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Polysystems Theory

This document discusses Polysystems Theory, which views literature as a system made up of subsystems. It addresses concepts like: 1. Literary translation playing a role in younger or peripheral literary systems by introducing new genres and models. 2. Translated literature potentially becoming central at "turning points" when existing indigenous models are no longer viable. 3. A polysystems approach analyzing translation strategies and whether translated works are important/primary influences or secondary to target literary systems. 4. The possibility of a global literary system emerging from transnational writing.

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83 views

Polysystems Theory

This document discusses Polysystems Theory, which views literature as a system made up of subsystems. It addresses concepts like: 1. Literary translation playing a role in younger or peripheral literary systems by introducing new genres and models. 2. Translated literature potentially becoming central at "turning points" when existing indigenous models are no longer viable. 3. A polysystems approach analyzing translation strategies and whether translated works are important/primary influences or secondary to target literary systems. 4. The possibility of a global literary system emerging from transnational writing.

Uploaded by

soso ċһѧňňєʟ
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Polysystems Theory

Literary Translation
Russian Formalism – literature as
‘technique’ and literature as ‘system’
• Matejka, Pomorska (ed), Readings in Russian
Poetics, MIT, 1971
• Shklovskij
• Tynjanov
• Jakobson
Structuralism – Robert Scholes, Structuralism in
Literature, Yale University, 1974

• Universal principles that govern the literary use of


language
• Structuralism seeks to establish a model of the
system of literature as the external reference for
individual literary works
• Structuralism seeks to explore the relationship
between the system of literature and wider culture
System and polysystem

• Nation (language, ethnicity, religion, politics) >>


national literature
• Influence, ‘contact zones’ * >> genres

• * M.L. Pratt, Imperial Eyes


System and polysystem

• Dynamic
• Competing
• Heterogeneous
• Historical
System and polysystem

• Centre <> periphery


• High <> low
• Canon <> marginal genres
• Stability <> instability/ change
Literary communication

Institution (context)
Repertoire (code)

Producer---------------------------------------------Consumer
(writer) Market (contact) (reader)

(addresser) Product (message) (addressee)


Translation and literature

a. How are the source texts selected? Is this selection


connected to the target literary system?
b. Is translated literature a system with its own
characteristics?
(See Venuti on demestication/foreignasation, or
Anderman on European drama in Britain)
How important is translated literature?

• 1. When a literary system is ‘young’*


• 2. When literature is peripheral
• 3. Turning point or crisis *

• See V. Macura in Translation, History and Culture (ed. S. Bassnett), M. Tymoczko,


Evan Zohar
• The dynamics within the polysystem creates turning
points, that is to say, historical moments where
established models are no longer tenable for a
younger generation. At such moments, even in
central literatures, translated literature may assume a
central position. This is all the more true when at a
turning point no item in the indigenous stock is taken
to be acceptable, as a result of which a literary
‘‘vacuum’’ occurs. In such a vacuum, it is easy for
foreign models to infiltrate, and translated literature
mayc onsequently assume a central position.
Examples
• Epic and sonnet in Europe (see Mirror on
Mirror)
• Manga (see Stefansson in G.Palsson, Beyond
Boundaries)
• Eurocrime
• Children’s literature
• ‘’Scar’’ literature
Polysystems approach

• Translation strategies
• If translation is important/primary, then the
innovation through translation is more likely, target
models are not necessarily followed
• If translated literature is secondary, then target
models may influence the translation strategy

•
Polysystems approach

• Target orientation – the study of translated texts


and their functions in the TS
• The study of translated texts within the target
norms
Itamar Even-Zohar
• http://www.tau.ac.il/~itamarez/
Polysystem and global culture

• Transnational writing
• Global literary system?

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