steidlova ma thesis
TRANSCRIPT
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Masaryk University
Faculty of Arts
Department of English
and American Studies
English Language and Literature
Veronika Steidlová
Humour in Czech Translations of Three Men
in a Boat
Master ‘s Diploma Thesis
Supervisor: Ing. Mgr. Jiří Rambousek
2010
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I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently,
using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.
……………………………………………..
Author‘s signature
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Acknowledgement
I would like to thank my supervisor Ing. Mgr. Jiří Rambousek for his encouragement and
guidance.
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Table of Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1
1 General Information ............................................................................................... 31.1 Jerome Klapka Jerome‘s Biography .................................................................. 3
1.2 The Novel Three Men in a Boat ......................................................................... 4
1.3 The Czech Translators ........................................................................................ 7
1.4 Humour and Its Devices ..................................................................................... 8
2 Irony........................................................................................................................ 11
2.1 Irony in Three Men in a Boat ........................................................................... 11
2.2 Translation of Irony .......................................................................................... 173 Metaphor ................................................................................................................ 27
3.1 Metaphor in Three Men in a Boat .................................................................... 27
3.2 Translation of Metaphor ................................................................................... 31
4 Register ................................................................................................................... 41
4.1 Register in Three Men in a Boat ...................................................................... 41
4.2 Translation of Register ..................................................................................... 46
5 Pragmatics, Wordplay, Ambiguity ...................................................................... 55
5.1 Pragmatics, Wordplay and Ambiguity in Three Men in a Boat ....................... 55
5.2 Translation of Pragmatics-based Devices, Wordplay and Ambiguity ............. 60
6 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 71
Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 75
Résumé ........................................................................................................................... 78
Resumé ........................................................................................................................... 79
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Introduction
The present thesis is devoted to the study of humour devices in Jerome Klapka Jerome‘s
humorous novel Three Men in a Boat , first published in 1889, and their Czech
renderings by Vladimír Henzl, J. Z. Novák and Milan Ţáček. The popularity of the
novel in the Czech literary world is substantiated by the high number of translations and
republications. In 1902 it was translated by Theodor and Emil Háchas for the first time.
Four other translations followed: by Ladislav Vojtig (Vojtík) in 1922 (republished in
1929, 1948 and 1949), Vladimír Henzl in 1957 (republished in 1966), J. Z. Novák in
1972 (republished in 1975 and 1998) and Milan Ţáček in 2002. The reasons for my
choosing the last three translations were the better access to them as well as the fact that
the Czech expressions and linguistic features of the more recent translations are
certainly closer to and more readable for the present-day readership than those from the
beginning of the twentieth century.
The work is divided into five chapters, the first one providing a brief biography
of Jerome Klapka Jerome, information on the reception of the novel in the English and
Czech literary milieus and some details on the Czech translators. One of its subchapters
also presents the word ‗humour‘ and what it means, describes the traits of humour of the
Victorian era, and lists humour devices following Alison Ross‘s (1998) division.
Chapter two attempts to define the principal humour device in Three Men in a Boat –
irony. It focuses on types of irony and the techniques used to establish it, illustrating the
study with examples from the novel. Chapter three discusses metaphorical language
(including metaphors, similes and personification) and its contribution to the humorous
tone of the novel. It also deals with idioms which Peter Newmark (1988) classifies as
stock metaphors. In chapter four the study concentrates on register as a humour device,
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especially on the inappropriate usage of formal register and juxtaposition of different
registers. Finally, chapter five concerns the pragmatics-based device of breaking the
cooperative principle, which leads to misunderstanding or misinterpretation, and the
phenomenon of ambiguity and a closely related device of wordplay. The four chapters
on humour expedients also include the study and comparison of the Czech renderings as
well as discussions on how difficult the task of translating humour is, what the main
problems of translating the individual devices are and what translation procedures can
be employed. In conclusion the findings pertaining to the translation habits of the
individual translators are summarised and compared.
Even though Jerome Klapka Jerome‘s novel Three Men in a Boat was and still is
popular in many countries, very little has been written about his style and humour, let
alone the translations of his works. The only academic study of his humour I came
across was Markéta Zemanová‘s diploma thesis ―The Literary Study of Humour in the
Novel Three Men in a Boat ‖ (2000) which, however, studies solely Jerome‘s humour
devices but not their translations. Yet it served as a ‗stepping stone‘ to my thesis and as
a basis for my study of humour devices translation.
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1 General Information
1.1 Jerome Klapka Jerome’s Biography
Jerome Klapka Jerome, best known as the author of a comic masterpiece Three Men in
a Boat , was born in Walsall, Staffordshire, on 2 May 1859 into a highly-religious
family. His father, Jerome Clapp Jerome, worked as a non-conformist preacher and was
interested in the local coal and iron industries. One of his coal-mining ventures proved
to be a disaster and brought the family to financial ruin. He was forced to move the
family to Stourbridge and subsequently to Poplar in the East End of London where
Jerome spent his childhood in relative poverty.
At the age of fourteen Jerome left school to join various professions – a clerk on
the London and North Western Railway, an actor touring the country with a stage
company, a journalist, a schoolmaster and a solicitor‘s clerk. In his spare time he was
writing short stories, essays and satires which would be rejected for a long time. Then,
Jerome had the idea of writing about his experiences as an actor which resulted in his
work On the Stage – and Off , a volume of humorous sketches published in 1885. This
was followed by a collection of humorous essays The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow
(1886).
In 1888 Jerome married Georgina Elizabeth Henrietta Stanley Marris (called
Ettie) and acquired a daughter – Elsie – by this marriage. His own daughter Rowena
was born in 1898. After the newly-weds‘ honeymoon, spent on the Thames, Jerome
began writing Three Men in a Boat . The book was published in 1889 and made him
famous and rich and enabled him to make the acquaintance of great writers including H.
G. Wells, Conan Doyle and Rudyard Kipling. From then on numerous literary works
came to being, among them the novels The Diary of a Pilgrimage (1891), Three Men on
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the Bummel (1900, the sequel to the Boat ), Paul Kelver (1902), a popular morality play
The Passing of the Third Floor Back (1908), and many more. He also excelled as the
editor (of a monthly magazine The Idler and a weekly To-Day) and as the prolific
columnist.
Jerome travelled a lot to Russia, America and especially Germany where he gave
various lectures. He was fond of Germany, which prompted him to move his family to
Dresden in 1900 where they stayed for two years. When the First World War broke out,
he enlisted in the French army as a front line ambulance driver. He returned home
disillusioned and a broken man. Towards the end of his life he finished his memoirs My
Life and Times (1926) which, though short on domestic details and lacking
chronological order, is one of Jerome‘s most entertaining books.
On the way back from a motoring tour in Devon with his wife Ettie, Jerome
suffered a cerebral haemorrhage and died two weeks later (14 June 1927) in
Northampton General Hospital. He and Ettie, who outlived him by eleven years, were
buried in the Ewelme churchyard, Oxfordshire, close to their beloved River Thames
(Nicholas 7 – 10).
1.2 The Novel Three Men in a Boat
Jerome‘s novel Three Men in a Boat could be characterised as a comic pastoral
celebrating simple life devoid of luxury, false friends and high society vices. Apart from
comic events and situations the three characters experience, it contains lyrical
descriptions of nature and philosophical reflections comparing the trip up and down the
Thames to the voyage up and down the river of Life. In some parts of the novel social
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criticism comes to the fore, frowning upon greed and excessive accumulation of
possession (Stříbrný 564).
Jerome Klapka Jerome claimed that all the events recorded in his novel Three
Men in a Boat really happened, they were only a little embellished. Even the characters
appearing in the novel were based on real people – Jerome‘s friends with whom he
made a considerable number of rows up and down the Thames and a cycling trip across
Europe. George Wingrave (George in the novel) worked as a bank clerk and he shared a
room with Jerome for some time. Carl Hentschel (Harris) was born in Poland and came
to England with his parents at the age of five. He set up his own photography business
and co-founded The Playgoer‘s Club, on which occasion he met Jerome.
Jerome‘s excellent essays The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1886) had been
serialised in the monthly magazine Home Chimes, edited by F. W. Robinson. And it
was Robinson himself who accepted Jerome‘s next project called The Story of the
Thames. At first the book was not intended to be funny; it should have described the
river‘s scenery and historical events that had taken place near the Thames, and it should
have been interspersed with occasional humorous passages. However, it came quite the
other way round – it became a humorous novel with occasional passages dealing with
the river‘s scenery and history. Robinson readily removed some of those ‗serious‘
passages and insisted that Jerome made up a better title. Three Men in a Boat seemed to
be the most appropriate one.
The book was published in 1889 by J. W. Arrowsmith and it quickly made
Jerome‘s name, the copies being big sellers. It was extremely successful not only in
Britain, but also in the USA, Germany and Russia, and translated into many languages,
including Japanese, Hebrew, Irish and Portuguese. The novel has been filmed three
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times (1920, 1933, 1956), adapted into a musical by Hubert Gregg, made into a stage
play, read aloud on radio and even performed in a one-man show.
The style of the novel Three Men in a Boat was completely new and fresh.
Unlike other Victorian writers – such as Conan Doyle, R. L. Stevenson and Rudyard
Kipling – whose stories captured fantastical adventures and fearless heroes, Jerome‘s
novel portrayed three ordinary pipe-smoking men having fun on an ordinary boating
trip. He used everyday language and mocked the matters of everyday life. Of course,
fervent critics (especially from The Saturday Review and Puch) soon took Jerome to
task. He was criticised for the new kind of humour and accused of ‗vulgarity‘, using
colloquial clerk‘s English. The extraordinary commercial success, however, suggested
that the general readership was not influenced by this sharp criticism and that people
wanted to take a rest from literary grandiloquence and solemnity and to spend their
spare time with a book that made them laugh (Nicholas 57 – 61).
Despite the general interest in Jerome‘s works, his writings are not very highly
thought of in the official English literary history. The Czech readership, however,
received the novel enthusiastically, which was probably due to the similarity between
Jerome‘s humour and the humour of the famous Czech writers such as Jaroslav Hašek,
Karel Čapek and Karel Poláček (Stříbrný 564). The popularity of the novel in the Czech
literary milieu is also indicated by the fact that it has been translated five times and
repeatedly republished.
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1.3 The Czech Translators
Vladimír Henzl (1910 – 1978; pen-names Jan Kolovrat, Vladimír Černý)
Vladimír Henzl graduated in law and worked as a clerk at the Czechoslovak
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and during the Second World War at consulates in England
and the United States. He was the author of juvenile adventure literature (Zátoka pirátů;
Přiznejte se, kapitáne) and translated from English (especially works by James
Fenimore Cooper, Robert Louis Stevenson), Italian and Serbo-Croatian (Obec
překladatelů).
Jiří Zdeněk Novák (1912 – 2001)
Even though J. Z. Novák graduated from the Faculty of Law in Prague, he
devoted his professional life to cultural activities. He worked as an editor in Melantrich
publishing company, then as a script editor in Barrandov film studios and since 1951 he
had been engaged in writing, scriptwriting and translating. Novák focused mainly on
drama translation from English (Oscar Wilde) and French (Molière) but he also
translated several detective stories (W. Inge, A. Christie, P. G. Wodehouse) and many
works of other genres (Obec překladatelů).
Milan Ţáček (1974)
Milan Ţáček graduated in English and Spanish philology at the Palacký
University in Olomouc and since 2000 has been working as a freelance translator. He
specialises in translation of English fiction (Jerome Klapka Jerome, P. G. Wodehouse)
and in fantasy and horror literature (George MacDonald, H. P. Lovecraft, China
Miéville, Ian R. MacLeod etc.). He also translated two volumes of poetry by Charles
Bukowski and several children‘s books, among them Kate DiCamillo‘s The Tale of
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Despereaux (Příběh o Zoufálkovi) which Albatros publishing company awarded as the
best translation in 2008 (Email to the author).
1.4 Humour and Its Devices
As this thesis focuses on the study of translation of humour, I would like to provide a
brief explanation of the term ‗humour‘ and to mention some of its expedients.
The meaning of the word ‗humour‘ was originally far from what it means today.
The term derived from Latin humor , meaning ‗moisture‘ or ‗body fluid‘, and in the
Middle Ages and during the Renaissance period it was used to denote the four humours
of the body – blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile (proposed by Hippocrates) –
which determined a person‘s mental dis position, character and temperament. The theory
of humours survives up to this day in such expressions as ‗ill-humoured‘, ‗good-
humoured‘, ‗yellow with jealousy‘, etc. In the sixteenth century the theory of humours
is employed in drama for the first time when Ben Jonson names the characters in his
comedy Every Man in His Humour (1598) in terms of their prevailing bodily fluids
(Cuddon 313 – 4). It is not until the seventeenth century that ‗humour‘ is used to refer to
the comic and ridiculous. In the eighteen century the word gradually got in all the
European languages, differentiating the positive, kind and comforting comicality from
caricature and satire (Vlašín 141).
The humour of the Victorian era, in which Jerome Klapka Jerome created his
literary works, can be described as domesticated, which means that it ―settles down to
chuckling over the mores of an approved social order or the harmless oddities of stock
figures and types: policemen, clergymen, urchins, schoolchildren, tramps, drunks,
professors, ar tists, eccentrics‖ (McArthur 488). This is exactly what Jerome does in his
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Three Men in a Boat . He comments on social issues, such as poverty, superabundance
of wealth, criminality; kindly mocks various types of characters, among them villagers,
fishermen, railway employees, boasters, oversensitive ladies; and last but not least
makes fun of the three main characters themselves. The humour of this kind can be also
found in the nineteenth-century magazine Punch, ―a representative of the affluent
middle class smirking indulgently at its own foibles, at its own establishment and its
servants, at the oddities of the poor, and at the strange ways of foreigners‖ (McArthur
488).
What is important for the creation and reception of humour in general is the
social context – humour outdates very quickly and is often dependent on specific
cultures and attitudes. Humour is also a matter of personal taste as it is likely that two
people will perceive a joke very differently (Ross 2 – 4). While the study of creation
and perception of humour in social terms would be very complex and would differ from
society to society, the study of language features that contribute to humour is far less
demanding as the features are almost the same across languages and are relatively easy
to detect. Humour can be elicited by structural ambiguity on phonological
(homophones), morphological (compound words), lexical (polysemy) and syntactical
(ambiguous sentence structures) level; or by incongruity in language. Incongruity theory
―focuses on the element of surprise. It states that humour is created out of a conflict
between what is expected and what actually occurs in the joke‖ (Ross 7). Incongruity
can appear in the fields of semantics (metaphors, contradictions, verbal irony),
pragmatics (breaking of cooperative principle, misunderstanding), discourse (breaking
the expectations) and register (using inappropriate register) (Ross 7 – 51). In Three Men
in a Boat the most significant of these devices of humour are those of irony, metaphors
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and similes, register, and lexical and syntactical ambiguity. And these particular devices
and their translations into Czech are studied in the present thesis.
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2 Irony
2.1 Irony in Three Men in a Boat
Irony plays a vital, if not leading, role in Jerome‘s Three Men in a Boat and represents
an element that contributes most to the overall humorous tone of the novel. Jerome
employs irony mainly to observe and criticise human weaknesses, such as laziness,
lying or drinking, to express his or his companions‘ attitudes (e.g. to work or food) and
to complain about the ―natural cussedness of things in general‖ (Jerome 100).
This linguistic device is very difficult to define and even more difficult to
recognise and evaluate. Martin Montgomery presents irony as the non-literal use of
language ―in which we say one thing but mean another‖ and which ―is also often
thought of as a type of tone, a particular way of speaking or writing‖ (138). Marta
Mateo, on the other hand, thinks that this definition (adopted by most critics) is not
sufficient and does not cover the complex techniques that are used to create irony. At
the same time she admits that there is no universal set of linguistic features that could
help identify ir ony and proposes that irony depends on context ―since it springs from the
relationships of a word, expression or action with the whole text or situation‖ (172).
Irony is a matter of interpretation and can be easily misunderstood as it works at
two levels: a lower level – the situation as it is deceptively presented by the ironist – and
an upper level – the situation as it appears to the observer or the ironist. There must be
the element of opposition (contradiction, incongruity) between the two levels and they
both must be presented as true. Another element that contributes to irony is the element
of ‗innocence‘ which refers to the victim‘s unawareness of the upper level or the
ironist‘s pretending not to be aware of it. Irony is not employed to deceive the
reader/hearer but to be recognized. The reader/hearer is supposed to realise that a
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proposition has a different – real – meaning from what is being proposed (Mateo 172).
The ability to spot irony depends mostly on the awareness of how the language is used,
on values shared by the ironist and the victim and on general world knowledge.
Montgomery (138 – 9) classifies irony into two main types: verbal (corresponds
with Mateo‘s intentional irony) and situational (Mateo‘s unintentional irony). Verbal
irony is being communicated and occurs when a combination of words and its literal
meaning seem to be somehow odd or wrong. In order to understand the irony one has to
– with the help of context and the world knowledge – find another (real) meaning.
Situational irony exists already in the situation. It is created by an author, but the
characters involved are not aware of it.
Jerome Klapka Jerome uses both verbal and situational irony in his novel.
Several examples of verbal irony appear already in the subheadings that introduce each
chapter. As Markéta Zemanová correctly points out in her diploma thesis, the irony can
be traced back only after reading the whole chapters (22). Thus we can find out that
bathing in rough sea, in windy weather is referred to as ―Delights of early morning
bathing‖ (Jerome 23). An accident in which J., after decrying his decision to have a bath
in the cold water, unwillingly falls in the river is described as ―Heroism and
determination on the part of J.‖ (Jerome 100), and the three friend‘s c onversation
concerning various diseases presented as ―The cheery chat goes round‖ (Jerome 181). In
all these examples the element of opposition or contradiction is clearly apparent – the
author renders unpleasant feelings as delights, cowardice as heroism and chatting about
diseases as a pleasant chat.
Verbal irony can be also found in large numbers in the narration itself. In the
following example, in which Jerome talks about his fellow student‘s rather odd health,
one can see how the author works with contradiction (underlined):
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examples from the novel in which overemphatic language (underlined) is apparently
used to express the narrator‘s ironic attitude:
It is not that I object to the work, mind you; I like work; it fascinates me. I can
sit and look at it for hours. I love to keep it by me; the idea of getting rid of it
nearly breaks my heart.
You cannot give me too much work; to accumulate work has almost become a
passion with me; my study is so full of it now, that there is hardly an inch of
room for any more. I shall have to throw out a wing soon.
And I am careful of my work, too. Why, some of the work that I have by me
now has been in my possession for years and years, and there isn‘t a finger -mark
on it. I take a great pride in my work; I take it down now and then and dust it.
No man keeps his work in a better state of preservation than I do. (Jerome 148 –
9)
It was my misfortune once to go for a water picnic with two ladies of this kind.
We did have a lively time! (Jerome 62)
When a statement does not make sense or the style of a narration is not
consistent (e. g. unexpected changes in register), it is a case of internal inconsistency
which is the second type of mechanism for creating irony (Montgomery 140). Jerome
frequently switches suddenly from one register to another or from commonplace to
poetic, refined language as in this example:
And the red sunset threw a mystic light upon the waters, and tinged with fire the
towering woods, and made a golden glory of the piled-up clouds. It was an hour
of deep enchantment, of ecstatic hope and longing. The little sail stood out
against the purple sky, the gloaming lay around us, wrapping the world in
rainbow shadows; and, behind us, crept the night. We seemed like knights of
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some old legend, sailing across some mystic lake into the unknown realm of
twilight, unto the great land of the sunset.
We did not go into the realm of twilight; we went slap into that punt, where
those three old men were fishing. (Jerome 121 – 2)
In the first part of the extract, Jerome employs poetic repertoire and language including
several poetic devices – vivid imagery (e. g. ‗mystic light‘, ‗deep enchantment‘,
‗ecstatic hope‘, ‗rainbow shadows‘), a simile (‗like knights of some old legend‘) and
personification (‗the gloaming . . . wrapping the world‘, ‗crept the night‘). In the
following paragraph, the author all of a sudden switches to ordinary language
(underlined), describing the collision with the boat. Thus, he produces a comic and
ironic effect related to the characters‘ absentmindedness.
Muecke (in Mateo 173) distinguishes three types of irony that are characteristic
of novels: impersonal irony, in which the ironist as a person is in the background and
the irony lies solely in his words; self-disparaging irony, in which the ironist presents
his qualities, such as ignorance or naivety; and ingénu irony, in which the ironist uses a
character (an ingénu) for his irony.
There are several techniques for creating impersonal irony. In Jerome‘s novel
the most frequent is that of innuendo, i.e. an indirect remark about something or
somebody:
There is an iron ―scold‘s bridle‖ in Walton Church. They used these things in
ancient days for curbing women‘s tongues. They have given up the attempt now.
I suppose iron was getting scarce, and nothing else would be strong enough.
(Jerome 78)
He said it, The Pride of the Thames, had been in use, just as it now stood (orrather as it now hung together), for the last forty years . . . (Jerome 183)
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The first example alludes to some women‘s cantankerousness and garrulousness, the
second one to the miserable state of a boat called The Pride of the Thames.
Other techniques include overstatement (dealt with above as overemphasis) and
understatement as in this extract:
And at that precise moment the man did it, and the boat rushed up the bank with
a noise like the ripping up of forty thousand linen sheets. Two men, a hamper,
and three oars immediately left the boat on the larboard side, and reclined on the
bank, and one and a half moments afterwards, two other men disembarked from
the starboard, and sat down among boat-hooks and sails and carpet-bags and
bottles. The last man went on twenty yards further, and then got out on his head.
(Jerome 85)
The author here describes an accident when a boat hits the river bank and the passengers
fall out of the boat in different directions. He makes use of words (underlined) that do
not match the situation and thus disparages it.
Pretended innocence or ignorance also ranks among the impersonal irony
techniques that occur frequently in Jerome‘s novel. The following example again
concerns J.‘s encounter with the proprietor of the material which J. made his raft from.
The irony here is based on the double meaning of the expression ‗to teach somebody to
do something‘. The character pretends not to recognise the threat and interprets it
falsely as a mere offer made by the proprietor to teach him something new:
He says he‘ll teach you to take his boards and make a raft of them; but, seeing
that you know how to do this pretty well already, the offer, though doubtless
kindly meant, seems a superfluous one on his part, and you are reluctant to put
him to any trouble by accepting it. (Jerome 152)
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The above example could also be regarded as self-disparaging irony as the
author of the irony himself presents his seeming innocence. Another instance of this
type of irony appears in chapter eight and refers to J.‘s ignorance of German language:
I don‘t understand German myself. I learned it at school, but forgot every word
of it two years after I had left, and have felt much better ever since. (Jerome 75)
The last type of irony – ingénu irony – occurs quite frequently in the novel as
well. The author often makes the characters of Harris and George the targets of his
irony as in the instance below, in which George‘s job is made fun of:
Harris and I would go down in the morning, and take the boat up to Chertsey,
and George, who would not be able to get away from the City till the afternoon
(George goes to sleep at a bank from ten to four each day; except Saturdays,
when they wake him up and put him outside at two), would meet us there.
(Jerome 17)
Until now I have been focusing on verbal irony. Jerome‘s work abounds with
situational irony as well, in fact, I dare say it makes it one of the masterpieces of
humoristic literature. However, as situational irony is not much workable from the point
of view of translation, I won‘t deal with it in detail.
2.2 Translation of Irony
Translation of humour is often compared to translation of poetry as ―the formal aspects
are an integral part of both types of texts. The link is also established on the basis of the
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difficulty of both tasks‖ (Mateo 174). The difficulty of translating humour depends on
what means it is based on. If humour lies in linguistic aspects such as puns, it is highly
probable that it will be difficult to translate or even untranslatable. On the other hand,
humour based on irony or on reversal of situation or tone will be easier to deal with
(Mateo 174).
As stated above, the identification of irony depends mostly on context and
background knowledge. However, when an author works with satire and allusion to
create irony, the socio-cultural aspect becomes relevant as well. Thus, the translation of
irony is heavily influenced by the proximity of cultures – the more distant the culture is,
the more difficult the understanding of humour and irony will be (Mateo 174). In my
opinion, the Czech and English cultures and their perception of irony are close enough
to allow the translator to render all the cases of irony in Jerome‘s Three Men in a Boat
without any substantial changes. Moreover, Jerome uses similar mechanisms for
creating irony (contradiction, overstatement, pretended innocence etc.) as those that are
generally employed in world literature, as well as similar topics to be ironic about
(laziness, weather, work, Murphy‘s laws and so on), therefore the understanding and
translation of irony in this case are not very complicated.
The following example of irony is based mainly on overemphasis, contradiction
(lies vs. veracity) and on the surprise at the logic of the statement claiming that what
makes a good fisherman is not mere lying, but well-thought-out and meticulous saying
of untruths:
Some people are under the impression that all that is required to make a good
fisherman is the ability to tell lies easily and without blushing; but this is a
mistake. Mere bald fabrication is useless; the veriest tyro can manage that. It is
in the circumstantial detail, the embellishing touches of probability, the general
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air of scrupulous — almost of pedantic — veracity, that the experienced angler
is seen. (Jerome 168)
The translations are as follows:
Henzl Novák Ţáček
Jsou lidé, kteří mají dojem,
ţe člověk, aby byl dobrým
rybářem, potřebuje jen
schopnost snadno a bez
uzardění lhát. To je však
omyl. Obyčejný holý
nesmysl není k ničemu. To
dovede kaţdý začátečník.
Zkušený rybář se pozná
podle zevrubných
podrobností a zkrášlujících
tahů provedených štětcem
pravděpodobnosti. Kromě
toho musí působit dojmem
úzkostlivé — téměř
pedantické —
pravdomluvnosti. (187)
Někteří lidé mají dojem, ţe
k tomu, aby byl z někoho
dobrý rybář, úplně stačí
schopnost plynně a bez
uzardění lhát; ale to je
omyl. Holý výmysl sám o
sobě není k ničemu; na ten
se vzmůţe i začátečník. Ale
ţe ho propracuje do
nejmenších podrobností, ţe
ho vyšperkuje prvky
pravděpodobnosti, ţe mu
dodá zdání úzkostlivé — aţ
pedantské — věrohodnosti,
teprve podle toho se pozná
rybář zkušený. (203)
Někteří lidé ţijí v
přesvědčení, ţe vše, čeho
má dobrý rybář zapotřebí,
je schopnost plynně lhát a
zachovávat si přitom
kamennou tvář; to je ale
omyl. Pouhopouhé pusté
výmysly k ničemu nejsou;
zvládne je i ten
nejnevinnější začátečník.
Zkušenost rybáře je patrná
v podruţných detailech, v
líčeních, jimiţ přikrašluje
pravděpodobné vyznění, v
pečlivosti - ba skoro aţ
úzkostlivosti -, s níţ lpí na
hodnověrnosti. (176)
To create overemphasis, Jerome uses phrases including descriptive adjectives, such as
‗circumstantial detail‘, ‗the embellishing touches of probability‘ and
‗scrupulous/pedantic veracity‘ which are easily translatable into Czech (underlined) and
for which there are plenty of different solutions. The translatability is moreover made
easier by generally shared attitude to lying as something unacceptable.
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Another aspect that plays a role in translating humour is that of transporting
―sense‖ and ―form‖ which are both very important when dealing with humour. Keeping
the sense is more or less easy but preserving the form can cause problems as ―irony and
humour may simply spring from an alliteration in the usual syntactic order of a
sentence, from the choice of an unusual collocation or, indeed, from the very use of a
certain word‖ (Mateo 174). These formal features are very difficult to transfer to the
target text assuming that the translator wants to preserve the original sense as well.
As the irony in Three Men in a Boat is created mainly by the devices of
contradiction, opposition, overemphasis and pretended innocence/ignorance, there are
not many cases of irony in which form plays a crucial role. However, some examples
can be found. In the following extract, which describes the characters being chased by
the smell of paraffin oil, the chief device to create irony is the repetition of the
expression ‗oily wind‘ and the coordinating conjunction ‗and‘:
Sometimes a westerly oily wind blew, and at other times an easterly oily wind,
and sometimes it blew a northerly oily wind, and maybe a southerly oily wind
. . . (Jerome 31)
Henzl Novák Ţáček
Někdy vanul západní
parafinový vítr, jindy zasvýchodní parafinový vítr,
chvílemi foukal severní
parafinový vítr nebo taky
jiţní parafinový vítr. (36)
Někdy foukal západní
petrolejový vítr, jindyvýchodní petrolejový vítr,
někdy severní petrolejový
vítr a snad i jiţní
petrolejový vítr . . . (38)
Občas dul západní
petrolejový vítr, jindy to byl východní petrolejový
vítr, někdy vál zase
petrolejový vítr ze severu,
moţná jsme pocítili i
petrolejový vítr od jihu.
(36)
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Henzl and Novák opt to preserve the repetition of the ‗ -ly oily wind‘ pattern as ‗-ní
parafinový vítr‘ and ‗-ní petrolejový vítr‘, respectively. Ţáček, on the other hand, uses
this pattern only twice and then continues with ‗petrolejový vítr ze severu‘ and
‗petrolejový vítr od jihu‘, which sounds natural and smooth in Czech but is inconsistent
with the original‘s pattern which is probably supposed to create irony and emphasise the
fact that the oily smell is everywhere. All the three translators avoid the repetition of the
conjunction ‗and‘. In English this repetition contributes to the ironic tone of the
utterance, in Czech, on the contrary, it would sound clumsy and thus destroy the ironic
element there.
Another instance of irony, in which transporting the form is essential, concerns
George‘s playing the banjo accompanied by Montmorency‘s howling. George‘s
question is ironically answered by Harris‘s question of the same form, only the verbs ‗to
howl‘ and ‗to play‘ are swapped:
―What‘s he want to howl like that for when I‘m playing?‖ George would
exclaim indignantly, while taking aim at him with a boot.
―What do you want to play like that for when he is howling?‖ Harris would
retort, catching the boot. (Jerome 140 – 1)
Henzl Novák Ţáček
„Co potřebuje takhle výt,
kdyţ já hraju?― zvolal Jiří
uraţeně a hodil po
Montmorencym botu.
„Co ho to posedlo, ţetakhle vyje, kdyţ já
hraju?― křičel rozhořčeně
George a házel po něm
botou.
„Proč se, kdyţ hraji, dávádo takového vytí?― ptal se
George rozhořčeně,
zatímco si psa bral na
mušku zutou botou.
„Co ty potřebuješ takhle „Co to tebe posedlo, ţe „A proč chceš vlastně hrát,
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hrát, kdyţ on vyje?―
odpověděl Jiří1 a botu chytil.
(157)
takhle hraješ, kdyţ on
vyje?― odpovídal Harris a
tu botu vţdycky zachytil.
(172)
kdyţ tak vyje?― opáčil
Harris a botu zachytil.
(150)
Both Henzl and Novák follow the original pattern and preserve the form of the two
questions. Thus, they succeed in retaining the irony of the remark suggesting that
George‘s playing is not pleasant to listen to and that Harris prefers the dog‘s howling .
Ţáček, on the other hand, does not realise the importance of keeping the form in this
example. He does not swap the verbs ‗výt‘ and ‗hrát‘ and does not give the discussed
questions the same form in his translation, which causes the effect of irony to be
impaired.
In the last example of irony, whose form presents an inseparable part of it and
thus should be translated into the target language, Jerome overemphasises such a
common thing as ‗being full up‘ by using very refined and lofty language:
We are but the veriest, sorriest slaves of our stomach. Reach not after morality
and righteousness, my friends; watch vigilantly your stomach, and diet it with
care and judgment. Then virtue and contentment will come and reign within
your heart, unsought by any effort of your own; and you will be a good citizen, a
loving husband, and a tender father – a noble, pious man. (Jerome 94 – 5)
The poetic and philosophical tone of this extract is established by the use of descriptive
adjectives (‗sorriest‘, ‗loving‘, ‗noble‘ etc.), adverbs (‗vigilantly‘) and words concerning
morality such as ‗righteousness‘ and ‗virtue‘. These features are supplemented with a
metaphor (‗slaves of our stomach‘) and personification (‗virtue and contentment will
come and reign‘). In my opinion, the three translators are successful in transporting the
1 This is a mistake – it should be Harris.
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form into the target language as they use appropriate adjectives, preserve the metaphor
and personification and their language contains about the same loftiness as the original:
Henzl Novák Ţáček
Jsme opravdu
nejuboţejšími otroky svého
ţaludku. Nesnaţte se,
přátelé, být mravní a
poctiví. Dbejte bedlivě o
svůj ţaludek a krmte ho
opatrně a moudře. Pak
ctnost a blaţenost zavládne
ve vašich srdcích, aniţ by
bylo třeba ji namáhavě
hledat, a stanete se dobrými
občany, milujícími
manţely, něţnými otci a
ušlechtilými, zboţnými
lidmi. (108)
Jsme prostě ti nejuboţejší
otroci svých ţaludků.
Nepachtěte se po tom,
abyste byli mravní a
poctiví, přátelé moji; jenom
se bedlivě starejte o své
ţaludky a krmte je opatrně
a uváţlivě. Pak ctnost a
spokojenost samy vstoupí
do vašich srdcí a budou
jimi vládnout a vy
nemusíte vynakládat ţádné
úsilí, abyste jich dosáhli;
pak budete dobrými
občany a milujícími man-
ţely a něţně chápajícími
otci — prostě ušlechtilými,
zboţnými lidmi. (117)
Jsme opravdoví a
prachbídní otroci vlastního
břicha. Přátelé, nesápejte se
po mravnosti a
spravedlnosti, sledujte
bedlivě svá břicha a krmte
je pečlivě a uváţlivě. Pak
se dostaví i ctnost a
spokojenost, jeţ zavládnou
ve vašem srdci, aniţ o ně
budete nějak usilovat.
Stanete se dobrým obča-
nem, milujícím manţelem a
citlivým otcem - důstojným
a zboţným muţem. (102)
As Zemanová observes in her thesis, Jerome employs another device to create
irony – he uses italics to stress words and their contribution to irony (24). The use of
italics occurs, for example, in the sentence concerning Harris‘s singing a comic song:
You have never heard Harris sing a comic song, or you would understand the
service I had rendered to mankind. It is one of Harris‘s fixed ideas that he can
sing a comic song; the fixed idea, on the contrary, among those of Harris‘s
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friends who have heard him try, is that he can’t , and never will be able to, and
that he ought not to be allowed to try. (Jerome 70)
Even though it is a common practice in Czech to stress a word by means of word order,
Henzl, Novák and Ţáček use italics as well:
Henzl Novák Ţáček
Nikdy jste Harrise neslyšeli
zpívat ţertovnou píseň,
proto nemůţete ocenitsluţbu, kterou jsem
prokázal lidstvu. Jednou z
Jiřího2 utkvělých myšlenek
je, ţe umí zazpívat
ţertovnou píseň. Naproti
tomu utkvělou myšlenkou
Harrisových přátel, kteří ho
slyšeli, jak se pokouší
takovou píseň zazpívat, je,
ţe to neumí, umět nikdy
nebude a ţe by se mu
nemělo dovolit, aby se o to
pokoušel. (81)
Vy jste nikdy neslyšeli
Harrise zpívat kuplet, takţe
nemůţete pochopit, jakvelikou sluţbu jsem tím
prokázal lidstvu. Jednou z
Harrisových utkvělých
myšlenek totiţ je, ţe umí
zpívat kuplety, ti Harrisovi
přátelé, kteří uţ zaţili
Harrisovy pokusy v tom
směru, mají naopak
utkvělou myšlenku, ţe to
Harris neumí, ţe to nikdy
umět nebude a ţe by se mu
nikdy nemělo dovolit, aby
to zkoušel. (87 – 8)
Ještě jste neslyšeli, jak
Harris zpívá komickou
píseň, jinak byste pochopili, jakou sluţbu
jsem lidstvu tímto svým
skutkem prokázal. Harris
ţije s utkvělou představou,
ţe umí zpívat komické
písně. Harrisovi přátelé na
druhé straně ţijí s utkvělou
představou, ţe je zpívat
neumí, nebude umět a ani
by mu nemělo být
umoţněno, aby se o něco
takového pokoušel. (78)
The translators place the verb ‗umí‘ at the beginning of the phrase, although it would
gain more stress in the final position. However, their solutions of keeping the italics are
probably based on their assumptions that words in italics stand out from the text and
monopolise the reader‘s attention more than non-italicised words in the final position. In
this type of text the solutions are justifiable and can be considered successful.
2 This is a mistake – it should be Harris.
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In conclusion of this chapter on irony, I would like to comment on the general
way the three Czech translators render irony in Three Men in the Boat . I will attempt to
demonstrate it on one example, the comments are, however, based on the overall study
of irony in the novel. The extract is related to J.‘s judging Harris‘s taste in clothing:
It is a great pity, because he will never be a success as it is, while there are one
or two colours in which he might not really look so bad, with his hat on. (Jerome
61)
Henzl Novák Ţáček
Je to velká škoda, protoţe
takhle se nikdy nebude
líbit, a při tom je tu jedna
nebo dvě barvy, v kterých
by opravdu nevypadal tak
zle, kdyby si nechal na
hlavě klobouk. (71)
A je to pro něj veliká
škoda, protoţe takhle
jakţiv neudělá díru do
světa, ačkoli by se našly
dvě tři barvy, v kterých by
moţná nevypadal tak
strašně, kdyby si ovšem
narazil klobouk. (76)
Je to obrovská škoda, a
třebaţe by se našly jedna či
dvě barvy, v nichţ by
vskutku nevypadal zle -
pakliţe by měl na hlavě
klobouk -, za tohoto stavu
nikdy úspěchu nedosáhne.
(68)
Vladimír Henzl seems to stick to the original and does not play with the language very
much. The ironic tone is preserved but it is not so marked as that of Novák‘s and
Ţáček‘s translations. J. Z. Novák, on the other hand, tends to enhance Jerome‘s irony by
using more expressive and colloquial words and phrases, such as ‗neudělá díru do světa‘
or ‗narazil si klobouk‘ in the above example. Milan Ţáček also tries to enhance the
irony by colloquial expressions, although not as much as Novák does, or by somewhat
archaic sounding words, such as the conjunction ‗pakliţe‘ in the above table. Even
though each of the translators uses different language and has different approach to
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translating irony, their translations are successful in transporting sense as well as
preserving the effect they should have on the readers.
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3 Metaphor
3.1 Metaphor in Three Men in a Boat
Metaphorical language is an integral part of any literary text and is one of the most
admired features in literature. Metaphor represents one of the figures of speech and it
―occurs when a word or phrase in a passage is clearly out of place in the topic being
dealt with but nevertheless makes sense because of some similarity between it and what
is being talked about‖ (Montgomery 129). To be able to interpret metaphor, the reader
has to recognise the similarity between the two concepts and carry it over to the new
context. Metaphor can reinforce the reader‘s imagination and conceptions of the world,
as well as influence his or her attitude to the topic that is discussed (Montgomery 134).
In other words, metaphor is ―a process of referring figuratively and emo tively to an
object in terms of another‖ (Menacere 568), and serves to stimulate an image, to
provoke an interesting comparison or to provide original ways of perceiving the world
(Alvarez 480).
When studying (or translating) metaphors it is useful to be able to analyse them.
In 1936, I. A. Richards proposed and named three aspects of metaphor (96 and 117):
Tenor – the original idea; what is really being said or thought of,
Vehicle – the borrowed idea; what the original idea is compared to,
Ground – the common characteristics.
Thus, in Jerome‘s metaphor ―Sunlight is the life- blood of Nature‖ (Jerome 184),
sunlight is the tenor, life-blood the vehicle, and the shared element (or ground) probably
life or energy.
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Peter Newmark understands metaphors as devices used to ―describe an entity,
event or quality more comprehensively and concisely and in a more complex way than
is possible by using literal language‖ (Approaches 84) and divides them into five types
(84 – 94):
Dead metaphors are fossilized metaphors (e. g. ‗arm of the chair‘); many of
them have been imported from other languages (e. g. ‗think‘ from Old
English);
Cliché metaphors usually consist of stereotyped collocations (‗leave no stone
unturned‘);
Stock metaphors are standard or common metaphors; they may be one word
metaphors (‗a ray of hope‘) or extended metaphors, i.e. idioms (‗cast a
shadow over‘)
Recent metaphors often include neologisms such as ‗head-hunters‘;
Original (creative) metaphors are invented by an author and are often dramatic
and shocking in effect (e.g. ‗the sun flung spangles, dancing coins‘).
As this division is quite complex and analysing the metaphors in Three men in a Boat in
this way would require a thorough (sometimes even etymological) study, I will confine
my focus to the most frequent types of metaphor in the novel – the stock metaphors,
especially idioms, and original metaphors. These types of metaphor are also worth of
studying from the translation point of view – it is interesting to observe what Czech
equivalents of the English idioms are used and how the translators maintain the
creativity of the original metaphors.
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One of the subtypes of metaphor that is widely employed in Jerome‘s book is
that of simile. Like metaphor, simile also draws attention to the similarity between two
things or phenomena but whereas in metaphor the comparison is implied, in simile the
comparison is explicitly expressed with the help of words such as ‗like‘ or ‗as‘
(Montgomery 129). Jerome makes use of similes in his humorous or ironic remarks
about somebody or something, as in
The man they had got now was a jolly, light-hearted, thick-headed sort of chap
with about as much sensitiveness in him as there might be in a Newfoundland puppy (Jerome 63);
as well as in his poetic parts of the novel:
It was a glorious morning, late spring or early summer, as you care to take it,
when the dainty sheen of grass and leaf is blushing to a deeper green; and the
year seems like a fair young maid, trembling with strange, wakening pulses on
the brink of womanhood. (Jerome 49)
Personification (anthropomorphic metaphor), another category of metaphor, is
abundant in Three Men in a Boat as well. Personification appears when human traits
(qualities, feelings etc.) are attributed to non-living things, animals, phenomena, and so
on. Jerome again applies personification both in the humorous situations and in the
poetic descriptions. In the former he personifies food, toothbrushes, tow-lines, boats,
tea-kettles, towns and the like, to make fun of the things and especially of people who
are affected by the things‘ mean ‗behaviour‘:
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That is the only way to get a kettle to boil up the river. If it sees that you are
waiting for it and are anxious, it will never even sing. . . . You get near the
kettle, so that it can overhear you, and then you shout out . . . (Jerome 93)
In the latter Jerome uses personification as a poetic device to make the poetic
descriptions more vivid and imagination-provoking:
. . . with the sunlight flashing from its dancing wavelets, gilding gold the grey-
green beech-trunks, glinting through the dark, cool wood paths, chasing shadows
o‘er the shallows, flinging diamonds from the mill-wheels, throwing kisses tothe lilies, . . . (Jerome 184)
Even though metaphor is a feature predominantly present in and typical of
poetry, it occurs very frequently in any literary text and can contribute to its humorous
tone. It is the non-literal meaning or the comparison included in metaphor that, when
used inappropriately or awkwardly, creates incongruity and thus humorous effect (Ross
35):
We are but the veriest, sorriest slaves of our stomach. (Jerome 94)
In this example, the comparison of humans to slaves who have to constantly serve their
stomachs produces a comic effect, as the statement is obviously exaggerated and
contains poor justification for people‘s indulgence in eating.
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3.2 Translation of Metaphor
The problem of translation of metaphor has not been sufficiently researched yet and
individual translators and literary critics hold different attitudes to approaching it. Some
think that metaphor should be rendered literally, some claim that this would result in a
meaningless expression in the target text (Menacere 568). Culturally based metaphors,
i.e. metaphors in which the two images compared are perceived differently by the
source and target cultures, will be naturally more difficult to translate than those in
which the images have the same cognitive content in both cultures. This fact is also
related to the use of symbols. Some symbols have universal applications and are
perceived equally in the cultures and thus are easily translatable. On the other hand,
symbols that convey different meanings in different cultures require complete
transformation of metaphor otherwise the translation would be senseless (Menacere 569
– 70).
Since English and Czech cultures are, in terms of understanding symbols and
perceiving images, relatively close, the translation of metaphors in Jerome‘s Three Men
in a Boat did not involve any substantial changes. For example, as the concept of
‗sword‘ is understood as a symbol of power (or power gained by violence) both in
English and Czech, the Czech translators do not have to transform the metaphor in any
way:
. . . for the sword is judge and jury, plaintiff and executioner, in these
tempestuous times . . . (Jerome 107)
Henzl Novák Ţáček
. . . neboť v těchto . . . neboť v těchto V těchto bouřlivých časech
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bouřlivých časech meč je
soudcem, ţalobcem i
popravčím . . . (121)
bouřlivých dobách meč je
soudcem, porotou,
ţalobcem i katem . . . (132)
je totiţ meč jak soudcem,
tak porotou, ţalobcem i
vykonavatelem . . . (115)
Peter Newmark proposes five possible procedures of metaphor translation (48 –
9):
1.
Translating a metaphor using the same or a similar image;
2. Translating it with a different image that has the same sense;
3. Converting the metaphor into a simile;
4. Translation of metaphor by simile plus sense;
5. Conversion of metaphor into sense.
As has been already mentioned, English and Czech cultures are not so remote to
cause problems in translating metaphors or to force translators to recreate them.
Therefore, the first method was used by the translators of the Jerome‘s novel in the
majority of cases. The use of this mode is possible if the image has comparable
frequency and validity in the target language (Alvarez 484), as in this example:
Had it been a Richard there! the cup of liberty might have been dashed from
England‘s lips, and the taste of freedom held back for a hundred years. (Jerome
110)
Henzl Novák Ţáček
Kdyby to byl býval některý
Richard! Číše volnosti by
byla bývala odtrţena od rtů
Anglie a ještě sto let by
Být na jeho místě takový
Richard! Pak pohár
svobody mohl být ještě
odtrţen od rtů Anglie,
Kdyby tu tak seděl
Richard! Anglii by se ještě
mohl od rtů vyrazit kalich
svobody; mohla by si na
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byla Anglie čekala, neţ by
poznala, jak chutná
svoboda. (124)
takţe by ještě stovky let ne-
poznala, jak chutná
volnost. (135)
svobodu nechat zajít chuť
ještě nějakých sto let. (117)
Even though the translators choose different solutions for the word ‗cup‘, they still
preserve the sense of the metaphor and the cup‘s relation to the lips of personified
England. Since the metaphor of ‗the cup of . . .‘ is widely used in Czech as well (‗pohár
hořkosti‘, ‗číše zapomnění‘), the translations are perfectly understandable for Czech
readers.
When analysing metaphors in the novel, I have come across only two
applications of Newmark‘s second mode of metaphor translation, i.e. rep lacing the
source language image by different image with the same sense, both by Milan Ţáček:
It is difficult enough to fix a tent in dry weather; in wet, the task becomes
herculean. (Jerome 19)
Postavit stan je obtíţné, i kdyţ neprší; za deště se tento úkol stává hodným
Sisyfa. (Ţáček 24)
While Henzl and Novák retain the image of Hercules in their translations (‗herkulovská
úloha‘, ‗herkulovská práce‘, respectively), Ţáček chooses to describe the task as that of
Sysiphus. The images are almost the same, referring to the tremendous effort required to
accomplish the task, Ţáček only makes the task unending and futile. The second case is
as follows:
Dear old Quarry Woods! . . . how scented to this hour you seem with memories
of sunny summer days! (Jerome 123)
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Jak nás utěšují stromy, . . . jak nás aţ do této chvíle prostupují vzpomínkami na
slunečné letní dny! (Ţáček 132)
Henzl and Novák again preserve the original image of pleasant smell (‗voníte
vzpomínkami‘) whereas Ţáček opts for the Czech verb ‗ prostoupit‘ which corresponds
with Jerome‘s idea as well (i.e. plenty of memories associated with the woods) but
deprives it of the poetic olfactory sensation.
Only one case of translating the metaphor by a simile was found. It is applied by
J. Z. Novák and it works equally to the original:
. . . and they both sighed, and sat down, with the air of early Christian martyrs
trying to make themselves comfortable up against the stake. (Jerome 62)
. . . načeţ si obě povzdychly a usedly, tváříce se jako mučednice z prvních dob
křesťanství, které se snaţí zaujmout u kůlu pozici co nejpohodlnější. (Novák 77)
The modes of transferring the metaphor by simile plus sense (Newmark
mentions this example: ‗he is a lion‘ developed into ‗he is as brave as a lion‘) and of
converting the metaphor into sense were not registered in the novel.
Until now I have been dealing with the translation of original metaphors or
metaphors that are invented by an author and that are not hackneyed and stereotyped. In
the following paragraphs I will focus on the translation of idioms – expressions that
Newmark counts into stock metaphors.
Idioms are expressions or phrases that have fixed meanings. They can
sometimes present translation problems because ―they contain more than one word but
f orm a single unit of meaning‖ (Menacere 570). Thus, if the words are interpreted
individually, then the whole cluster of those words does not make sense. Another
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obstacle in translation of idioms can arise when an idiom is culturally specific and when
translated literally, the target readership does not understand. According to Menacere, a
reasonable approach to translating idioms is to understand the idiom, interpret its
meaning (emotive and aesthetic) and transfer the meaning in the target language (571).
The three Czech translators render the idioms in two ways, both equally successful.
First, they use Czech idiomatic equivalents where there are any or when the context
makes it possible, as in these examples:
Jerome Henzl Novák Ţáček
. . . to sell your life
dearly . . . (21)
. . . prodáte svůj
ţivot draho . . . (24)
. . . prodáte svůj
ţivot draho . . . (26)
. . . svůj ţivot za
ţádných okolností
tak lacino nedáte
. . . (26)
You might look
daggers at him for
an hour . . . (63)
Mohli jste na něho
celou hodinu vrhat
vraţedné pohledy . . . (73)
Hodinu jste ho
mohli probodávat
očima . . . (78)
Mohli jste ho celé
hodiny propichovat
pohledem . . . (70)
. . . you couldn‘t
get a Referee for
love or money . . .
(12)
. . . za nic na světě
tam neseţenete
ilustrované časopisy
. . . (16)
. . . I didn‘t care a
hang . . . (38)
. . . ţe mi houby
záleţí . . . (43)
. . . na tom ţe mi
pendrek záleţí . . .(47)
I never can make
head or tail of
those. (45)
Z těch uţ jsem teda
úplný jelen. (56)
S těmi si taky nevím
rady. (51)
She was nuts on
public-houses . . .
(50)
Panenská královna
Anglie byla do
krčem celá pryč.
Ta byla po
hospodách celá divá
. . . (62)
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(58)
. . . they are all the
rage this season . . .
(79)
. . . letos se po nich
můţou na řece
všichni utlouct. (87)
Secondly, if there is no idiomatic equivalent in Czech or when the idiom does not fit the
context, they translate them with unidiomatic expressions with the same sense as that of
the original idioms:
Jerome Henzl Novák Ţáček
. . . you couldn‘t get
a Referee for love
or money . . . (12)
. . . člověk tam
nenajde sportovního
sudího ani z lásky,
ani za peníze . . .
(14)
. . . ani za peníze,
ani za dobré slovo
tam člověk
neseţene Milovníka
sportu . . . (15)
. . . I didn‘t care a
hang . . . (38)
. . . ţe je mi dočista
jedno . . . (43 – 4)
I never can make
head or tail of
those. (45)
V těch se vůbec
nevyznám. (51)
She was nuts on
public-houses . . .
(50)
Anglická panenská
královna byla
hostinci přímo
posedlá. (56)
. . . they are all the
rage this season . . .
(79)
. . . jsou teď strašně
v módě . . . (91)
To je tuhle sezónu
strašně v módě. (99)
. . . and he would
rather be on the
safe side . . . (139)
. . . proto pro jistotu
nebude . . . (155)
. . . a tak se prý
radši přidrţí toho,
co je vyzkoušeno
. . . (170)
. . . a dá přednost
jistotě . . . (148)
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Peter Newmark claims that similes ―are the poor cousins of metaphors‖ as they
―have none of the power and the incisiveness of metaphors‖ (Paragraphs 19). However,
Jerome‘s Three Men in a Boat abounds with them, their main function being to describe
and illustrate the events and incidents in both the humorous and poetic parts of the
novel. They normally do not cause any problems in translating and are predominantly
translated literally, as the translator does not have any reason to change or recreate them
(Newmark, Paragraphs 19). This is the case in most instances of similes in Jerome‘s
novel. Here are some examples:
Jerome Henzl Novák Ţáček
. . . yet harmless,
mind you, as the
babe unborn. (53)
. . . neškodné jako
nenarozené
nemluvně. (61)
. . . neškodné jako
nenarozené batole.
(66)
. . . zároveň
neškodný jako
novorozeně. (60)
It is like the sunset
and the stars . . .
(55)
Je jako západ slunce
a hvězdy . . . (63)
Jako západ slunce a
hvězdy . . . (69)
Je jako západ
slunce a hvězdy . . .
(62)
. . . and had begun
to unravel it as if he
were taking the
swaddling clothes
off a new-born
infant . . . (81)
. . . a začal je
rozvíjet jako by
snímal plenky z
novorozeněte. (93)
. . . a jal se je
rozvíjet, jako kdyby
odmotával plenky s
novorozeněte . . .
(101)
. . . a začal je
odmotávat, jako by
šlo o zavinovačku
novorozence . . .
(89)
. . . with a noise
like the ripping up
of forty thousand
linen sheets. (85)
. . . s takovým
rámusem, jako kdyţ
se trhá čtyřicet tisíc
lněných prostěradel.
(97)
. . . s takovým
randálem, jako
kdyby se naráz
roztrhlo čtyřicet
tisíc plátěných
prostěradel. (105)
. . . za hlomozu,
jako by se páralo
čtyřicet tisíc
plátěných
prostěradel. (92)
. . . all human life . . . celý ţivot leţí . . . leţí před námi . . . jak se před námi
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lies like a book
before us . . . (98)
před námi jako
kniha. (112)
celý lidský ţivot
jako kniha . . . (121
– 2)
lidský ţivot otvírá
jako kniha . . . (106)
In the above examples, the Czech translators preserve, more or less, the same
images as presented in the original. However, there are some cases in which the
translators opt to use different, even though equally applicable, images:
Jerome Henzl Novák Ţáček
. . . standing there
like a stuffed
mummy . . . (92 –
3)
Stojíš tu jako
vycpaná múmie . . .
(106)
Stojíš tady jako kus
polena . . . (114 – 5)
. . . stojíš jak
vycpaný panák . . .
(100)
I had an idea it
came natural to a
body, like rounders
and touch. (159)
Představoval jsem
si, ţe to přijde
samo, jako kdyţ si
člověk hraje smíčem. (176)
Tenkrát jsem si
představoval, ţe na
to kaţdý přijde hned
napoprvé sám jako
při hře na babu nebo
na škatule. (193)
Myslel jsem si, ţe
jim člověk přijde na
kloub stejně
přirozeně jako třebastřílení z praku.
(168)
. . . instead of being
pitched and thrown
about like peas in a
bladder . . . (161)
. . . místo aby se s
námi třepalo a
házelo jako s
hrachem v měchu
. . . (178)
. . . uţ to s námi
nehází a nehrká jako
s hrášky v chrastítku
. . . (196)
. . . místo abychom
sebou nechali házet
jako hadr na holi
. . . (170)
I have also come across a simile which had to be adapted since it, translated literally,
would sound unnatural in Czech:
Jerome Henzl Novák Ţáček
. . . holding on to . . . drţe se okrajů . . . s rukama Rukama se zarputile
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the sides of the boat
like grim death . . .
(68)
člunu jako klíště.
(78)
křečovitě
svírajícíma luby lodi
. . . (85)
drţel boků . . . (75)
The expression ‗drţet se jako hrozná/krutá/nemilosrdná smrt‘ as an equivalent to ‗hold
on tight‘ would not make sense to Czech readers; that is why the translators have to
come up with other solutions. Henzl uses the idiomatic expression ‗drţet se jako klíště‘
which is a very successful translation. On the other hand, Novák and Ţáček recreate the
simile into adverbs (‗křečovitě‘ and ‗zarputile‘, respectively). These are good solutions
as well but they lack the comic effect of the original simile.
Personification – the last category of metaphor mentioned in the theoretical part
of this chapter – does not represent any translation problem and is usually preserved in
translations. As the three translators of Jerome‘s novel do not change or adapt the
personifications in Three Men in a Boat in any way, I will only offer one example of
their renderings by way of illustration:
Jerome Henzl Novák Ţáček
Possibly the result
may have been
brought about by
the natural
obstinacy of all
things in this
world. The boat
may possibly have
come to the
conclusion,
judging from a
cursory view of
Snad je tento
výsledek nutno
přičíst přirozené
nepovolnosti všech
věcí na tomto světě.
Moţná, ţe loďka
podlehla dojmu,
který v ní vzbudilo
povrchní
pozorování naší
činnosti, a usoudila,
ţe jsme si vyjeli
Ţe to tak dopadlo, to
lze patrně přičíst
pouze přirozené
zlomyslnosti všech
věcí na tomto světě.
Ta loď
pravděpodobně, pod
dojmem zcela
povrchního úsudku o
našem chování, došla
k náhledu, ţe jsme si
vyjeli spáchat hned
Moţná k tomuto
výsledku přispěla
přirozená
zarputilost věcí
vezdejších. Loďka
snad došla k
závěru, ţe jsme se
vydali spáchat
ranní sebevraţdu, a
rozhodla se, ţe nás
zklame. To je
jediná domněnka, o
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our behaviour, that
we had come out
for a morning‘s
suicide, and had
thereupon
determined to
disappoint us. That
is the only
suggestion I can
offer. (160 – 1)
spáchat sebevraţdu,
a proto si umínila,
ţe nás zklame. To
je jediné vysvětlení,
které mohu
nabídnout. (178)
po ránu sebevraţdu, a
v důsledku toho si
umínila, ţe nám ji
překazí. Nic jiného
mě nenapadá. (195)
níţ se s vámi mohu
podělit. (169)
Since the metaphors in Three Men in a Boat are not culture-specific and the
images and symbols contained in them are well-understandable for Czech readers, they
do not cause difficulties in translating and do not require any special renderings on the
part of the Czech translators. As for Newmark ‘s proposed modes of translating
metaphors, the way of translating metaphors using the same or a similar image is most
frequently employed. If a metaphor is modified in some way, it is the translator‘s own
initiative (i.e. it was not due to cultural reasons) and the sense and effect of the original
metaphor are preserved. As far as the translation of idioms is concerned, the translators
either substitute them with Czech idiomatic equivalents or, if this is not possible, they
replace them with unidiomatic expressions with the same sense. Both these approaches
prove to be successful. Similes and personifications are probably the easiest categories
of metaphor to translate. The overwhelming majority of similes is rendered literally and
all the cases of personifications are retained. In my opinion, the translators manage to
keep the balance between the source and target metaphorical language with no
excessive losses or gains in the target text.
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4 Register
4.1 Register in Three Men in a Boat
The term register is used to ―describe the fact that the kind of language we use is
affected by the context in which we use it, to such an extent that certain kinds of
language usage become conventionally associated with particular situations‖
(Montgomery 55). Thus, we would use different register when speaking to friends
(informal, familiar language) and to superiors or strangers (formal, polite language).
Among the main social determinants that influence our choice of register are: age, sex,
class, occupation, religion, country of origin, generation, schooling etc. Moreover, our
choice of register is conditioned by the mode (written vs. spoken) and the occasion in
which it is used (Newmark, Approaches 121).
Montgomery (56) defines three different aspects of any situation or context
which will affect the register: the mode of communication – this relates to whether the
language is written or spoken; the tone, which is connected to the social relationships
between the participants in the situation (formal vs. informal, personal vs. impersonal
relationships); and the field , i.e. the purpose the language is used for (e.g. to convey
information, to express feelings, to intimidate, etc.) and the activities or professions it is
characteristic of (e.g. the register of legal profession, advertising, football commentary,
journalism and so on).
Since each of us switches naturally and smoothly from one register to another
and since we know which register is appropriate in a certain situation, we are all
sensitive to deviation in register (Montgomery 56). Many authors of humorous literature
rely on this sensitivity and employ registers inappropriately to create humour and
humorous situations. The same does J. K. Jerome in his Three Men in a Boat . He makes
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use of very formal register to exaggerate certain situations or problems and thus makes
them more comic:
We are but the veriest, sorriest slaves of our stomach. Reach not after morality
and righteousness, my friends; watch vigilantly your stomach, and diet it with
care and judgment. Then virtue and contentment will come and reign within
your heart, unsought by any effort of your own; and you will be a good citizen, a
loving husband, and a tender father – a noble, pious man. (Jerome 94 – 5)
This formal, almost philosophical in tone, statement follows J.‘s account of how properdinner made the three characters content and blissful after a long day. The grand tone of
this ―recommendation‖ is apparently incongruous with the ordinary situation of eating
and thus makes it sound comic.
Jerome also uses formal language to establish irony. When the character of
George asks a lock-keeper for some drinking water, the keeper maliciously offers him
to take as much as he wants, pointing to the river and saying that he has drunk the river
water for the last fifteen years without any harm. George, in response to the keeper‘s
impoliteness, uses formal and very polite language to make an ironic insult:
George told him that his appearance, after the course, did not seem a sufficiently
good advertisement for the brand; and that he would prefer it out of a pump.(Jerome 132)
Informal register appears frequently in the novel as well and it serves to
reinforce the comic elements in the situations and to mock the characters. Jerome uses
colloquial language that can be found both in the narrative and the direct speech, as in
the following examples:
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This was hardly what I intended. What I had meant, of course, was, that I should
boss the job, and that Harris and George should potter about under my directions
. . . (Jerome 37)
―Well, I don‘t know, gents,‖ replied the noble fellow, ―but I suppose some
train‘s got to go to Kingston; and I‘ll do it. Gimme the half-crown.‖ (Jerome 49)
The colloquial language of villagers is also employed (only in direct speech) to
make the distinction between the three main characters, who come from the middle
class, and the ‗Arrys and ‗Arriets – ―a term coined by the middle-classes to describe the
lower-classes‖ (Nicholas 60). In some cases it shows the villagers‘ simplicity and helps
to make the mockery of them more profound, as it is with the character of slow-witted
churchyard keeper:
―I‘m a-coming, sur, I‘m a-coming. I‘m a little lame. I ain‘t as spry as I used to
be. This way, sur.‖
―Go away, you miserable old man,‖ I said.
―I‘ve come as soon as I could, sur,‖ he replied. ―My missis never see you till just
this minute. You follow me, sur.‖ (Jerome 65)
As I already mentioned, using certain register inappropriately (the above
example concerning stomach) is one of the devices for achieving humorous effect.
Another register-based method for creating humour involves juxtaposition or mixing of
different registers:
The quaint back streets of Kingston, where they came down to the water‘s edge ,
looked quite picturesque in the flashing sun-light, the glinting river with its
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drifting barges, the wooded towpath, the trim-kept villas on the other side,
Harris, in a red and orange blazer, grunting away at the sculls, the distant
glimpses of the grey old palace of the Tudors, all made a sunny picture, so bright
but calm, so full of life, and yet so peaceful that, early in the day though it was, I
felt myself being dreamily lulled off into a musing fit. (Jerome 49)
The above quoted surroundings description written in highly poetic register is suddenly
interrupted in the middle by a commonplace remark on Harris‘s intensive sculling
(underlined), which somehow surprises the reader, spoils the poetic, serious tone of the
extract and forces the reader to realise a new – humorous – dimension of the utterance.
Alison Ross mentions a further device for register-based humour – bathos.
Bathos is ―a sudden switch in style, from one which has grand overtones to one which is
commonplace‖ (45). There are about four cases of bathos in Three Men in a Boat ; here
is one example by way of illustration:
. . . and, lulled by the lapping water and the rustling trees, we fall asleep beneath
the great, still stars, and dream that the world is young again – young and sweet
as she used to be ere the centuries of fret and care had furrowed her fair face, ere
her children‘s sins and follies had made old her loving heart – sweet as she was
in those bygone days when, a new made mother, she nursed us, her children,
upon her own deep breast – ere the wiles of painted civilisation had lured us
away from her fond arms, and the poisoned sneers of artificiality had made us
ashamed of the simple life we led with her, and the simple, stately home where
mankind was born so many thousands of years ago.
Harris said:
―How about when it rained?‖
You can never rouse Harris. There is no poetry about Harris – no wild yearning
for the unattainable. Harris never ―weeps, he knows not why.‖ If Harris‘s eyes
fill with tears, you can bet it is because Harris has been eating raw onions, or has
put too much Worcester over his chop. (Jerome 18)
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In this example, Jerome suddenly switches from poetic, lofty style to commonplace
language describing Harris‘s practicality. The difference is even amplified by the
sentence length – the poetic part is formed by one, very long sentence; while the
following text is composed of relatively short sentences (underlined). The vocabulary
and particularly the combination of words play an important role as well. In the first
part, poetic devices such as vivid imagery (‗rustling trees‘, ‗painted civilisation‘,
‗poisoned sneers of artificiality‘ etc.) and personification (the world is personified –
young, her face, her loving heart) are used; the subsequent part is formed of words of
everyday language and does not involve any unusual combinations of words.
Ross also speaks about the method of building up balanced phrases from which
the final one drops in register or style to form a sort of anti-climax (44). The method is
used by Jerome when urging the readers not to burden their lives with unnecessary
things:
Throw the lumber over, man! Let your boat of life be light, packed with only
what you need – a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth
the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or
two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink;
for thirst is a dangerous thing. (Jerome 27)
In this example, Jerome begins in a noble way to name things and people one would not
do without in their lives. Towards the end, however, he proceeds to things (underlined)
that are not expected in such a clichés- based utterance (i.e. ‗pipes‘, ‗drink‘ – in this
case, the word ‗drink‘ is ambiguous as it can refer both to alcoholic and nonalcoholic
beverage).
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4.2 Translation of Register
Unfortunately, there is not much specialised literature that would offer any useful and
detailed approaches to the translation of register. I will therefore draw only on
Newmark‘s opinion of how to render register in translation and Levý‘s attitude to
dialect translation. Peter Newmark (Approaches 121) thinks that the main interest to a
translator when dealing with register is the lexical field (including characteristic word
‗deformations‘ and syntactic markers), which s/he should recognise in the source text
and transfer to the target text. In chapter seventeen, J. and George are sitting in a pub,