OnUntranslatabilityofHumorinMarkTwain’sNovelsand

尹小路

【Abstract】Mark Twain was a well-known 19th-century American author and a reputed critical realist. His novels are excellent for combining humor with irony， which reveal his criticism of kinds of miserable reality in American society. His humor is not just for humorous effect， but has serious and profound social connotations. So when readers of the target language are reading his novels， their understanding of the deep purpose and connotations would be influenced by the quality of translation of those humors. Therefore， translators must own language competence and sufficient knowledge about the cultural background， for humor is a typical example of untranslatability. This paper makes an analysis of the two types of untranslatability： the cultural untranslatability and the linguistic and takes translation of humor in Mark Twains novels as examples to analyze the untranslatability of humor in literature and gives suggestions of compensating strategy.

【Key words】humor； untranslatability； Mark Twains novels； compensating strategy

1. Introduction

Mark Twain was a 19th-century American author and a reputed critical realist. He was excellent for combining humor with irony， which revealed his criticism of kinds of miserable reality in American society. His humor is not just for humorous effect， but has serious and profound social connotations. Twain often said things when he meant just the opposite. Tall tales， colloquialism and hoax are part of his style， which are of rich local color and not easy for foreign readers. Moreover， his humor and satire are able to make readers laugh about the absurd plots or the characters idiotic behaviors， but then are also able to let them feel sorrowful for the brutal reality and tragedy of the common people. Native English speakers even have to be careful when they read Mark Twain， let alone readers from other countries. So the quality of translation would influence the understanding of the deep purpose and connotations in his novels.

This paper would take translation of humor in Mark Twains novels as examples to analyze the untranslatability of humor in literature and give suggestions of compensating strategy.

2. Analysis of Untranslatability of Humor in Mark Twains Novels

2.1 Analysis of Untranslatability of Humor in General

With different cultural backgrounds， people from different countries have their own thoughts of humor. It is a reason why the same humor may not be able to make people from other countries laugh. To some degree， humor is a kind of relativistic untranslatability caused by cultural differences. When translated， humor usually loses its prospective humorous effect for readers of the target language. As the irreplaceable role of humor in interpersonal communication and international exchange， the untranslatability of humor should be studied seriously and has already attracted translators to find solutions. Humor in Mark Twains novels and tales will be generally analyzed in the next part.

2.2 Analysis of Specific Examples

Example （1）： “I never had so much trouble with anything in my life as I had with this map. I had heaps of little fortifications scattered all round Paris at first， but every now and then my instruments would slip and fetch away whole miles of batteries， and leave the vicinity as clean as if the Prussians had been there.”

This selected paragraph is from Map of Paris， in which Mark Twain praised his marvelous work， a map of Paris， and detailed kinds of difficulties he encountered while making it in an ironic tone. In fact the author wanted to satire the cruel and heartless action of the Prussian invaders. So he said that “my instruments would slip and fetch away whole miles of batteries， and leave the vicinity as clean as if the Prussians had been there”， which actually describes that Prussians invaded Paris and destroyed all the batteries there. Readers who probably have no background information about the Prussian aggressive behaviors may not be able to appreciate Mark Twains humor and irony here. If just literally translated as “普魯士人”， the word “Prussians” would bring misunderstanding because “普魯士人” could not reflect the aggressive behaviors of the Prussian invaders.

Example （2）： “Once there was a bad little boy whose name was Jim—though， if you will notice， you will find that bad little boys are nearly always called James in your Sunday-school books. It was strange， but still it was true， that this one was called Jim.”

This paragraph is the very beginning of The Story of the Bad Little Boy. Readers who are familiar with the English-speaking countries may know that “Jim” is just the nick name of “James”， so actually they are the same name. In the story the author repeatedly emphasized that in real life the bad boys name is Jim， which is different from the name “James” that always appears in Sunday-school books as a bad little boys name. This is Twains humor and irony that Sunday-school books always use the miserable ending of a bad boy for his bad behaviors to warn the children not to do bad things， but in reality bad boys usually get rid of punishment. If readers can not make clear the relationship between the two names， they perhaps can never know Mark Twains humorous device here and may become confused about the repetition of the two names.

2.3 Compensating Strategy of Untranslatability

2.3.1 Annotation

There are two types of annotation， annotation within text and annotation outside text. Annotation within text refers to putting the content of annotation in the translation by using brackets. Annotation outside text has kinds of forms such as footnote， endnote and so on， by which the content of annotation is added outside the translation.

In the text above， example （2）） can adopt annotation to explain the humor. In example （2）， annotation could be added as “‘Jim is just the nick name of ‘James， so actually they are the same name.” For the latter one， there should be an endnote that in English “good son” means “good person”， so the name “Goodson” implies that the man named Goodson， who possesses moral virtue and good behaviors， is quite honest and upright. Through these two examples we could find that the annotation may lead to lose of humorous effect to some degree， but it is rather helpful for readers to understand the purpose of the author and the deep connotation of the novel.

2.3.2 Amplification

Amplification is another compensating method， which means in the premise of translating the words and sentences now available in the original work， translators also add the implied meaning， which the readers of the target language do not know， into the translated work. Amplification reveals the implied meaning in the original work and makes it show up apparently in translated work.

Used in the translation of humor， amplification could make up for humorous meaning， represent the style of the original work and help to achieve better cross-cultural communication.

In example （1） ，amplification could be used for compensation. In the former one， “the Prussians” could be rendered into “殘暴的普魯士侵略軍”， while for the latter， proper words that are exaggerated and irony could be used to modify the prayer of the minister.

2.3.3 Adaptation

The method of adaptation is based on the target language and the understanding of the readers of the target language. By getting rid of the bondage of the original language， culture and style of writing， translators give their own recreation and supply a fluent， smooth and readable translation for readers. Consequently readers can feel the humor when they read the translated work at once.

From another aspect， adaptation is also replacement， that is， to replace the literal translation of the original words and phrases with the expressions which are close to the original meaning and meanwhile readers of the target language are familiar with.

The advantage of this method is that the humorous effect can be largely conserved without destroying the general meaning of the origin.

2.3.4 Substitution

Substitution refers to a method that when there is no equivalence in target language， translators could try to use the available expressions or conceptions to substitute the original ones. This means is usually used for those culture-loaded words， such as idioms， allusions and proverbs， so it is also called cultural substitution.

This method could be cautiously applied only when words and phrases substituted are not the focal points in meaning and connotation and the substitution generally corresponds to the original one. Or misinterpretation of the whole work would turn up.

3. Conclusion

Translation is dynamic， so the problem of translatability and untranslatability is not absolute. The translation of humor is in the same way. For translators， common interests outweigh differences. No matter the original work is regarded as translatable or untranslatable， translators must try to improve the acceptability and readability and， to a great extent， to represent subtle implied meaning in the translated work. Only through pursuing better rendering of humorous effect can translators make constant breakthrough in the translation of humor.

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