Translation of poetry as homicide, with reference to Anna Akhmatova's 'Last toast'

The objective of this dissertation is to provide a critical examination of poetry translation, using as a framework the notion that translation of poetry is comparable to an act of murder or homicide. Constructs pertaining to detective fiction are used as a basis to expose critical theories and commentary on poetry translation, which validate the comparison, taking into account the integrity of the poetic text, the context in which it exists, and the identity (constructed or real) of the poet. Four published translations, by different authors, into English of Anna Akhmatova’s poem Posledniy tost (‘The Last Toast’) are analysed in detail to demonstrate the validity of the argument and to attempt to review and quantify the loss of a poem’s essential and vital qualities as a result of translation.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of English Language and Literature

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Higgs, Richard

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Hambidge, Joan

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/11071

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/11071