Faculty of Humanities Supervisor: Dr. E.R.G. Metz Second reader: Dr. A.J. van Nieukerken Master Translations University of Amsterdam March 2016 Submitted by: Daria Dubiella 6000428 dubielladarianna@gmail.com
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ICONICITY IN TRANSLATED PROSE
Analysis of iconicity in Don DeLillo’s novel Cosmopolis in Dutch and Polish translationTable of contents
1 Introduction 7
1.2 Content and focus 8
1.3 Why Don DeLillo’s Cosmopolis? 9
1.3.1 Iconicity in DeLillo’s style 10
1.3.2 Cosmopolis: city of the world; model of the Universe 11
1.3.3 Arguments for choosing Cosmopolis 11
1.4 Status Quaestionis 12
2 What is Iconicity? 13
2.1 Introduction 13
2.2 Iconicity in translation 14
2.3 The iconic elements 16
2.4 Types of icons 17
2.4.1 Image (imagic icon) 17
2.4.1.1 Imagic iconicity on the acoustic (sound) level 17
2.4.1.1.a Onomatopoeia 17
2.4.1.1.b Sound Symbolism 18
2.4.1.2 Imagic iconicity on the visual level 18
2.4.1.2.a Alphabetic characters 18
2.4.1.2.b Typography (Pattern poems) 18
2.4.1.2.c Blanks 18
2.4.2 Diagram 19
2.4.2.1 Iconic diagram on the sound level 19
2.4.2.1.a Rhythm 19 2.4.2.1.b Meter 19 2.4.2.1.c Assonance 20 2.4.2.1.d Rhyme 20 2.4.2.1.e Alliteration 20 2.4.2.1.f Phonetic metaphor 20
2.4.2.1.g Variations in rhyme schemes 20
2.4.2.2 Iconic diagram on the visual level 21
2.4.2.2.a Lineation 21
2.4.2.2.b Line breaks 21
2.4.2.2.c Paragraph-break (stanza-break) 21
2.4.2.3 Iconic diagram on the structural level: morphology 22
2.4.2.3.a Reduplication 22
2.4.2.3.b Blending 22
2.4.2.3.c Paronomasia 22
2.4.2.3.d Repetition 22
2.4.2.4 Iconic diagram on the structural level: syntax 22
2.4.2.4.a Anaphora 23
2.4.2.4.b Epistrophe 23
2.4.2.4.c Anadiplosis 23
2.4.2.4.d Chronological order 23
2.4.2.4.e Distance or proximity 23
2.4.2.4.f Ellipsis 24 2.4.2.4.g (Syntactic) Parallelism 24 2.4.2.4.h Asyndeton 24 2.4.2.4.i Polysyndeton 24 2.4.2.4.j Syntactic subordination 24 2.4.2.4.k Transitivity 25 2.4.2.4.l Chiasmus 25 2.4.2.4.m Pronoun 25 2.4.2.4.n Juxtaposition 25
2.4.2.5 Iconic diagram on the semantic level 26
2.4.2.6 The discourse and narrative level 26
2.4.2.6.b Framing 26
2.4.2.6.c Frame breaking 26
2.4.2.6.d Metonymy/metonymic shift 27
2.4.2.6.e Narrative representation of speech and point of view 27
2.4.3 Mise-en-abyme 27
3 Analysis 28
3.1 Research method 28
3.2 Plot of the book 29
3.3 A closer look at Cosmopolis 31
3.3.1 The cover 31
3.3.2 The preliminaries. 33
3.3.3 The construction of Cosmopolis 34
3.4 Iconicity in Cosmopolis. 35
3.4.1 Imagic iconicity on the sound level 35
3.4.1.1 Onomatopoeia 35
3.4.1.2 Sound symbolism 36
3.4.2 Imagic iconicity on the visual level 37
3.4.2.1 Pattern poems/typography 38
3.4.2.1.a Show it again. 38
3.4.2.1.b SPECTER and A RAT 38
3.4.2.1.c THE LAST TECHNO-RAVE 39
3.4.2.1.d Eric thought yes. 40
3.4.2.1.e ERIC MICHAEL PACKER 41
3.4.2.2 Blanks 41
3.4.2.1.a What can be simpler than falling asleep? 41
3.4.2.1.b …dress quickly and disappear. 42
3.4.3 Iconic diagram on the sound level 42
3.4.3.1 Rhythm 42
3.4.3.2 Rhyme 42
3.4.3.2.a Red meat. 42
3.4.3.2.b What pain do they feel that they need to take pill? 43
3.4.3.2.c Rap songs by Brutha Fez 44
3.4.4 Iconic diagram on the visual level 46
3.4.4.1 Lineation 46
3.4.4.1.a The drivers 46
3.4.4.1.b Assassination of Arthur Rapp 47
3.4.4.2 Paragraph-Break (stanza-break) 47
3.4.4.2.a End 48
3.4.4.2.b Sound turned off 48
3.4.4.2.c People did not touch each other 49
3.4.5 Iconic diagram on the structural level 50
3.4.5.1 Blending 50
3.4.5.1.a Fuckall wonder 50
3.4.5.1.b Bloodwhirl 51
3.4.5.2 Repetition 51
3.4.5.2.a Yes, rats. 52
3.4.5.2.b Hatred 54
3.4.5.2.c Let it express itself. 55
3.4.5.2.d I am repeating myself. 56
3.4.5.2.e I am speaking. 57
3.4.5.2.f Dacha. 57
3.4.5.2.g He recoiled in shock. 58
3.4.5.2.h I just saw a doctor 59
3.4.5.2.i Cars 60
3.4.6 Iconic diagram on the structural level: syntax. 61
3.4.6.1 Anaphora 61
3.4.6.1.c Rain 63
3.4.6.1.d Then 63
3.4.6.2 Epistrophe 64
3.2.6.2.a End 64
3.4.6.2.b These are two systems that we miserably try to link. 65
3.4.6.2.c Provide and erratic 65
3.4.6.2.d Suffering 66
3.4.6.2.e Dead 67
3.4.6.3 Chronological order 67
3.4.6.3.a Maybe I said this already… 68
3.4.6.3.b I steal electricity. 69
3.4.6.4 Distance and proximity 69
3.4.6.4.a Richard Sheets. Means nothing to me. 69
3.4.6.5 Syntactic parallelism 70
3.4.6.5.a He looked at Shiner finally. 71
3.4.6.5.b You play? 71
3.4.6.6 Asyndeton 73
3.4.6.6.a See. What. I said as much. 73
3.4.6.6.b Come on, do it. 74
3.4.6.6.c Happened in seconds apparently. 75
3.4.6.7 Polysyndeton 75
3.4.6.7.a The bank towers. 76
3.4.6.8 Personal pronoun 76
3.4.6.8.a He. 77
3.4.6.8.b He realized, Eric did. 77
3.4.6.8.c I 78
3.4.7 The discourse and narrative level 79
3.4.7.1 Size 79
3.4.7.2 Framing 79
3.4.7.3 Narrative representation of speech and point of view 79
3.4.7.3.a Sex finds us out. 80
3.4.7.3.b I don’t ask you where you get your money. 80
4 Conclusions and Further Research. 82
4.1 Conclusion 82
4.2 Further research 84
List of figures
Figure 1. Cosmopolis’ covers 33
Figure 2. Preliminaries in the English version of Cosmopolis 34
Figure 3. Preliminaries in the Dutch version of Cosmopolis 34
Figure 4. Preliminaries in the Polish version of Cosmopolis 34
Figure 5. The construction of Cosmopolis 35
Figure 6. Onomatopoeia (p. 172) in Dutch translation 36
Figure 7. Onomatopoeia (p. 172) in Polish translation 36
Figure 8. Sound symbolism (p. 127) in Dutch translation 37
Figure 9. Sound symbolism (p. 127) in Polish translation 37
Figure 10. Typography (p.34) in Dutch translation 38
Figure 11. Typography (p.34) in Polish translation 38
Figure 12. Typography (p. 84-85) in Dutch translation 39
Figure 13. Typography (p. 79-80) in Polish translation 39
Figure 14. Typography (p.125) in Dutch translation 40
Figure 15. Typography (p.125) in Polish translation 40
Figure 16. Typography (p.133) in Dutch translation 40
Figure 17. Typography (p.133) in Polish translation 40
Figure 18. Blending (14) in Dutch translation 51
Figure 19. Blending (14) in Polish translation 51
Figure 20. Repetition (p.23) in Dutch translation 53
Figure 21. Repetition (p. 23) in Polish translation 53
Figure 22. Repetition (p. 23-4) in Dutch translation 53
Figure 23. Repetition (p. 23-4) in Polish translation 54
Figure 24. Repetition (p. 33) in Dutch translation 55
Figure 25. Repetition (p. 33) in Polish translation 55
Figure 26. Repetition (p. 45) in Dutch translation 56
Figure 27. Repetition (p. 45) in Polish translation 56
Figure 28. Repetition (120) in Dutch translation 59
Figure 29. Repetition (120) in Polish translation 59
Figure 30. Repetition (179) in Dutch translation 60
Figure 31. Repetition (179) in Polish translation 60
Figure 32. Repetition (117) in Dutch translation 63
ABSTRACT
Iconicity is a natural feature of language and occurs in speech as well as in written form by taking on many forms. The artistic value of a literary prose depends on the explicit content but also strongly on the style. Iconicity as a component of style is of great importance to a text and it’s translation. Recognizing iconicity can be problematic since decoding iconic elements as carrying special meaning depends on reader’s (translator’s) perceptivity and readiness to conceptualize the particular iconic element as similar to another element or structure. This research contains an analysis of two translations of an American novel by Don DeLillo Cosmopolis in order to trace the way the translators dealt with translating iconic elements. Demontsration of the most outstanding examples of iconicity in the novel shows how the translators translated iconicity and whether they achieved the same (or similar) iconic effect in the target texts. The analysis has shown that some of the iconic elements were in great deal translated and carried the iconic force in the translation while the iconic meaning of other elements was completely lost in translation. In order to refine a translation it is important to keep in mind the notion of iconicity and the many forms it can take on and fulfil. Having knowledge of the iconic elements and paying attention to them while translating is of great importance and certainly contributes to the quality of translation of a literary prose.
1 Introduction
What are the challenges of literary translation? What is the right way to approach a task of translating a novel into a foreign language? Which skills are necessary to provide an excellent translation of that genre? What are the most common mistakes to look out for when translating literary prose? The type and purpose of the text, its style and the combination of both source and target languages and cultures are all very important factors while translating a literary text. Literary translation requires from the translator special sensitivity, skills, knowledge and creativity. Jean Boase-Beier in her book Stylistic Approaches
to Translation pointed out that the correct translation of style plays a crucial
role in making a successful translation of a literary text. While discussing style in the context of translation, Boase-Beier names such elements of style as the mind of the text (Boase-Beier, 75), ambiguity and textual gaps (that may or may not be present), foregrounding, metaphors and iconicity. The last element, iconicity, emerged to me as the most intriguing, elusive, subjective and little known aspect of literature. Iconicity, according to scholars such as Olga Fischer or Max Nänny, is a natural feature of language. This phenomenon occurs in spoken as well as written language and is most simply to be described as form miming meaning (form of the text miming its own meaning).
The Dictionary of Stylistics defines iconicity in literary texts in the following way: Literature, in fact, can be regarded as iconic in the broad sense that its FORM may strive to IMITATE in various ways the reality it presents: the so-called ENACTMENT or iconicity principle or maxim. (Wales, 2011), (emphasis in the original text).
Although iconicity is (according to scholars mentioned above) a natural feature of language and without realising it speakers use iconic elements, the written (literary) text allows the author to engage iconic elements both consciously and unconsciously in order to add to its artistic value and reinforce the content. With regard to translating a literary text Boase-Beier emphasizes that:
(…) a translator who is aware that language can be iconic (…) will be more likely to try to capture instances of iconicity in her translation. (Boase-Beier, 2).
1.2 Content and focus
This paper is an investigation of translation of iconic elements that are to be found in a novel by the American author Don DeLillo, Cosmopolis. Iconic elements in the text are often far from transparent and discovering them demands from the reader, or translator, great perceptivity. Iconicity has a reputation of being a highly subjective property of a text, and there surely are many iconic elements that are arbitrary, but scholars argue that iconicity in general is a natural and omnipresent phenomenon to such extent that it occurs not only in the human language but also in communication of some animals (Fischer, 2004, 2).
The two main research questions that this paper will try to answer are: 1. What are the outstanding iconic elements in Cosmopolis?
2. Which iconic elements did the translators Harry Pallemans and Robert Sudół translate?
The first research question is formulated based on the theory of iconicity that states that iconic elements are omnipresent and form an important aspect of the literary language. Granted that there must be iconicity in Don DeLillo’s
Cosmopolis, I will analyse the novel in order to find these iconic elements. The
second research question will be answered after comparing the iconic elements found in the original text with the translations. The two translations that will be analysed are the Dutch by Harry Pallemans and the Polish by Robert Sudół. The aim of the comparison of the iconic elements present in the original text with the translations is to establish whether the iconic elements were translated and whether the iconic force and function (the imitation) of that element is preserved in the translation. While performing this part of the research I will bear in mind the unavoidable loss that comes with translating a text. Comparing the translations in Polish and Dutch will additionally allow insight into the differences between translating of in this case an iconic element
of a text into two languages from different language families. After performing the research it will hopefully be possible to draw conclusions about translating iconicity in general and formulate advice to translators about how to handle iconic elements in literary texts. The current chapter is a short introduction to this research and explains the motivation and goals of this paper. Chapter 2 will bring closer the notion of iconicity and will give a descriptive summary of the iconic elements as found in the literature on the subject. The list is not limitative since writers are free to choose and/or create new means by which they will iconically reinforce the meaning of the text. Chapter 3 is devoted to analysing the English version of Cosmopolis and finding iconic elements as well as comparing them to their Dutch and Polish translations. Discovering iconicity depends primarily on the translator’s (reader’s) perceptivity and can significantly influence the artistic properties of the novel in translation. The elements that are subject to this investigation are limited to: imagic iconicity on the sound as well as on the visual level, iconic diagrams on sound; visual; structural (morphology and syntax) level and discourse and narrative level. Indices, symbols and metaphors, however also carrying iconic meaning, are not included in this analysis. While performing the analysis I will try to establish to what degree is a given iconic element essential to the meaning of the text and contributing to the artistic value of the novel. In Chapter 4 I will formulate conclusions and share my thoughts on the performed research as well as suggestions with regard to the direction of further research in this field. Beforehand I assume that some iconicity or certain aspects of it will be lost in the translated text for whether it is for cultural or linguistic reasons. Polish translation will probably show more discrepancies with the original text since the Polish language belongs to the Slavonic language family while the Dutch translation will probably show less discrepancy with the English text since these two languages belong to the same language family.
1.3 Why Don DeLillo’s Cosmopolis?
This section explains why Don DeLillo’s Cosmopolis was chosen as material for performing this research. Both the style of DeLillo and the plot of the book
1.3.1 Iconicity in DeLillo’s style
Although scholars argue that iconicity is an omnipresent and natural characteristic of language, it seemed that the text for this analysis should be chosen with great care as to maximize the opportunity of coming across iconic elements. Don DeLillo’s novel Cosmopolis occurred to me as an example of a literary prose containing a number of iconic elements of a various kind. DeLillo is an American writer, born in 1936 in New York to an Italian family. His work cannot be categorized or described in terms of one particular style; the author combines elements of different literary areas such as fiction, realism and postmodernism (Paryż, 10). The combination of many styles allows a creative and free approach to writing and the use of language. This assumption finds confirmation in work of Diana Jenkins since she states that:
(…) he (DeLillo, DD) suggests that language and space can mirror each other. (Jenkins, 3).
A source of inspiring information about DeLillo’s writing is an article by Darragh McManus on the website of The Guardian from March 2nd, 2010. Darragh
McManus, a writer himself, believes that DeLillo is in love with the language and that medium and message are equally important to DeLillo. McManus describes DeLillo’s thoughtful relationship with language- especially the written language as follows:
He (DeLillo, DD) often stresses the importance of the shape of letters – black curls and lines hammered onto white paper – the aesthetic architecture of them. He likes internal rhymes within sentences, reversals and flips, aural motifs echoing through the stories. […] Each sings to the eye and ear, like poetry. Each stands alone as a sublime melody while contributing to the symphonic whole. Not in a self-consciously "artistic" or "literary" way, like John Banville or Ian McEwan; this is denser, realer, simultaneously detached and rapturous, lifting off the page with a freeform, muscular musicality. (McManus, 2010).
According to the sources cited above Don DeLillo is an author that makes use of literary language not only for its denotative function. DeLillo is aware of the
iconic force of letters, words and sentences and is believed to consciously use them in his writings whether it is on the sound or visual level.
1.3.2 Cosmopolis: city of the world; model of the Universe
The novel Cosmopolis describes the last day of life of an extremely rich, genius, 28-year old New Yorker, Eric Packer. Eric leads a life that is unattainable for most of the population. He is able to buy anything he wishes because he has unthinkable amounts of money at his disposal. At the same time Eric leads a somewhat isolated life. He is isolated from the ordinary people, the noise of the street, from any danger. There is a big amount of employees (bodyguards, doctors, nurses) watching round the clock over Eric’s safety and health. Eric’s wife, Elise Shifrin, whom he married not out of love but because of the fortune she will inherit, does not live with her husband and appears in the novel on few accidental occasions. The protagonist is driven through New York in a comfortable and well-equipped white limousine. The limousine was on Eric’s demand fortified and was able to survive an actual attack by anarchists. His life seems perfect: he is wealthy, has a beautiful and rich wife, is in charge of a prosperous company, he is healthy and can afford buying literally anything he wants but there is a great sense of monotony, boredom and emptiness to his life emerging from the novel. During the course of the book Eric, encountering problems in predicting the course of the yen, looses intentionally all his and his wife’s money. It is the first time in his career that he was not able to foresee the developments on the currency market. This ‘failure’ is the reason why he starts looking for ways to experience extremely dangerous and destructive things and to eventually remove every obstacle that parts him from his assassin: Benno Levin.
1.3.3 Arguments for choosing DeLillo
Selecting Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo for this analysis seemed suitable for researching iconicity in translation: the author is known for his awareness of iconicity and the two translations will provide material to comparison. In order to be able to analyse the translations I chose the Polish and Dutch translations since those are the two languages I speak well enough to perform the research. I believe that comparing two translations: one in a Slavonic and the
other in a Germanic language might give a valuable insight into translating iconicity in languages belonging to separate language families.
1.4 Status Quaestionis
Literature considering iconicity (and iconicity in translation) presents examples of (translated) iconic elements that serve as illustration to the ideas presented by the author in the context of his or her research. Until now I did not come across an analysis of a literary prose in its entirety with regard to iconic features, additionally looking into the translation(s) of the text. In this regard this paper is unique because the aim is to describe the iconic elements throughout the novel and analyse their translations.
2 What is Iconicity?
2.1 Introduction
As presented in the introduction to this paper, Katie Wales (The Dictionary of
Stylistics) emphasizes the notions of resembling and imitation as the crux of
iconicity. However in the same dictionary Wales points out that:
The principle of iconicity is often (…) seen as being vulnerable to impressionism and subjectivity in the isomorphic correspondences that are often further identified generally between form and CONTENT. (Wales, 222) (emphasis in the original text, DD).
Max Nänny and Olga Fischer underline in their article ‘Iconicity: Literary texts’ that the awareness of iconic elements in the text depends on the recognition of similarity (the iconic similarity) by the reader (Nänny and Fischer, 2006, 463). Discovering iconicity literally gambles on the reader’s awareness and readiness to recognize the analogical structure in which it exists. On one hand thus iconicity can only be recognized when the text is being read carefully and when the reader is perceptive enough to find it, while on the other hand there is a danger of misinterpreting the text or forcing the iconic interpretation. Joan Boase-Beier in her book Stylistic Approaches to Translation on various occasions makes the point that the meaning of the text is primarily constructed in the mind of the reader. That assumption confirms the above reasoning. From the point of view of translated literature it means that the translator is the most important reader of the text in the process of introducing a literary work in a new culture and language. There is clearly a need for objective criteria for recognizing iconicity but, since iconicity exists, just as the meaning of the text, in the mind of the reader, it is hard to draw them. In case of some iconic elements, for example the frequency of occurrence of particular characters of the alphabet discussed in section 2.4.1.2.a., it is well possible to find objective means of proving the iconic use/function of an element but most of the iconic features in a literary text are dependent on the reader’s interpretation and perceptiveness.
2.2 Iconicity in translation
The use of iconicity by an author is an aspect of his or her personal style of writing. It can be used consciously or unconsciously. A literary author can employ the iconic elements in order to achieve a certain artistic effect. Boase-Beier in Stylistic Approaches to Translation discusses the elements of style that need to come to translator’s attention when translating a literary text. Boase-Beier states that translating style was for long seen as something obvious and resulted in translators translating intuitively (Boase-Beier, 147). While the more gifted translators are able to translate the style of a book successfully, there might be others, perhaps beginning translators, who would encounter difficulties. Noticing and ‘decoding’ iconic features of a text can be challenging and finding linguistic means by which those can be expressed in the target text demands not only an excellent knowledge of the target language and culture but also a lot of creativity. Elżbieta Tabakowska in her article ‘Iconicity and Literary Translation’ states that whereas iconicity is universal, its manifestations in various languages are not (Tabakowska in Müller and Fischer, 2003, 361). To illustrate this discrepancy one does not have to look further than broadly known onomatopoeic words for animal sounds. In English and Polish language the word that represents the sound produced by cows starts with the sound m. In Dutch however the sound produced by cows starts with the sound b. If within a literary text the m sound refers to another element in the text that sounds the same or starts with the same initial sound, translating this into Dutch could be problematic and the translator will have to think of a good solution in order to translate the iconic element correctly. While onomatopoeic words as iconic elements are the most obvious examples, a different kind of problem can occur on other, more complex, levels of iconicity. Tabakowska names the example of a poem by the French poet Rimbaud ‘Voyelles’, where the vowels symbolize a number of basic colours. The German philosopher August Wilhelm Schlegel found that the connotation of the same vowels in German culture is different to those of Rimbaud. The iconic content of the original poem will not be preserved if translator decides to use the same vowels in the translation. This agrees with what Elżbieta Tabakowska points out in her article:
similarity is (…) ultimately based upon choice, and conditioned by particular systems of values, beliefs, attitudes, ideologies, etc. In short it is culturally determined. (Tabakowska in Müller and Fischer, 362-3).
and further:
Things become similar when a particular observer conceptualizes them as such. (Tabakowska in Müller and Fischer, 363).
The translator constantly moves around the area between two languages and cultures and has to be aware that under the surface of a literary work some meaning might be awaiting to be discovered, for example in the form of iconicity. So not only the perceptiveness but also, as Tabakowska states, the cultural background determines the ability of noticing the iconic elements. An important question arises at this point, namely the matter of an accidental iconicity. It is hard to draw a line between the accidental iconicity and a subconscious use of iconicity in a literary text. A translator can never be completely sure which iconic elements are put in a text on purpose and which are accidental when it comes to more subtle iconic features. For purpose of this research I presume that the iconic elements, accidental or not, should be transferred to the target text. However, depending on the reading of the text the result might be that iconic element(s) could remain undiscovered and untranslated. The reason for this can be a lack of perceptiveness, the cultural background or perhaps poor language skills. The translator might decide to leave some iconic features untranslated if they are in his or her opinion not crucial to the text or in order to avoid evoking associations other than intended by the author of the source text. As Tabakowska shows, it might be the case that the target language lacks the devices to translate the iconic elements (Tabakowska in Müller and Fischer, 368). An example of an iconically used element that if translated might carry a note that is quite different from the original meaning, is alliteration. Tabakowska maintains that:
(…) within the Polish cultural context alliteration would carry the note of ironic ridicule. (Tabakowska in Müller and Fischer, 373).
Jacobus A. Naudé in his article ‘Iconicity in translation studies’ claims that the target text resembles the source text in a way but not in a strictly iconic way since linguistically and culturally there will always be differences. Therefore Naudé speaks of an indexical or symbolical relationship between the source and target texts rather than of a (fully) iconic one (cf. Naudé in Conradie et al. (eds), 2010, 387). Bearing in mind Naudé’s assumption, the question arises: to what extent is it possible to translate the iconic elements in such a way that both their form and meaning will be transferred maximally (entirely?) into the target text? The current chapter provides a descriptive summary of iconic elements. This summary is based on the overview presented by Max Nänny and Olga Fischer in their article ‘Iconicity: Literary Texts’ published in
Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics as well as on several dictionaries and
articles on the subject of iconicity. This descriptive summary will be used on the course of this research as a repertoire and a checklist on the quest for iconic elements in Cosmopolis. The descriptions serve as definitions of each iconic element and will be consulted in order to define and qualify a particular iconic element.
2.3 The iconic elements
Nänny and Fischer explain that all of the iconic signs are to be divided into three categories: icon, index and symbol. The first of the category, the icons (or iconic signs), is in turn divided into images, diagrams and metaphors. The three categories, icon, index and symbol, as the authors emphasize, are in practice not always easy to be distinguished from one another. A particular iconic element can simultaneously have an indexical as well as an iconic relation to its referent. Next to the division described above, all the iconic features can occur as exophoric iconicity (first-degree iconicity) and
endophoric iconicity (second-degree iconicity). Exophoric iconicity means
that an iconic element is miming an object as perceived (by the reader, hearer or author) in the (real, extern) world, while we speak of endophoric iconicity in cases when a sign mimes another sign within the text. The latter, endophoric iconicity, is seen as purely intralinguistic and means in practice a repetition of a sign.
2.4 Types of icons
As mentioned above, the iconicity of the icons (iconic signs) is based on resemblance between the icon (whether it is an image, a metaphor or a diagram) and the object as perceived in reality. The similarity can be somehow ‘obvious’ as in case of the onomatopoeic words or sound symbolism but can also occur on a more abstract level. Nänny and Fischer express after Pateman that there are transparent and translucent icons (Nänny and Fischer, 2006, 463). Transparent icons are immediately recognizable to the reader while transculent icons are not easily recognizable and ‘need more scrutiny and some imagination’.
2.4.1 Image (imagic icon)
Images, or imagic icons, is a term that indicates numerous iconic elements that will be presented in this section. The images are related to their referents by means of ‘natural‘ similarity. This similarity is based on oral, aural (acoustic) or visual characteristics (Nänny and Fischer, 2006,462).
2.4.1.1 Imagic iconicity on the acoustic (sound) level
On the acoustic level there are two iconic elements that Fischer and Nänny mention: onomatopoeic words and sound symbolism (the latter comes to expression through phonaesthemes). Onomatopoeic words and sound symbolism are not separate phenomena but form a continuum (Fischer and Nänny, 464). At the same time, both iconic features are ‘affected by the limitations of the phonological system of each individual language’ and can therefore be challenging for the translators of literary texts where the preservation of this element is of great importance.
2.4.1.1.a Onomatopoeia
Onomatepoeic words are words whose sound seems to express or reinforce their meaning (Beckson and Ganz, 186). Onomatopoeia are ‘complete acoustic signs’ (Nänny and Fischer, 2006,464). Words like ‘meow’ or ‘cuckoo‘ are both
2.4.1.1.b Sound Symbolism
Sound symbolism is a phenomenon that occurs through the presence of phonaesthemes. The phonaesthemes are ‘iconic phonemes or phoneme clusters within the word’. They can occur within the word (syllabically) or across the words (Nänny and Fischer, 2006,464).
2.4.1.2 Imagic iconicity on the visual level
On the visula level there are three iconic elements to be named that miught be carrying iconic meaning such as the use of alphabetic letters, typography and blanks.
2.4.1.2.a Alphabetic characters
Alphabetic characters because of their shape can be used intentionally by writers because they resemble the contours of the object they represent. For example, while writing about something round (the Earth, the Sun, the Colosseum) the author can choose to use words that contain many characters
o. This iconic intervention will only be seen as iconic when the presence of the
alphabetic letter stands out, that means when the amount of a particular character is much bigger in a certain part of the text than on the average. The accumulation of the letter can occur within a word, sentence or a larger fragment of a text and could be sometimes accompanied by the use of a different font.
2.4.1.2.b Typography (Pattern poems)
The typography is used in pattern poems to mime their content or express additional properties. This particular iconic element is less often present in prose but might be employed by prose authors in order to fulfill an iconic function.
2.4.1.2.c Blanks
Blanks are iconic in such a way that through absence of text and through empty space other things can be suggested such as silence, distance, space, passing time or a boundary between two groups, people or objects.
2.4.2 Diagram
As Fischer and Nänny explain, an ‘iconic diagram […] is an arrangement of signs none of which necessarily resembles its referent but whose realtionships to each other mirror the relationships of their referents’ (Nänny and Fischer, 2006,462). In this case iconicity exists in the position of the elements and their interrelations.
2.4.2.1 Iconic diagram on the sound level
Although rhythm and meter are most widely used in poetic texts, it is important to introduce these as iconic diagrams in this section. Indeed, poetry provides probably the most explicit examples of their iconic use, but there are ways for the authors writing prose to employ these diagrams too. Rhythm and meter, as Fischer and Nänny point out, could be used to express in an iconic way for example feelings and movements (Fischer and Nänny, 2006, 465).
2.4.2.1.a Rhythm
Rhythm is ‘in language, the sense of movement attributable to the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of prose or poetry or to the lenghts of sounds in a quantitative verse. (…) in prose or in free verse it is the effect of an arrangement of words more nearly approximating natural speech. A carefull writer arranges his rhythms so that they intensify the expression of what is said’ (Beckson and Ganz, 235).
2.4.2.1.b Meter
Meter is a rhythmic structure that is formed by the arrangement of he stressed and unsterssed syllables. ‘(…) the term meter refers to the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. The number of syllables in a line may be fixed while the number of stresses varies, or the stresses may be fixed with variation in the number of unstressed syllables’ (Beckson and Ganz, 159).
2.4.2.1.c Assonance
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds, according to Beckson and Ganz, mostly in stressed syllables. It occurs in words but corresponds with other words in a sentence or phrase. (Beckson and Ganz, 20)
2.4.2.1.d Rhyme
Rhyme can fulfill many different functions in a text, from a strictly esthetic one to more complex functions. The meaning of the rhyming words forces the reader to associate the two (or more) rhyming words as similar and therefore closely connected. While in some cases it wil seem ‘natural’ to the reader to see two rhyming words as connected both through rhyme and semantically, in other cases, where two words do rhyme but are semnatically far from each other the relationship and the smilarity will force the reader to make new ‘connections’. Through rhyme it is possible to create rhytm as Bronzwaer in his book Lessen in lyriek, explains: there is always rhythm where there is rhyme but it is not necessary to have rhyme in order to achieve rhythm in a poetic text (Bronzwaer, 16).
2.4.2.1.e Alliteration
The repetition of an initial consonant sound, usually at the beginning of the word, in a sequence of words occuring one after another in a sentence or across the sentences is called alliteration (Beckson and Ganz, 9).
2.4.2.1.f Phonetic metaphor
Rhyme, according to Fischer and Nänny, may also serve as phonetic metaphor linking one sign to another sign purely by sound and not semantically, so new kinds of connotation are imposed (violets-violence) (Fischer and Nänny, 2006, 466). The purpouse of deploying a phonetic metaphor depends on the author’s intention and has to be investigated separetly for each text.
2.4.2.1.g Variations in rhyme schemes
Variations in rhyme scheme may serve various iconic purpouses: symmetrical schemes could stand for embrace, frame or imprisonment while disruption by
non rhyme can stand for some kind of a change, solitariness or uniqueness as Fischer and Nänny suggest (Nänny and Fischer, 2006,466).
2.4.2.2 Iconic diagram on the visual level
Iconic diagrams on the visual level come to expression through lineation. Line breaks and stanza-breaks, as Fischer and Nänny mention, may be iconically motivated. The overall lineation may function as a diagrammatic icon of a speaker’s condition. The freedom of a poem gives best opportunity to play with the line lenghts and breaks more than in case of prose but lineation will also be looked at in the course of researching Cosmopolis.
2.4.2.2.a Lineation
The manipulation of lineation is used by poets (or writers) in order to achieve a certain effect. The lines may suggest for example size, distance or change. Gradually longer lines may be the icon of increase, or growth while gradually shorter lines could stand for decrease, decline, sucking, contracting or perhaps in some cases reverse (Nänny and Fischer, 2006,466).
2.4.2.2.b Line breaks
Line breaks together with line endings and the manipulation of them could be, according to Fischer and Nänny, used in order to communicate an extra meaning (Nänny and Fischer, 2006,467).
2.4.2.2.c Paragraph-break (stanza-break)
In poetry stanza-break, the blank space between stanzas, can be used by the author in order to mark hollowness or openness but also a barrier or separation (Nänny and Fischer, 2006, 467). It can also help to put emphasis on a particular line (or lines) that come after the stanza-break. In this reserach I will analyse the paragraph breaks.
2.4.2.3 Iconic diagram on the structural level: morphology
On the structural level there is a number of iconic elements that might carry iconic meaning such as reduplication, blending, paronomasia and repetition. 2.4.2.3.a Reduplication
Reduplication, the repeating of a syllable, syllables or a word, is used by writers to indicate for example repetition of an action, a frequentative sound or activity (murmur), plurality, intensity or continuity (Nänny and Fischer, 2006, 467).
2.4.2.3.b Blending
Blending is gluing two or three morhpemes into one word. Blending could be used in order to suggest simultainety or ‘oneness’, for example: silkhatted head (Nänny and Fischer, 2006, 467). It could also be used for humoristic purposes or to show a unique property of an object, person, situation etc.
2.4.2.3.c Paronomasia
Paronomasia is similarity in sound between etymologically unconnected words while the formal correspondence suggests a semantic connection. Similarily repetition of words by varying their inflexional morphemes: polyptoton, or repetition of words by varying in their derivational structure: paronymy can be used in iconic way. All these may serve the writer as tools to enrich the text (Nänny and Fischer, 2006, 467-468).
2.4.2.3.d Repetition
Repetition is used to reinforce the meaning of the word or to for example imitate the phenomenon of echo. Repetition of the words also reinforces the ideas of both continuity and similarity (Nänny and Fischer, 2006, 468) as well as helps to put emphasis.
2.4.2.4 Iconic diagram on the structural level: syntax
The way the sentences are built may as well be iconically motivated. The construction of the whole sentence or particular constructions used within the
sentences that are known to be possibly fulflling iconic functions will be explained in this section.
2.4.2.4.a Anaphora
Giving the repeated sign (word/structure) the same initial position. Anaphora helps the writer give more emphasis on a particular element. The purpose of the emphasis might for example be gaining visibility for an important element or an element that occupies the writer’s mind the most.
2.4.2.4.b Epistrophe
Giving the repeated sign (word/structure) the same final position. As in the case of anaphora the effect that an author is aiming at when using epistrophe depends on the nature of a particular tekst and author’s intention.
2.4.2.4.c Anadiplosis
When a repeated sign (word/structure) is given a clearly opposite position, it can be corresponding with the theme of the text to show for example a change, conflict or distance.
2.4.2.4.d Chronological order
Chronological order of the signs or events in a sentence or a novel is a natural form of iconicity because this is how things happen in time or how we understand events in terms of cause and effect. A change in the chronological order might be used iconically.
2.4.2.4.e Distance or proximity
Distance or proximity may be suggested by poets by sequencing the lines of their poems. However, also writers might use the same procedure. By putting two semantically or syntactically unrelated items next to each other or two semantically or syntactically connected items on the opposite extremes of a line (sentence) (Nänny and Fischer, 2006, 468), an extra meaning can be added to the text.
2.4.2.4.f Ellipsis
Ellipsis is a way of manipulating the syntax. It is leaving something out but from the context the reader can usually make up what is missing without the need of explicitly naming it in the text.
2.4.2.4.g (Syntactic) Parallelism
Syntactic parallelism is ‘the REPETITION of the same structural pattern: commonly between phrases or clauses’ (Wales, 302). The syntactic parallelism may serve different purpouses like showing boredom, lack of change and stasis.
2.4.2.4.h Asyndeton
Asyndeton is an abrupt sequence of unconnected phrases lacking the connector and divided by comma’s. May be used for example as an iconic suggestion of simultaneity or to suggest brief, movements as well as inner agitation (Nänny and Fischer, 2006, 469).
2.4.2.4.i Polysyndeton
Polysyndeton is a repeated use of a connector (and, and, and). May suggest weariness or something long drawn out (Nänny and Fischer, 2006, 469). 2.4.2.4.j Syntactic subordination
May serve as an icon of hierarchy, of narrative distinction between primary, secondary, tertiary matters (Nänny and Fischer, 2006, 469). It can also iconically show doing something by degrees or stand for events: things happening by degrees. It slows the narration down and/or gives extra emphasis on every phase of performed action.
2.4.2.4.k Transitivity
The degree of transitivity of a construction used may have an effect on the meaning of the text. Absence of finite verbs suggests statis. At the same time the use of nontransitive verbs may reflect nonfinality.
If no agent is mentioned, it might feel to the reader like suspension: the effect is given but the cause remains unknown. In general the animate subjects are
higly transitive while the inanimate subjects distance the reader from the text making him feel less involved (Nänny and Fischer, 2006, 469).
2.4.2.4.l Chiasmus
Chiasmus is a verbal figure of repetition whose second half inverts the order of elements in the first half (Nänny and Fischer, 2006, 469). Chiasmus may be seen as ‘a dynamic, circular sequence that returns to its beginning’ or ‘a sequence that inverts its direction’ or as ‘a static arrangement of components expressing symmetry, multiple bracketing or centring (…) of the inner elements by the outer ones’. Chiasmus as described above may occur on the level of a sentence but it can also occur on the level of a whole text. It is well possible to invent chiasmus on the level of words. For example if a character named Anna in the course of the book goes from situation/ state of mind/mood etc. a to b, possibly stays in that situation/ state of mind/mood for a while b, and than retires to the initial situation/ state of mind/mood a, her name, a-n-n-a, might might carry iconic meaning. Literature knows a translucent version of chiasmus, that is when items are not arranged in strictly reversed positions or there are synonyms or antonyms involved (Nänny and Fischer, 2006, 470). 2.4.2.4.m Pronoun
The use of pronouns can also serve iconic purposes. It can on one hand create a mysterious aura around the person that the narrator refers to. By not naming and/or describing the character but only refering to it by he or she (or it), this character seems indefinite and difficult to grasp. On the other hand, once the character is known to the reader and the narrator decides to shift to referring to the character as her or him it might reduce the distance and make the character feel more familiar.
2.4.2.4.n Juxtaposition
Words that stand close in the text may evoke an impression of closeness or connectedness in fiction- not only closeness in time, but also psychological or locative relatedness (Leech and Short, 239). This iconic element is corresponding strongly with phonetic metaphor (2.4.2.1.f.).
2.4.2.5 Iconic diagram on the semantic level
Nänny and Fischer note in their article that metaphor belongs in this very section. At the beginning of their article (Nänny and Fischer, 2006, 462) they state that metaphor alongside the icon and diagram is a separate iconic image. This reserach focuses on the imagic iconicity on the sound as well as on the visual level, iconic diagrams on sound; visual; structural (morphology and syntax) level and discourse and narrative level. Metaphors will not be analysed in this research.
2.4.2.6 The discourse and narrative level
Fischer and Nänny suggest that the literary text seen as a whole can in its totality also be an icon of its content (Nänny and Fischer, 2006, 470). The size of the book along with the certain type of frame given to the text by the choice of vocabualry and the combination of tenor of discourse with the theme of the situation presented in the literary work will be explained in this section.
2.4.2.6.a Size
To illustrate how a literary text as a whole may be an icon of what it is about, Fischer and Nänny name the size of Melville’s Moby Dick to be iconic to the subject of the book: a whale.
2.4.2.6.b Framing
Another iconic device that can be used on the narrative level is framing. Framing is giving the text a certain ‘frame’ or aura in order to create specific connotations by the readers/hearers and create a desired effect. An example might be an advertisement text for a slimming pill that imitates a scientific article in its structure, word use, length and/or reasoning.
2.4.2.6.c Frame breaking
Frame breaking signifies not meaning the politeness one expresses. It might be more problematic to trace this iconic element in written prose and translate it correctly in the target text while
2.4.2.6.d Metonymy/metonymic shift
Metonymy is simply speaking making yourself big or small through the choice of words. This iconic element stands close to the notion of tenor. Katie Wales explaines that tenor ‘involves the relationships between participants in the situation, their ROLES and status’ and that it ‘will affect the kind of language chosen (…)’ (Wales, 417). An example of a metonymic shift could be a president of a country saying about himself/herself to be ‘in service of the nation’, ‘a servant of the state’.
2.4.2.6.e Narrative representation of speech and point of view
The use of indirect speech is less iconic than free indirect speech and the most iconic is of course the use of written dialogue. Also the interior monologue and digressions are mimetic to the psychological reality of a human being (the narrator) (Nänny and Fischer, 2006, 471).
2.4.4 Mise-en-abyme
Mise-en-abyme is a phenomenon that is easier to explain when pictured by two mirrors placed in front of each other, where each of the two mirrors is mirroring the ‘content’ of the opposite mirror. In literary terms the mise-en-abyme is said to be ‘an internal reduplication of a literary work or part of a work’ (Baldick, 2004, 158). Baldick explains that ‘[the] effect of mise-en-abyme (…) suggests an infinite regress, i.e. an endless succession of internal duplications’. Depending on the point of view, one can see mise-en-abyme as the infinite regress or the infinite expanding (White, 31). White in his article The semiotics
of the abyme points at an important feature in case of the
mise-en-abyme, one that differentiates it from reduplication, namely the internal position of that which is reproduced; the ‘reproduction’ always lays within (White, 34). An example of a mise-en-abyme is the picture that is shown on on the package of Droste’s cacao powder.
3 Analysis
The purpose of this research is to investigate iconicity in translation. The object of the analysis is Cosmopolis and its two translations: the Dutch and the Polish, respectively by Harry Pallemans and Robert Sudół. Harry Pallemans is not only a translator but also an author and since 1982 he published poems, short stories and a novel. Pallemans translates next to DeLillo also works of Alain de Botton and V.S. Naipaul. Robert Sudół is a Polish translator of authors such as Ian McEwan, Cormac McCarthy and Don DeLillo. His translation of McCarthy’s novel Blood Meridian was awarded in Poland with a prize Warszawska Premiera Literacka. The translations of these two experienced and approved translators will be examined on the course of this research. As mentioned before translating iconicity rests upon noticing the similarity. Perceiving two (or more) objects as similar or discovering similarities between an iconic element and what it refers to is a question of interpretation. The interpretation in turn is influenced by culture, ideologies, attitudes, beliefs and values (cf. Tabakowska, 2003, 362-363). Examining two translations from different cultures might give insight into the troubles with translating in general but in particular of translating iconcity in prose.
3.1 Research method
The method used in this research is based on the studies found in literature considering iconicity in literary texts. Many papers and books describing iconicity in literature present iconic elements by characterizing it and demonstrating an analysis of a fragment of a literary text. The length and range of the fragment varies according to type of iconic element and the specific interests of the paper. In order to scrutinize iconicity in translation, Cosmopolis will be examined entirely for the presence of the following iconic elements: imagic icons and diagrams on acoustic-; visual-; structural-; discourse-; and narrative levels. The analysis will be presented per iconic element and will be accompanied by examples and discussion of its translations into Dutch and Polish. The iconic elements will be pointed out and classified on the hand of
the definitions presented in Chapter 2. The aim of the comparison between the original and the translation is to trace whether the iconic element was discovered by the translator and reproduced in translation in such a way that the iconic function is preserved. If this is the case I will try to point out how the translators achieved preserving the iconicity. Other questions I will bear in mind while performing the analysis are: Is it possible to translate every iconic element into the Dutch and Polish target texts? Is the function of translated iconic elements preserved? If an iconic element is not translated, what could possibly be the reason for this? Are there any differences in the way the Dutch and Polish translator’s dealt with translating a given iconic element? Is there a regularity to be found? What are the outstanding differences between the Dutch and Polish transations of the iocnic elements?
3.2 Plot of the book
In order for the reader of this paper to be able to understand the context of each individual iconic element, dialogue or fragment, this section provides a short summary of the novel. The reader of Cosmopolis accompanies Eric Packer on one day in April in the year 2000. One morning Eric Packer starts his ‘usual’ day after not being able to sleep at night. By the age of 27 Eric became a billionare by speculating with currencies. On that particular day Eric, first not knowing what he wants to do, decides that he will get a haircut at a simple hairdresser’s on the other side of Manhattan where his father used to take Eric when he was a child. Accompanied by his bodyguards he travels through Manhattan in a white stretch limousine. The journey is difficult because of three main reasons: the president of United States is visiting New York, there is a protest of an anti-capitalism group and a funeral of a famous rap artist is taking place. The head of his security, Torval, received information about a credible threat: somebody called the firm and threatened to kill Eric Packer. As the day unfolds and Eric and his bodyguards are trying to get to the hairdresser’s, Eric meets different people of which some come inside his comfortable limousine and to meet the others he has to get out of the car. One of the characters he always meets outside his limousine is his wife, Elise
clear from their conversations that they got married not out of love but to connect the fortunes they both own. In fact they hardly know each other and after being married for three weeks it seems like they haven’t even consumed their marriage yet. Eric is not easily bothered by emotions and he handles situations and people with cold calculation. In the novel he is pictured as a person experiencing world and responding to it through bodily cravings and needs. He enjoys the status of the wealthiest person in New York and the isolation that his (almost) soundproof limousine provides him with. But throughout the novel the readers witness a change of Eric’s attitude. There is a clear shift from Eric’s focus on bodily needs towards a will to experience real relationship with another human being (marriage, friendship, conflict with his assasin) and becoming ready to face his own death. Being unable to predict the course of the yen and facing the loss of all his capital, Eric decides to meet the man who wants to kill him and that confrontation will result with Eric being shot in the head. At the end of Part One Eric stands outside his car in the rain and feels that the fact that there is someone out there wanting to kill him together with the fact that his fortune is melting down is at that particular moment exactly right. Suddenly he feels that everything fell into place and decides that this is the moment to start a new life. Part Two opens with Eric articulating his need to experience something new and unknown to him, something extreme. He asks his female bodyguard to shoot at him with all the volts of her stun gun. When in his limousine again he sees his wife smoking a cigarette on an intermission in front of a theatre. A little awkwardly he tries to have a conversation with her during dinner at a restaurant. He doubts and therefore asks Elise, his wife, if that is the way normal people talk to each other. She asks in reply: ‘How would I know?’ After confessing that all his fortune is lost, Elise offers financial help but announces that their marriage is over. When Eric is alone again he steals his wife’s fortune and sends it to various bank accounts and by that makes it disappear. From that point in the novel Eric’s actions become more and more reckless. Most of the time he is outside of his limousine. In order to remove the last obstacle between him and his assassin, Eric shoots Torval, the head of his security. He finally arrives at the hairdresser’s and gets what he wanted, the haircut, but leaves before the haircut is finished. The barber hands him his own revolver so that he can
protect himself from the assassin now that there aren’t any bodyguards left. Eric meets his wife for the last time in a somewhat surreal situation where numerous naked people lay on the street. Eric takes his clothes off and lies down with them. By coincidence he learns that the woman lying next to him is Elise. The group of naked people of all ages and races is there for a shooting of a movie scene. After the shooting is over Eric finally gets to make love to his wife. When the limousine is parked in the garage and Eric is on the street all by himself someone without warning fires at him. He enters the building where the shots came from and meets his assassin: Benno Levin. While inside the building Eric talks to his assassin and learns that Benno’s actual name is Richard Sheets and that he is his former employee. In a flash of foreseeing Eric sees on the display of his watch that he will die but the novel ends with a scene where Eric is waiting for the shot to come from Benno’s gun.
3.3 A closer look at Cosmopolis
This section provides a description and analysis of Cosmopolis’ structure as well as an analysis of the cover and the analysis of the imagic icons and diagrams on acoustic-; visual-; structural- and discourse and narrative level in
Cosmopolis.
3.3.1 The cover
The covers of the English, Dutch and Polish editions of Cosmopolis are all provided with an image (illustration or photograph). The cover of the English edition is a simple graphic illustration showing half a car on a black background. A thick purple arrow pointing down marks the contour of the car. On the cover of the Dutch edition of the book there is a photograph of the Empire State Building seen from the street level. The image has been edited in such a way that it looks as if the Empire State Building is being looked at through a window on a rainy day: there are raindrops blurring the view. On the cover of the Polish edition of the book there is a photograph originating from the novel’s film adaptation. The photograph shows Eric (played by Robert
few elements are visible: a huge figure of a rat that is carried by the protesters, a yellow cab and tall office buildings. What all these covers have in common is that they are containing only few elements and a limited number of colours: mostly black, white, grey, blue and purple. Piotr Sadowski in his article The
iconic indexicality of photography points out the fact that a photograph is both
iconically and indexically related to its referent and therefore a photograph is an iconic index (Sadowski, 356). Sadowski states that the photograph is connected to the object (person, situation etc.) in a more truthfull way than e.g. a painting since the camera requires presence of the object in the moment of taking the picture. In case of a photograph placed on a book cover there is a double indexical and iconic relationship. This double relationship between the content of the book and the illustration used lies in the fact that the photograph refers to the object photographed but also to the content of the book. In case of the three covers of Cosmopolis they all in a different way refer to the novel. The English cover shows the car and the downward pointing arrow (as if in a chart) that stand for the two very important elements in the novel: the currency market and Eric’s limousine. The Dutch cover shows the Empire State Building as a reference to New York and the window sprinkled with raindrops referring to an important moment at the beginning of Part Two. The Polish cover refers to the content of the book by showing the protagonist in his limousine while through the window we see the protesters, the rat (as symbol of the riot) and the tall buildings and a yellow cab as symbol of New York. The photograph used for the cover of the Polish edition is an index of the novel by DeLillo but also to the movie by David Cronenberg. What is noteworthy is that the Dutch and Polish editions refer to the city where the novel takes place, New York, while the English edition refers more directly to the plot of the story and less to where it’s taking place. The three covers emphasize different aspects of the novel. Figure 1 shows all three covers of the used editions of DeLillo’s Cosmopolis.
Figure 1. Cosmopolis’ covers; from left English, Dutch and Polish.
3.3.2 The preliminaries
The preliminaries in the English version contain two pages providing general information about Don DeLillo’s literary work. The following pages are: title page, colophon, dedication, epigraph and half title. Figure 2 shows the order and content of the preliminaries of the English version of Cosmopolis. In both the Dutch and Polish translations the order of the elements of the preliminaries is changed. The half title comes at the very beginning of the book before the title page, colophon, dedication and epigraph and in case of the Dutch issue there is also a list of other works by DeLillo published by Anthos publishing house. Figures 3 and 4 illustrate the order of the preliminaries in the Dutch and Polish translations. The epigraph in Cosmopolis originates from a poem by the Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert, Raport z oblężonego miasta (Report from the
Besieged City). The line chosen by DeLillo as epigraph, a rat became the unit of currency, is cited by Eric Packer in the novel and triggers a discussion with
one of his employees as well as refers to rats that are present in the novel in various forms and on various moments.
COSMOPOLIS (ENGLISH) CONTENT
Information page (About Don DeLillo’s writing) Information page (Also by Don DeLillo) Title page (Title, author and publisher) Colophon (information from the publisher)
Dedication TO PAUL AUSTER
Epigraph a rat became the unit of currency Zbigniew Herbert
Half title COSMOPOLIS
First page of the novel IN THE YEAR 2000 A DAY IN APRIL Figure 2. Preliminaries in the English version of Cosmopolis.
COSMOPOLIS (DUTCH) CONTENT
Half title KOSMOPOLIS
Information page (Other books by DeLillo) Title page (Title, author and publisher) Colophon (information from the publisher)
Dedication TO PAUL AUSTER
Epigraph a rat became the unit of currency Zbigniew Herbert
First page of the novel IN HET JAAR 2000 EEN DAG IN APRIL Figure 3. Preliminaries in the Dutch version of Cosmopolis.
KOSMOPOLIS (POLISH) CONTENT
Half title COSMOPOLIS
Title page (Title, author and publisher) Colophon (information from the publisher)
Dedication Dla Paula Austera
Epigraph Jednostką obiegową stał się szczur ZBIGNIEW HERBERT
First page of the novel ROK 2000
Jeden dzień w kwietniu Figure 4. Preliminaries in the Polish version of Cosmopolis.
3.3.3 The construction of Cosmopolis
The novel Cosmopolis is organized in the following way: the whole book is divided into Part One and Part Two. Each of these parts is further divided into three sections; Part One consists of 1 and 2. Between the 1 and 2 a short excerpt from the diary titled ‘The Confessions of Benno Levin: NIGHT’ is placed. Part Two of the novel consists of 3 and 4 and between these parts
again there is an excerpt of diary titled ‘The Confessions of Benno Levin: MORNING’. Figure 5 illustrates the division of the novel.
PART ONE PART TWO
1 The Confessions of Benno Levin NIGHT 2 3 The Confessions of Benno Levin MORNING 4
Figure 5. The construction of Cosmopolis.
In both the Dutch and Polish translations the order of these parts of the novel are unchanged.
3.4 Iconicity in Cosmopolis
In this section I will present the analysis of a number of outstanding examples of iconicity found in the novel Cosmopolis. With reference to these examples I will analyse the Dutch and Polish translations of these elements.
3.4.1 Imagic iconicity on the sound level
The sound level of the prose text can contain such iconic elements as onomatopoeia or soud symbolism which fulfil a certain acoustic function.
3.4.1.1 Onomatopoeia
An example of onomatopoeia in Cosmopolis is to be found on page 172: The lights came on, dead ahead, flaring with a crack and whoosh, great carbon-arc floodlights that were set on tripods and rigged to lamposts. (Cosmopolis, 172).
The words ‘crack’ and ‘whoosh’ imitate the sound of turning the lamps on. The iconic function of these words is thus referring to the sound. Both, Polish and Dutch translations of the iconic elements are also onomatopoeic words and the iconic function of these elements in the text is preserved. This however could not even be translated without reproducing the onomatopoeic effect since these words are also fulfilling this function in Dutch and Polish. An overview of the original onomatopoeic elements and their translations are given in the
ENGLISH DUTCH TRANSLATION (p. 144)
crack knal
whoosh sis
Figure 6. Onomatopoeia (p. 172) in Dutch translation
ENGLISH POLISH TRANSLATION (p. 133)
crack (z) trzaskiem
whoosh (z) szumem
Figure 7. Onomatopoeia (p. 172) in Polish translation.
3.4.1.2 Sound symbolism
An example of sound symbolism is to be found on the page 127 of
Cosmopolis:
This was their music, loud, bland, bloodless and controlled, and he was beginning to like it. (Cosmopolis, 127).
This fragment describes a scene on a party and the description of the electronic music and it contains the following words: ‘loud’, ‘bland’, ‘bloodless’ and ‘controlled’ used one after another in the text. This fragment accumulates the phonemes ‘ld’ (loud, controlled), ‘bl’ (bland, bloodless), ‘dl’ (bloodless) which in my opinion function as imitating the repetitive and pulsating sound of the music. In both translations the sound symbolism is not entirely preserved. In the Dutch translation only the word ‘bloedloos’ reproduces to some extent the original sound symbolism but perhaps this reproduction is accidental. In the Polish translation the phonemes in the first two words ‘gł’ (głośna) and ‘dł’ (mdła) are close to the sound symbolism from the original text. However the translation of the following two words does not continue to reproduce the sound symbolism. It seems that the translators were not aware of the sound symbolism of this fragment and therefore by translating literally lost the iconic element in the translation. Figures 8 and 9 give the Dutch and Polish translations of the iconic elements.
