IMHICIHU   13380
INSTITUTO MULTIDISCIPLINARIO DE HISTORIA Y CIENCIAS HUMANAS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Translation and Adaptation in Medieval Wales: the cases of Chwedyl Iarlles y Ffynnon and Cân Rolant.
Autor/es:
CORDO RUSSO, LUCIANA
Lugar:
Bangor, Wales
Reunión:
Congreso; Translation in Non-State Cultures: Perspectives from Wales; 2012
Institución organizadora:
AHRC Project "Translation in Non-State Cultures", Bangor University
Resumen:
This paper
will focus mainly on studying two cases of transposition of Old French material
into Middle Welsh: on the one hand, we will examine the Welsh Arthurian tale Chwedyl Iarlles y Ffynnon, a Welsh
version of the twelfth-century roman
courtois Le chevalier au Lion,
composed by Chrétien de Troyes; on the other hand, we will discuss Cân Rolant, a known direct translation
of La chanson de Roland.
The study
reveals that Chwedyl Iarlles y Ffynnon
is not a mere translation of the French roman;
at least not one in the modern sense. Some details, however, suggest that the
Welsh redactor was following the French text, especially when we consider the
tale within the broad European context, the growing popularity of Chrétien?s
stories, and the ongoing French influence on Wales, of which we have ample
evidence. It definitely implies a cultural appropriation of the French source
and, therefore, a rewriting according to Welsh literary tradition, context and
expectations from the audience. In this way we can interpret the Welsh tale
from the standpoint of medieval translation since contemporary evidence,
although scarce, tend to point to this notion of molding the source in order to
adapt it to the translator?s own purposes and conventions.
Regarding Cân Rolant, it is noticeable how the
Welsh translator tried to follow his source closely. This may be due to his
unfamiliarity with Carolingian material. However, the text has been through a
process of abrevatio (some episodes
are missing, other are abbreviated), and certain changes have been introduced
in passages that would have no meaning for a Welsh audience (such as the value
system or matters attached to Frankish identity).
A contrastive
analysis of these two cases of translatio
medievalis will reveal differences in style and technique of translation
that will shed light on the methodology of translation in Medieval Wales.