Irreparable Loss and Exorbitant Gain: On TranslatingAgaat

Abstract

Summary This essay attempts an after-the-fact reflection on the process of translating a complex literary text, Marlene van Niekerk's Agaat. Central to the essay is the question of whether a translation should “foreignise” or “domesticate” the text, or as Umberto Eco puts it: “should a translation lead the reader to understand the linguistic and cultural universe of the source text, or transform the original by adapting it to the reader's cultural and linguistic universe?” Although it is impossible to opt for either of these positions exclusively, this essay inclines towards the former, and attempts to demonstrate from the translation of Agaat both the difficulties of negotiating a transition between two cultures, and its rewards. If much of the original culture is inevitably lost, especially where the language is itself strongly culture-specific, the translation may also gain something by its immersion in the receiving culture, establishing revitalising links with a whole new context.

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