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ARTICLE
Linguistic and Stylistic Features of Dan Brown’s Works in the Aspect of
Translation
1
Akhmedov Namoz,
2
Buriyeva Muhayyo
1
Master’s student at Termez State University, Uzbekistan
2
Teacher at military lyceum in Termez, Uzbekistan
(Received 05 December 2021; Accepted 10 December 2021; first published
O
nline 15 December
2021)
Keywords:
literary translation, equivalence of translation; literary text, Dan Brown
Introduction
Literary translation is the oldest and most difficult type of translation in terms of communicative
orientation. In the course of translating a work of fiction, the translator acts as a writer and poet, co-
author of the work. Literary translation requires from the translator certain knowledge, skills and
abilities, a deep understanding of the content of the work, creative search, while preserving the
creative individuality of the author of the literary work.
Literary translation involves the understanding of a literary text as a complex structural unity of a
system of interacting elements that serve to reveal the ideological and thematic content of a literary
work. The translator must be able to penetrate into the artistic "fabric" of the work, to comprehend
the ideological and aesthetic value of the read, to give a scientifically grounded interpretation of the
literary text.
MATERIALS REVIEW
In the process of literary translation, the process of interpreting a literary text takes place, a distinctive
feature of which is the approach to the text as to a structural whole - a hierarchy of interrelated
elements.
Abstract
The article deals with lexical and stylistic features of Dan Brown's novels "Angels and
Demons" and "The Da Vinci Code" and the methods of their translation, which are devoted
to the consideration of lexical style-forming means, and reveals specifics of the transfer of
the author’s idiostyle by the translator, characterizes possibilities of creating an adequate
translation of the literary text by language means different in its system and structure. The
author examines peculiarities of translation of literary texts, in particular the question of
observance of the adequacy of such translation, considers different points of view on this
issue and makes appropriate conclusions.
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A correct and deep interpretation of a literary text requires knowledge of the era described in the
work, and the one in which the author creates, the philosophical and socio-historical prerequisites for
the creation of the work, that is, the involvement of the so-called extra-textual structures [Lotman
1970, p. 65].
All the features of the translation of literary works are studied in a special linguistic science - the
theory of literary translation. One of the first founders of this linguistic trend was A. M. Gorky, who
opened the publishing house "All Peaceful Literature". The first edition in it was the brochure
Principles of Literary Translation, which included articles by prominent writers of that period,
including A. M. Gorky himself.
In our country, like other post-soviet countries, there are several peculiarities of literary translations,
which differ significantly from Western ones. It should be noted that in the West this direction began
to develop much later. Only at the beginning of 1950 national translation organizations began to be
created there, international congresses were held, etc., and the aforementioned brochure was
published in Russia already in 1919.
At present, three main trends in literary translation can be distinguished:
1) the main orientation is transferred from the original to the translated text; 2) the evaluative
approach is replaced by a descriptive one; 3) from the text as a unit of language, the theory goes to
the function of translation as part of the culture of the target language. [Komissarov 1999, p. 27].
The most important principle in literary translation is the principle that when translating, it must be
borne in mind that a separately taken sentence is nothing more than a part of something whole, it
must be considered in conjunction with other sentences, and in this regard, the translator should be
interpreted not only the unambiguous meaning of this sentence, but also “to work on creating an
artistic image, general mood, characteristics of the atmosphere, characters, etc. The choice of a single
word, syntactic structure, and other elements is also important here” [Komissarov 1999, p. 60].
When defining the tasks of literary translation, it should be noted that they practically do not differ
from the tasks that face any other types of translation, in particular, this is the reproduction by means
of the translating language of information transmitted in the original language.
Let us turn to the opinion of G.Gachechiladze, who believes that literary translation is exactly in the
middle between a literal translation, which in fact does not contain an artistic orientation, and a
translation that is far from the original, which is, in fact, a rather "embellished" translation of the
original text [Gachechiladze 1980, with. 120]. Of course, I would like the literary translation to be
nothing more than a full-fledged, accurately reproducing the text of the original, with a sufficiently
strong artistic color. However, in practice, it is impossible to observe this, since when forming and
expressing the same thought in different languages, completely different means are used, and
therefore literal accuracy and artistry are in constant conflict.
If we talk about the quality of literary translation, then it completely depends on the goals that the
translator initially sets for himself. There are three main goals in translation: 1) to acquaint the reader
with the work of a particular writer, which they cannot read themselves due to ignorance of the
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original language. In this case, the translator's task is to acquaint the reader with the peculiarities of
the writing style of a particular author; 2) to acquaint the reader with the subtleties and originality of
a particular culture and nation to which the author of the work belongs; 3) acquaint the reader with
the content of the book. Accordingly, from the choice of the specific purpose of the translation by
the translator, he will be faced with different tasks, and subsequently the execution of the translation
itself.
When the translator chooses the first goal of literary translation, he has to recreate the entire artistic
atmosphere of the author's work, which is transmitted to them in the original language. The
complexity of such a translation lies in the fact that due to the specificity of cultural differences, the
translator needs to convey them as much as possible, but not distort them. At the same time, the
translator must ensure that the reader does not need to look for an interpretation of certain terms and
realities that are unfamiliar to him due to belonging to another culture. The author of the translation
must translate the text so that it is readable as easily as if it was written in the language of the reader
originally. Only if all the subtleties of such a translation are observed, the reader will be able to
appreciate the individual style of the author and have a complete picture of his work, although the
reader will not get a complete picture of the culture to which the author of the work belongs.
In the case when the translator faces the second task, he needs to comply with the original text as
closely as possible, but while preserving all the features and realities of the author's culture, for this,
in the translation process, he will have to make digressions, explaining all the nuances of a different
culture for the reader.
DISCUSSION AND RESULTS
G.B.Kosov gives the Russian equivalent of the terms, and explains in footnotes the terms important
for understanding the content of the novel. There is also their partial lexical and derivational analysis.
For example, theo-physicist. Here it should be borne in mind that this concept invented by the author
contains a derivative from the Greek word theos - God, which is an integral part of many well-known
terms related to religion ("Angels and demons" ) For the translation of the novel "The Da Vinci Code"
this way of acquainting readers with the terms is not typical.
Dan Brown quite often reveals the meaning of terms in the text itself, which greatly facilitates the
task of the translator and provides adequate translation. For example, The cryptex A portable
container that could safeguard letters, maps, diagrams, anything at all. Once information was sealed
inside the cryptex, only the individual with the proper password could access it. – Криптекс
Портативный контейнер, способный защитить письма, карты, диаграммы, да что угодно, от
постороннего глаза Информацией, сооержавиіейся в криптексе, мог воспользоваться лишь
человек, знавший пароль доступа. ("Da Vinci Code")
A certain difficulty is the translation of extensive linguistic explanations of a derivational and
etymological nature, when they include Latin words. In order not to violate the semantics of the entire
fragment, the translator retains both the Latin and the word. For example, Nowadays the term pagan
had become almost synonymous with devil worship - a gross misconception The word's roots actually
reached back to the Latin pazanus, meaning country-dwellers. ... – Ведь в наши дни «язычник»,
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или «языческий», стало почти синонимом поклонения дьяволу, что совершенно неверно
Корни этого слова восходят к латинскому раяап. which means "the inhabitants of the
countryside." And the Christian Church was so afraid of these polytheists who lived in the villages,
"villes". that the derivative "villain", that is, "living in the village", came to mean "villain" ("Da Vinci
Code")
The complexity of translation is the polysemy of the term and its non-terminological meaning. The
use of the latter in translation can make it difficult for the reader to understand. For example, And
Mr Langdon's refusal to speak publicly about his unusual role in last year's Vatican conclave certainly
wins him points on our intrigue-o-meter'. – Отказ мистера Лэнгдопа рассказать средствам
массовой информации о своей необычной ропи в прошлогоднем совещании в Ватикане
определенно помог ему набрать очки в борьбе за вхождение в первую десятку интриганов
(The Da Vinci Code). The reader of the translation may not understand which meeting took place at
the Vatican.
In order to avoid such complexity, the translator of Angels and Demons selects from the non-
terminological meanings that which, in his opinion, is most appropriate for the context, and uses
lexico-syntactic transformation. For example, As the claustrophobic panic closed in, Langdon was
overcome by images of the sarcophagus shrinking around him Squeezed by delirium, he fought the
illusion with every logical shred of intellect he had. – По мере того, как усиливался приступ
клаустрофобии, Лэнгдону начинало казаться, что стены каменной гробницы стали сужаться
Чтобы окончательно не поддаться панике, он попытался прогнать это ощущение, пустив в ход
последние остатки разума ("Angels and Demons")
In terms of information, such a translation is quite valuable, but in practice it will not make the same
impression on the reader as the original would on the readership of your country.
Regarding third task, it should be noted that in this case the translator does not try to convey to the
reader the specifics and peculiarities of the culture of the author of the work, and does not try to
literally convey the meaning of the text. Instead, he completely concentrates on the artistic meaning
of the work, without thinking about the nuances that the author wanted to convey. Perhaps, in certain
kinds of cases, such a translation takes place, but it can hardly be called artistic.
It can be noted with regret that in practice there are often cases of translation of literary works using
non-literary translation, and the translations of some translators are often characterized by literalism
or, in other words, literalism. In this context, literalism should be understood as a translation in which
the author selects a word that is not the most suitable for the meaning of the original work, but simply
uses its most famous meaning.
Certain problems are caused in practice by the transfer of the idea and style of the author of the work.
Because a translator, translating a literary text, one way or another gives it a new color and
interpretation, stylistic shifts, which have both an objective and a subjective character, become
inevitable.
A.Popovich identifies the following types of stylistic changes in the original for this kind of problem:
“Stylistic correspondence, stylistic substitution, stylistic replacement or inversion, stylistic
reinforcement, stylistic typification, stylistic individualization, stylistic weakening, stylistic leveling
and stylistic loss” [Popovich 1980, p. 48]. Stylistic changes in the text in the process of translation
are expressed in the fact that the translator manifests himself as a creative person, reflects his creative
individuality. By this way, Gachechiladze understands “a system of deviations from the original text,
going back to certain creative principles, to a certain approach to the tasks of translation and, it
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became to be, to a certain method.” [Gachechiladze 1980, p. 160].
A.S.Nazin notes, “The text of the translation contains a kind of markers, based on which it is possible
to draw a conclusion about the personal characteristics of the person who translated the text. Any
translator of a literary text has his own, "favorite", the most frequent methods for him. One and the
same metaphor can be translated in different ways, and this does not necessarily affect the quality of
the translation” [Nazin 2007, pp. 113-114].
The translator should not forget about the pragmatic task of translation, which is the communicative
effect of the translated text on the audience. This effect consists in the fact that after reading the
translated work, the reader should have the full sense of the literary talent of the author of the original
text. The skill of the translator speaks about this, if he managed to achieve such an effect, then we
can safely assert about the adequacy of the translated text.
As a result of translation, the question of its merits and demerits often arises, which is quite natural,
because absolutely any translation can always be criticized, and this criticism, according to
A.S.Nazin, will be justified, since “translation is always only one of the possible solutions, and there
is no perfect translation ” [Nazin 2007, p.116].
It should be borne in mind that before evaluating the quality of the translation, one should not forget
that it is necessary to evaluate, first, exactly how much the author of the translation was able to
convey the image of the translation. We must agree with A.Akopova, who believes that “the criterion
of the fidelity of the translation to the original should be contained in the integral image of the artistic
being of the original, and the criterion of the fidelity of each individual image of the translation is the
corresponding image in the original” [Akopova 1985, p. 87].
Having decided on the main features of literary translation, let us move on to such an irreplaceable
component of it as adequacy.
In particular, V.V.Sdobnikov interprets the adequacy of the translation as “an exhaustive
understanding of the author's idea, which is expressed in the original work, the transfer of the artistic
and aesthetic direction of the text of the translated work, the assessment of possible reactions of the
reader who is representatives of the same culture as the author of the work." [Sdobnikov 2007, p.
147].
SL Sukharev-Muryshkin rightly notes, “In addition to the most accurate definition of the ideological
and thematic orientation of the original, the author of the translation must select suitable means for
conveying the images transmitted in the original work and convey the specific features of the author's
language. In addition, when translating poems, it is very important to preserve the rhythmic
organization and system of rhymes, which in practice is not always possible” [Sukharev-Muryshkin
1977, p. 137].
In practice, a number of difficulties often arise in determining the adequacy of a translation, since it
is often confused with such a concept as “translation equivalence”.
A.D.Schweitzer in his writings expressed the point of view that “adequacy is associated with the
conditions of the interlingual communicative act, that is, it determines whether the translation as a
process corresponds to the given communicative conditions” [Schweitzer 1970, p. 118].
The translator often has to sacrifice equivalence in order to preserve the essence and core of the
original work as much as possible. In this case, the adequacy is a kind of compromise that allows you
to maintain the balance of translation. In other words, the adequacy is optimal, since the translated
work must have optimal compliance with the conditions and tasks that faced the beginning of the
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translation.
CONCLUSION
It should be noted that in everyday life, the translator does not always manage to convey the meaning
of the original work as accurately as possible, in this regard, in practice, such a category as adequacy
appeared.
Thanks to the ability for the translator to use lexico-phraseological, grammatical and stylistic
equivalent word replacements in the translation text, it is possible to convey the entire meaning of
the original text as fully as possible.
In other words, an adequate translation is nothing more than a combination of three elements:
1. Accurate and most complete transfer of the content of the original text.
2. Transfer of the form of the language of the original text.
3. The correctness of the language through which the translation is made.
These elements are closely related to each other, they cannot be separated due to the fact that failure
to comply with at least one of them leads in the future to a complete violation of the entire chain on
which the adequacy of the translation is based.
In the process of translation, a certain kind of conflict and confrontation between two personalities
constantly occurs - the author and the translator, each of which has its own degree of creativity and
each one in one way or another strives for self-expression. In this situation, the translator has to
maintain a balance and not cross the legal boundaries in order to preserve the peculiarity and
uniqueness of the author's text.
Thus, the purpose of an adequate literary translation is to accurately convey the content and form of
the original when reproducing the features of the latter, if linguistic means allow it, or to create their
adequate correspondences on the material of another language. A translation is considered to be truly
adequate if it exhaustively conveys the author's intention as a whole, all the semantic shades of the
original and provides a full-fledged formal and stylistic correspondence to it.
Summing up, we can conclude that the problem of the adequacy of the translation of texts has
attracted researchers working in the field of translation for a long time. The question of the possibility
of an adequate translation is often discussed, and various opinions are put forward, various definitions
of the concept of "adequate translation" are given. Adequate translation of the text poses many
problems for the translator. In this regard, significant interest is aroused by translations of literary
texts, due to the originality of style, the imagery of the language, the selection of lexical and stylistic
means of expressing the author's thoughts.
REFERENCES
1.
Akopova A., Image and literary translation / A.Akopova. Yerevan. Publishing house of the
Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR, 1985.149 p.
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Gachechiladze G., Literary translation and literary relationships. 2nd ed. M., 1980.160 p.
3.
Komissarov V.N., General theory of translation. Problems of translation studies in the coverage
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of foreign scientists: textbook. M.: CheRo, 1999.134 p. LotmanYu.M. The structure of artistic
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Nazin A.S., Comparative study of metaphors in J.R.R Tolkien's novel "The Hobbit, or There and
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Popovich A., Problems of literary translation. M.: Higher school, 1980. 198 p.
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Sukharev-Muryshkin S.L., Some features of stanzaic verse and poetic translation // Sat. scientific.
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