Literary translation consists of the translation of poetry, plays, literary books, literary texts, as well as songs, rhymes,

literary articles, fiction novels, novels, short stories, poems, etc.

Translate the language, translate their culture.

Translation of literary works (novels, short stories, plays, poems, etc.) is considered a literary pursuit
in its own right. For example, notable in Canadian literature specificallyas translators are figures
such as Sheila Fischman, Robert Dickson and Linda Gaboriau, and the Governor General's
Awards annually present prizes for the best English-to-French and French-to-English literary
translations.
Other writers, among many who have made a name for themselves as literary translators,
include Vasily Zhukovsky, Tadeusz Boy-eleski, Vladimir Nabokov, Jorge Luis Borges, Robert
Stiller and Haruki Murakami.

the point of the translation is not merely to communicate the

contents of a certain message. A translation cannot be judged like
a mathematics test. Certain criteria may be fulfilled the rhyme
scheme could be intact, the metaphors satisfactory, a respectable
amount of alliteration preserved, the style of the original author
attempted, and the meaning, whatever that means, the same
but when it comes down to it, a literary translation is a work of
art, like the original, and it should be evaluated as such. There are
also, of course, different genres to consider within the term
literary. Poetry is possibly the most inter
Introduction
iterary translation implies the translation of all genres of literature, which
include prose, drama and poetry. Johnson (1999:1) describes literature as
'an apparently nebulous body of knowledge in oral or written form, an
imitation of life, which reflects civilization and culture, and which covers
every angle of human activities-culture, tradition, entertainment, information
among others.' It is one of the great creative and universal means of
communicating the emotional, spiritual and intellectual concerns of
humankind.
Literary translation has to do with translating texts written in a literary
language, which abounds in ambiguities, homonyms and arbitrariness, as
distinct from the language of science or that of administration. Literary
language is highly connotative and subjective because each literary author is

lexically and stylistically idiosyncratic and through his power of imagination,

he uses certain literary techniques such as figures of speech, proverbs and
homonyms through which he weaves literary forms.
The literary translator is therefore the person who concerns himself with
translation of literary texts. A literary translator, according to Peter Newmark
(1988:1) generally respects good writing by taking into account the
language, structures, and content, whatever the nature of the text. The
literary translator participates in the author's creative activity and then
recreates structures and signs by adapting the target language text to the
source language text as closely as intelligibility allows. He needs to assess
not only the literary quality of the text but also its acceptability to the target
reader, and this should be done by having a deep knowledge of the cultural
and literary history of both the Source and the Target Languages.

What is Literary Translation?

Literary translation is working with a text in

its original language to prepare a version in
a new language. This work promotes
broader reading and distribution of the
work. In some casesfor
instance, Gilgamesh, a work composed in
ancient languages of the Middle East
translation is the only way the text is made
available to general readers.
All but two of the works in Invitation to
World Literature are translated from a
language other than English. The two works
in English, The God of Small
Things andThings Fall Apart, have
themselves become world literature in part
through the many translations that have
been made into other world languages.
Next: What is involved in literary
translation?

hat is involved in literary translation?

The art of translation begins with reading,
writing, and editing; the same skills a writer

uses. A translator must be able to

understand and appreciate the text in its
original form, and then will use the
resources of a writer: style, tone, diction,
word choice, grammar, imagery, and idiom,
to name just a few, to create a new version
of the work that provides this experience to
readers in the new language. Literary
translators have sometimes been termed
"double agents," serving two masters like
spies who work for both sides, the original
author and the reader in the target
language. They must also understand the
many varied contexts of the text, its time
period, geography, and style and how those
contexts affect translations for readers who
are in different contexts. Just as a double
agent will likely make compromises in his or
her work, a translator must strike a balance
as a text is ushered from one language into
a new one. Next: The best translation?