Schedule / Horaire
Wednesday 23 April 2014, 16h-17h30.
Room: V106A.
Leader / Organisatrice
Márta Minier, University of South Wales (UK)
Participants
- Martin S. Regal, University of Iceland (Iceland)
Hamlet in Icelandic - Lily Kahn, University College London (UK)
Domesticating Techniques in the First Hebrew Translation of Hamlet - Roger Owen, Aberystwyth University (UK)
On the Welsh Translations of Hamlet - Nely Keinänen, University of Helsinki (Finland)
Language-building and nation-building: the reception of Paavo Cajander’s translation of Hamlet, 1879
Abstracts / Résumés
1. Martin S. Regal, University of Iceland (Iceland)
Hamlet in Icelandic
There have been only two translations of Hamlet into Icelandic. The former appeared in 1878 (Matthías Jochumsson) and the latter in 1970 (Helgi Hálfdánarson). While Hálfdánarson’s translation is generally considered to be more accurate and has been performed more often, it is in many ways less stirring. This paper analyses and compares these two translations of Hamlet, giving a broad overview of their linguistic strategies and the extent to which they used and adapted existing translations. It also looks at the ways in which Hamlet has been interpreted and performed on the Icelandic stage and includes a discussion of the latest production which was premiered in January 2014.
2. Lily Kahn, University College London (UK)
Domesticating Techniques in the First Hebrew Translation of Hamlet
This talk investigates the earliest Hebrew version of Hamlet, translated by Chaim Bornstein (Warsaw, 1900-1). Bornstein’s Hamlet offers a fascinating perspective on Shakespeare in translation as it exhibits a highly domesticating style rooted in the ideological values of the Eastern European Jewish Enlightenment. The talk will discuss the sociolinguistic background to the translation and examine Bornstein’s characteristic techniques including the removal of references to Christianity and classical mythology; the substitution of characters and concepts deriving from European tradition with Jewish equivalents; the insertion of biblical verses into the target text; and the Hebraization of Latin and French linguistic elements.
3. Roger Owen, Aberystwyth University (UK)
On the Welsh Translations of Hamlet
This paper will examine Shakespeare’s Hamlet in relation to the historical project of nation-building in Wales from the late nineteenth century to the present day. It will compare three Welsh-language translations/adaptations of the play, dating from 1864, 1958 and 2004, and will discuss how each text advocates a role for theatre as part of the national project. This comparison will be contextualized with reference to different ideas of (Welsh) national identity during each period and to ongoing arguments about the virtues of translation. It will also discuss how Hamlet itself interrogates these processes of translation, adaptation and public presentation.
4. Nely Keinänen, University of Helsinki (Finland)
Language-building and nation-building: the reception of Paavo Cajander’s translation of Hamlet, 1879
In the late 1870s, prompted by a request by the poet Paavo Cajander, the Finnish Literature Society (SKS) embarked upon a project to translate Shakespeare, starting with Hamlet. Literary Finnish was then still in its infancy, and translation of foreign classics seen as a way to enrich the language, a step towards the larger goal of achieving independence. Issues raised in the reviews include Shakespeare’s greatness and civilizing effect, and the difficulties of translating Shakespeare’s English into Finnish due to the differences in languages. The mixed reception of the first performance also sheds light on the role of Shakespeare in the newly-established Finnish-speaking theater.