforming tendencies in translation. With "Jane Eyre" as its case study, it considers character description as an example of a Bermanian network and traces the physical appearance of the novel's characters across its six Russian translations. Character description represents a network that is traceable, depends on the reader's ability to construct a visual mental image over the course of a narrative, has a tangible impact on characterisation, and remains relevant throughout a novel. It thus offers a concrete illustration of the relevance of networks of signification as a model of the systemic interpretative potential of translation variation. This analysis paves the ground for further study of Bermanian networks and the ultimate integration of this concept in translation practice.
Eugene Jolas, the first-time publisher of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake (1939 / 2012), started... more Eugene Jolas, the first-time publisher of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake (1939 / 2012), started his career as a translingual journalist and poet. A French-German bilingual, Jolas acquired English in adolescence, crossing the Atlantic to refashion himself as an American man of letters. A Man from Babel, as he styles himself in his posthumous autobiography of the same title (1998), Jolas published poetry in English, French, and German and eventually arrived to an understanding of his linguistic predicament as representative of humanity's path back to a pre-Babel state. Thus, he repeatedly called for a new language, a poetically-charged polygloss, Atlantica, that would surpass Esperanto and allow poets to lead humanity out of a post-war malady of language. Here as elsewhere, this self-identified homme migrateur presque symbolique” was right in his claim: “je fais toujours partie du cosmos inter-racial et inter-linguistique, …. j'appartiens au futur (“The Migrator and His Lang...
Target. International Journal of Translation Studies, 2021
This article re-evaluates the theoretical import of networks of signification, one of Antoine Ber... more This article re-evaluates the theoretical import of networks of signification, one of Antoine Berman’s twelve deforming tendencies in translation. Taking Jane Eyre as a case study, the article considers character description as an example of a Bermanian network and traces the physical appearance of the novel’s characters across its six Russian translations. Character description represents a network that is traceable, depends on the reader’s ability to construct a visual mental image over the course of a narrative, has a tangible impact on characterisation, and remains relevant throughout a novel. It thus offers a concrete illustration of the relevance of networks of signification as a model for the systemic interpretative potential of translation variation. This analysis paves the way for further study of Bermanian networks and the ultimate integration of this concept in translation practice.
This paper focuses on a long-term collaboration between the two poles of the DH-dipole; the D-pol... more This paper focuses on a long-term collaboration between the two poles of the DH-dipole; the D-pole: a CSCW (Computer-supported cooperative work) Computer Science scholar, Sasha Rudan, and the H-pole: a Comparative Literature scholar, Eugenia Kelbert. It involves work with a larger team as well, including this paper’s co-authors, among others. Our research started through a mutual interest in the digital analysis of stylistic features of fictional texts, mostly novels. Eventually, it developed towards designing a new ecosystem for collaborative research in the textual and stylometric DH domains. From a practical research question in stylometry in translingualism, we evolved to developing new tools, a DH infrastructure, later a DH research collaboration ecosystem and metaresearch questions addressing challenges of DH collaboration and its practical solutions. Here, we discuss the oppositions between the different disciplines involved, the challenges we faced on the road, and how we tr...
Previous work (Whalen, Zunshine, & Holquist, 2012) has shown that perspective embedding (“she tho... more Previous work (Whalen, Zunshine, & Holquist, 2012) has shown that perspective embedding (“she thought I left” embedding her perspective on “I left”) affects reading times for short vignettes. With increasing levels of embedment 1–5, reading times rose almost linearly. Level 0 was as slow as 3–4. Embedment level was determined by the authors, but validation by others is desirable. In Experiment 1, we trained 12 literature students to make embedment judgments. Their judgments correlated highly with ours (.94 on average) and agreed exactly in the majority of cases (74.5%); almost all were within one (94.2%). In Experiment 2, judgments of the first three paragraphs of “To Kill a Mockingbird” (Lee, 1960) yielded a lower level of agreement; literature uses subtle means for introducing perspective embedment, and individuals differ about including them. Assessment of perspective embedding, and exploration of sources of disagreements, provide new tools for analyzing literature.
Appearances: Character Description as a Network of Signification in Russian Translations of Jane Eyre (version before copyediting and last revisions), 2021
This article re-evaluates the theoretical import of networks of signification, one of Antoine Ber... more This article re-evaluates the theoretical import of networks of signification, one of Antoine Berman's twelve deforming tendencies in translation. With "Jane Eyre" as its case study, it considers character description as an example of a Bermanian network and traces the physical appearance of the novel's characters across its six Russian translations. Character description represents a network that is traceable, depends on the reader's ability to construct a visual mental image over the course of a narrative, has a tangible impact on characterisation, and remains relevant throughout a novel. It thus offers a concrete illustration of the relevance of networks of signification as a model of the systemic interpretative potential of translation variation. This analysis paves the ground for further study of Bermanian networks and the ultimate integration of this concept in translation practice.
Eugene Jolas, the first-time publisher of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake (1939 / 2012), started... more Eugene Jolas, the first-time publisher of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake (1939 / 2012), started his career as a translingual journalist and poet. A French-German bilingual, Jolas acquired English in adolescence, crossing the Atlantic to refashion himself as an American man of letters. A Man from Babel, as he styles himself in his posthumous autobiography of the same title (1998), Jolas published poetry in English, French, and German and eventually arrived to an understanding of his linguistic predicament as representative of humanity's path back to a pre-Babel state. Thus, he repeatedly called for a new language, a poetically-charged polygloss, Atlantica, that would surpass Esperanto and allow poets to lead humanity out of a post-war malady of language. Here as elsewhere, this self-identified homme migrateur presque symbolique” was right in his claim: “je fais toujours partie du cosmos inter-racial et inter-linguistique, …. j'appartiens au futur (“The Migrator and His Lang...
Target. International Journal of Translation Studies, 2021
This article re-evaluates the theoretical import of networks of signification, one of Antoine Ber... more This article re-evaluates the theoretical import of networks of signification, one of Antoine Berman’s twelve deforming tendencies in translation. Taking Jane Eyre as a case study, the article considers character description as an example of a Bermanian network and traces the physical appearance of the novel’s characters across its six Russian translations. Character description represents a network that is traceable, depends on the reader’s ability to construct a visual mental image over the course of a narrative, has a tangible impact on characterisation, and remains relevant throughout a novel. It thus offers a concrete illustration of the relevance of networks of signification as a model for the systemic interpretative potential of translation variation. This analysis paves the way for further study of Bermanian networks and the ultimate integration of this concept in translation practice.
This paper focuses on a long-term collaboration between the two poles of the DH-dipole; the D-pol... more This paper focuses on a long-term collaboration between the two poles of the DH-dipole; the D-pole: a CSCW (Computer-supported cooperative work) Computer Science scholar, Sasha Rudan, and the H-pole: a Comparative Literature scholar, Eugenia Kelbert. It involves work with a larger team as well, including this paper’s co-authors, among others. Our research started through a mutual interest in the digital analysis of stylistic features of fictional texts, mostly novels. Eventually, it developed towards designing a new ecosystem for collaborative research in the textual and stylometric DH domains. From a practical research question in stylometry in translingualism, we evolved to developing new tools, a DH infrastructure, later a DH research collaboration ecosystem and metaresearch questions addressing challenges of DH collaboration and its practical solutions. Here, we discuss the oppositions between the different disciplines involved, the challenges we faced on the road, and how we tr...
Previous work (Whalen, Zunshine, & Holquist, 2012) has shown that perspective embedding (“she tho... more Previous work (Whalen, Zunshine, & Holquist, 2012) has shown that perspective embedding (“she thought I left” embedding her perspective on “I left”) affects reading times for short vignettes. With increasing levels of embedment 1–5, reading times rose almost linearly. Level 0 was as slow as 3–4. Embedment level was determined by the authors, but validation by others is desirable. In Experiment 1, we trained 12 literature students to make embedment judgments. Their judgments correlated highly with ours (.94 on average) and agreed exactly in the majority of cases (74.5%); almost all were within one (94.2%). In Experiment 2, judgments of the first three paragraphs of “To Kill a Mockingbird” (Lee, 1960) yielded a lower level of agreement; literature uses subtle means for introducing perspective embedment, and individuals differ about including them. Assessment of perspective embedding, and exploration of sources of disagreements, provide new tools for analyzing literature.
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