Léxico, polifon\'ıa y traducción: Un caso italiano
Babel, (November 2007)DOI: 10.1075/babel.59.4.01mor
Abstract
In this article, we will reflect on the problems dealing with the translation of the lexis in contemporary literary texts. We will also study how lexis is the immediate reflection of the polyphony that prevails in the current narrative. In order to do this, first of all we will analyse the characteristics of the novels currently being published in Italy. Once we have established that lexical hybridization is one of the main ways of writing in many contemporary literatures (other than Italian), we shall go on to deal with the problems that arise during the translation of non-standard lexis. Assuming that lexis is something that cannot be isolated from the rest of the text, and that other aspects, such as morphosyntax, must be always taken into account, we will study some examples from the translation into Spanish (by Xavier González Rovira) of Melania G. Mazzucco’s novel Un giorno perfetto, where the variety of the protagonists’ voices is clearly apparent. In order to maintain this polyphony, it will be necessary (apart from translating the mere meaning of a word or expression) to find equivalents for a specific register, as well as a style and some particular connotations that reflect the different ways of speaking found in Mazzucco’s work.