From Theory to Practice in the Translation of Emiliya Dvoryanova’s Novel Concerto for a Sentence

In the first part of my thesis, I use a theoretical model proposed by Antoine Berman in the 1980s to elicit the difficult points in the translation of Emiliya Dvoryanova’s text with special attention to the practices of foreignization. Berman’s theory proposes a twelve-point classification of the deformation tendencies—forces that prevent translation from transporting the foreign elements in the target text. I choose four of the deformation tendencies from Berman’s list to analyze my translation of Concerto for a Sentence with the goal to creatively enforce foreignization practices. Then, I delve into the theoretical discussion regarding the translator and his/her choices of a text and the consequences in the receiving culture. I conclude that the positionality of the translator is a complex issue dependent on several variables: the dominant ideology in the receiving culture, its capacity to tolerate dissident voices, and the relationship between the two cultures—that of the text’s origin and the target culture. Next, I analyze the case of Dvoryanova’s novel Concerto for a Sentence: the possibilities for foreignization practices in its translation together with my positionality as a translator. In the end, I provide a sample from my translation of the novel.