Week 12 - Translating Drama and American Plays PDF
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This presentation is on the topic of translating dramatic works, specifically focusing on American plays like "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" and the "Theatre of the Absurd." It includes an overview of the historical context, key themes, and characters, providing a thorough descriptive analysis of the text.
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Translating Drama *The Theatre of Absurd Historical background: The aftermath of World War II increased by the Cold War. The atrocities of the Nazi concentration camps. The Allies’ atomic bomb. Disillusionment coming from the realization that Britain had been reduced to a s...
Translating Drama *The Theatre of Absurd Historical background: The aftermath of World War II increased by the Cold War. The atrocities of the Nazi concentration camps. The Allies’ atomic bomb. Disillusionment coming from the realization that Britain had been reduced to a second-class power. *New meaning of existence Awareness of man’s propensity to evil and conscience of the destructive power of scientific knowledge. The lack of moral assurance and the decline of religious faith. The disillusionment with both the liberal and social theories about economic and social progress. Mistrust in the power of reason. A sense of anguish, helplessness and rootlessness developed especially among the young *French existentialism Existentialism saw man trapped in a hostile world. Human life was meaningless and this created a sense of confusion, despair and emptiness. The universe was not rational and defied any explanation. The main exponent of this philosophical current was the French Jean Paul Sartre. Existentialists presented the absurdity of human condition by means of a lucid language and logical reasoning. *The Theatre of the Absurd: Main Features Absence of a real story or plot. No action since all actions are insignificant. Vagueness about time, place and the characters. The value of language is reduced; in fact, what happens on the stage transcends, and often contradicts, the words spoken by the characters. Extensive use of pauses, silences, miming and farcical situations which reflect a sense of anguish. Incoherent babbling makes up the dialogue. *The Theatre of the Absurd: main themes The sense of man’s alienation. The cruelty of human life. The absence or the futility of objectives. The meaninglessness of man’s struggle. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962), Edward Albee: characters George is an associate professor in the History Department at the college. He is forty-six years old. Martha, the wife of George, describes George’s career as a failure, and purports to have married him because her father had once seen George as a protégé and potential future president of the college. Martha is the daughter of the president of the college. She is middle- aged, and is married to George in an intense and acrimonious/angry/bitter relationship. Nick is a new professor at the college, in the biology department. Only twenty-eight years old, he is already highly accomplished. Young and ambitious, he provides a contrast to George, who is old and apparently unambitious. Honey is Nick’s wife, a couple of years his junior, and is described as petite and plain. She is clearly not very intelligent. It is evident that Nick, handsome and intelligent, feels he deserves better, and he ultimately confesses to George that he only married Honey because of a hysterical pregnancy and his parents’ expectations. Albee has admitted that the resemblance of Nick’s name to Nikita Kruschev —the Soviet premier—and of George’s name to George Washington—first president and the icon of the American dream—were intentional. Historical Context of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? During the sixties, an image of the happy American family was reinforced by the conservative president, Dwight Eisenhower, as well as popular sitcoms like Leave it to Beaver and Father Knows Best. These social images, of the happy housewife and the perfect marriage, were unrealistic and masked the harsher reality that lay beneath the social exterior. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf resists the narrative pressure to present reality in a digestible form and instead exposes family life in a harsher light. At the same time, the Cold War was an important feature of American political life in the 1960’s, and the non-violent tensions that arise in Martha and George’s living room might be understood as a small-scale representation of the international conflict. Key Facts about Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Full Title: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf When Written: 1962 (first performed) Where Written: New York Literary Period: Theater of the Absurd Genre: Dramatic stage play Setting: A house on a New England college campus Climax: George informs Martha that he has received news, via telegram, that their son has died. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: Structure and Summary The play has a Three-Act Plot. Initial Situation: George and Martha are trapped in a bitter world of illusion. We begin with two people who have been trying to tear each other down for years. They hide behind illusions – like their imaginary son – to make it through the bitterness that is their lives. Conflict: Nick and Honey arrive. The shattering of illusions begins. George and Martha drag their young guests into their verbal warfare. As the battle of wills rages, illusions begin to crack. Social niceties soon fall by the wayside and the characters' ugliness is on full display. *Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: themes Versions of Reality: The central message of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is widely believed to be that human beings must learn to live without illusion. Throughout the play, the characters do battle to protect their own versions of reality, while tearing down each other’s. Visions of America: The interpersonal battles between the characters of the play reflect the Cold War tensions that plagued America. It touches on everything from the death of the American Dream Philosophical Viewpoints: The Absurd Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is often cited as one of the chief examples of American absurdism. All of the philosophy's main tenants are on full display. The play makes the audience think about the stripping of illusions and the overall meaninglessness of life. The Inability to Communicate: The characters are constantly, but unsuccessfully, attempting to communicate on a deeper level with each other. Martha and George trade competitive insults and verbal cruelties until the last scene, when they finally achieve some sense of mutual understanding. EXERCISE Translate some excerpts from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? into Turkish. *Keşanlı Ali Destanı (1964), Haldun Taner Keşanlı Ali Destanı dramatizes the moral collapse of the residents of the slums of Istanbul. The main character Ali has been in prison for a crime (murder of his girlfriend’s uncle) he did not commit. However, he becomes a legendary hero for his alleged murder of a much hated bully. Haldun Taner’s Style HaldunTaner, the author of Keşanlı Ali Destanı, was a very well-known Turkish playwright and short story writer. He studied economics at Heidelberg and philosophy and theatre arts at the University of Vienna. When he came back to Turkey, he graduated from the Faculty of German Literature and Linguistics. During his university years he had the opportunity to observe German people’s perception of Turkish people. Thus, he had the chance to reflect the relationship between the German and Turkish people in his stories. Seldom in the course of Turkish literature has there been a gentler and more effective satirist of hypocrisy, sham, and a whole range of foibles than Haldun Taner (1915—1986), who always wrote with empathy and compassion, always out of a powerful faith in the perfectibility of the human being. In Taner one finds virtually no confidence in a better social order, although he affirms, through his satiric strategies, the potential for individual excellence. Keşanlı Ali Destanı Keşanlı Ali Destanı (The Ballad of Ali of Keshan) by Haldun Taner, a leading satirist, short story writer, and the moving spirit behind Turkish cabaret theater, has attracted remarkably broad and vivid attention in Europe and England. It is a Brechtian play. The play's English translator, Nüvit Özdoğru writes; «(It is) the story of a man from a shanty town in Istanbul who was thrown into jail for a crime he did not commit but who becomes a hero for his alleged murder of a much-hated bully. He assumes the personality that actually becomes a murderer. Although the story takes place in a shantytown, the play is a satire on the big city, with its political machines, bureaucracy, mass hysteria, sentimental love, and myths. The play is treated in the epic manner. A woman restroom attendant comments on the action of the play, and the music, composed by Yalçın Tura for an Occidental orchestra, is partially folk- loristic and partially cabaretist in style.» «The Ballad of Ali of Keshan is a nonillusionistic play. In other words, no attempt was made by the author for an illusion of reality. Therefore, as translator, I felt free to use Anglo-Saxonisms and Americanisms in my translation. Many Englishmen who saw the play in its English version in Loughton, Essex, felt that the English translation was written in the dialect of the Lower East Side of London. Some Americans who read the English translation thought that the language was a reflection of a period in America. Perhaps my translation was an assimilation of the two dialects plus an "invented" English dialect based on the Turkish language. I tried to avoid the usage of slang to help prevent the text from becoming dated in a short time. By mixing different styles of English and making frequent allusions to the histories of England and America as well as current events in those countries, I believe, I made the play more readily understood and accepted by English and American audiences and readers while making a contribution to the "alienation effect" sought by the author.» EXERCISE Translate some excerpts from “Keşanlı Ali Destanı (The Ballad of Keshan of Ali),” by Haldun Taner, into English. REFERENCES 1. Cuddon, J. A. (1999). The penguin dictionary of literary terms and literary theory. London: Penguin Books. 2. Ersözlü, E. (2018). Paratextuality in the Context of Drama and Theatre: A Case Study on The Ballad of Ali of Keshan by Haldun Taner. From Diversity to Synergy: New Perspectives in English Literature, Linguistics, Literature and Translation Studies, Tarakçıoğlu, A. Özlem İşisağ U. Korkut Tekin Nesrin Ruiz-Cecilia Raul Karras Ioannis Çetin Turhan, Editör, Lambert Academic Publishing, Beau Bassin. 3. Halman, T. S. (ed.)(1983). Modern Turkish Drama. Bibliotheca Islamıca, Minneapolis. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/http:// shiraz.fars.pnu.ac.ir/portal/file/?970458/Michael-Adams-Edward-Albee %E2%80%99s-Whos%E2%80%99s-Afraid-Of-Virginia-Woolf_-.pdf