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LORIAN
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FLORIANRENEBLOM
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Supervisor: dr. E.R.G. Metz 30 June 2017
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I hereby confirm that I have read and understood the UvA Regulations on Fraud and Plagiarism. I am aware that failure to act in accordance with these regulations can result in severe penalties. I confirm that this thesis is entirely my own work and that contributions from other sources are fully
acknowledged.
ABSTRACT
This thesis analyses three translations of the first collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, called The
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892), ranging from 1921 to 2014. Theories and concepts of
scholars such as Vinay & Darbelnet and Catford are used to categorise and identify notable translational choices. None of the translations appears to have made attempts at modernisation of Sherlock Holmes, but instead remained as faithful as possible. The oldest translation is a very sloppy one, and the second one feels the most natural. Further research would be required to determine how feasible it is for future translations to remain faithful and yet be accessible to a contemporary reading audience.
TABLEOF CONTENTS
SECTION PAGE
1. INTRODUCTION...4
2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK...7
Practical Concepts and Theories in Translation Studies...7
Vinay & Darbelnet...7
Catford...9
Nida, Newmark and Koller...11
Theories and Concepts of Retranslation...12
Retranslation Hypothesis...12
Ageing...13
Detective Fiction Versus Mystery Fiction...15
Modern Media...17
3. THE ORIGINAL TEXT...19
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle...19
The Character Sherlock...20
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)...23
4. ANALYSES...25
Methodology...25
Paratext...26
De Avonturen van Sherlock Holmes (2014)...26
De Avonturen van Sherlock Holmes (1976)...29
De Avonturen van Sherlock Holmes (1921)...31
Lexicon in “The Man with the Twisted Lip”...33
De Avonturen van Sherlock Holmes (2014)...33
De Avonturen van Sherlock Holmes (1976)...35
De Avonturen van Sherlock Holmes (1921)...36
Contrastive Analysis...38
5. DISCUSSION...44
1. INTRODUCTION
When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. This maxim is the basis on which he would be able to tell your age, your line of work, the number and kind of pets you own, which train you took, whether you like to drink or smoke, whether you have been in the army and in which war you served, how recently you have had an affair—or two— and how long ago your spouse has died. And all this by merely giving you a good look. He would notice, for example, that the ring of the girl next to him on the train forms a stark contrast to the rest of her clothing; she dresses plainly, with heelless sneakers, blue jeans without any fashionable rips and tears, a grey shirt with no text on it and no accessories in her dark blonde hair. Her shirt is not quite low-cut, yet it leaves enough naked skin to show the absence of any necklaces. No bracelets on her wrists either. There is not much make-up on her face, which has some small pimples on it— all clearly indicating she does not care much about appearance. The ring, however, is made of gold (23 or 24-karat by the look of it) and is adorned by a row of remarkably shining gems that can only be diamonds or moissanite, probably the latter. Judging by the subtle tanning mark just above the ring, she does not often remove the piece of jewellery. As it is on the index finger, it cannot be an engagement or wedding ring. Conclusion: the ring must be of personal, emotional value to the girl, given by or inherited from someone dear to her. It is definitely a feminine ring, and the fact that the girl is casually swiping boys to the left on her phone tells us that she is most likely not a lesbian. The ring, which must have belonged to some other female before, does have a slightly faded shine and even shows signs of previous repairs. It is an old ring, then, so it was most likely in possession of the girl's mother or grandmother before her. But if it had been her grandmother's, it must have been a wedding ring—jewellery used to be more expensive than it is now, relatively speaking—and in those days a single diamond would have been the default style for that kind of ring. Since this is an eternity ring, as they are called, the final conclusion to be made is that the mother of the girl, whose ring it originally must have been, must have passed away. What other reason would there be for a woman to give away a ring that symbolises never-ending love between partners? An entire analysis of a girl's personal history, all by giving her a good look.
November this year the literary character of Sherlock Holmes is turning 130 years old. Between his first-ever appearance in Beeton’s Christmas Annual paperback magazine in 1887 and his last (to date) in the CBS series Elementary this May, the differences are phenomenal. Not only has he been transported to the 21st century American society, but he has also been forced to leave his
beloved 221B Baker Street in London for a Manhattan apartment and swap his sidekick John for a Joan Watson. He no longer makes use of telegrams and knowledge of the train schedule of London,
but instead texts people from his mobile phone and looks on the internet for strange correlations between events.
It is not the first time the originally 19th century detective was modernised; apart from the
first few of the fourteen Sherlock Holmes films starring Basil Rathbone, other adaptations always aimed to have a setting contemporaneous with the films’ release. If adaptations and reboots of Sherlock Holmes keep modernising him and transporting him to different times, this must pose a challenge for translators whose aim is to do the same thing. To make the 19th century Holmes fit a
1970s novel would involve the application of rather different strategies and making other choices than when it is a translation released in 2014. The world has changed in those 40 years: global politics are different; countless new technologies have been invented; values and norms of societies have shifted more than once; media and popular culture have explored new directions and have a much larger audience to which to cater. Does this affect translations of the aged detective?
This paper considers three different Dutch translations of the famous short story collection titled The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, published in 1892. The first translation was written around 1921 by an unknown translator, the second translation was written mostly by Simon Vestdijk in 1946, and the third translation was made by Gert van Santen and Fanneke Cnossen in 2014. The aim is to analyse all translated texts closely and find out how they differ, and to subsequently explain those differences using relevant literature and comparisons to broader trends in the media industries.
There has not been much research on this specific subject: many a scholar has taken it upon themselves to write about the flaws in Sherlock Holmes’ use of forensic sciences, including profound descriptions of chemistry and biology; others have compared the famous detective to a plethora of other literary characters; finally, there are the inevitable papers on feminism and/or racism in Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories; the only studies with regard to the translation of Sherlock Holmes stories, compare the source texts to their Chinese counterparts (Ping; Seago). I was unable to find any paper or article which merely mentioned Dutch translations of the detective, let alone one that elaborates on their inherent difficulties and problems.
Firstly, I will consider and explain relevant literature in the chapter “Theoretical Framework”. The following chapter, “Original Text”, will encompass everything about The
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, its writer, and its conception. In the next chapter, called
“Analyses”, I will carry out the actual analysis of the three translations after having explained my methodology. This chapter is the main part of this thesis. The last chapter is called “Discussion” and will involve the summary and consideration of all my findings from the previous chapter.
when I’m referring to them instead of to the word(s) with their dictionary meaning. I will also make use of the following acronyms and abbreviations:
SL = Source Language ST = Source Text TL = Target Language TT = Target Text
2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1 Practical Concepts and Theories in Translation Studies
Among other literature, I will make extensive use of the theories put forward by Vinay and Darbelnet on translation analysis, as well as Catford’s theory of translation shifts. These theories have been among the most dominating notions within the domain of translation analysis since they first received recognition. They consist of rather tangible, concrete ways to tackle the analysis of a translation, which will prove useful in this thesis. I will explain their most important features and how those will be applied in my analysis of the Sherlock Holmes translations below.
2 .1.1 Vinay & Darbelnet
Their 1958 book, translated into English in 1995 and titled Comparative Stylistics of French and
English: A Methodology for Translation, is one of the most renowned pieces of literature in the field
of Translation Studies. The approach put forward in it has had a wide impact on the way translations could be structurally analysed. They devote part of their first chapter to “a methodology for translation”, in which they describe, among other things, “methods for translation” (30). In this segment of the book, Vinay and Darbelnet discern two terms that describe general and specific tactics used by the translator: strategy and procedure, respectively. They start off by explaining how there are only “two methods of translating, namely direct, or literal translation and oblique translation” (31). When, they argue, it is not possible to transpose something into the TL because of “structural or metalinguistic differences”, the translator has need of, what they call, “oblique translation methods” (31). The ‘gaps’ in the TL that need to be overcome, they refer to as “lacunae”, plural of lacuna (31). Vinay and Darbelnet claim that there are seven procedures a translator can use to transpose difficult pieces of the SL into a TL. Three of them are direct, and the other four are oblique.
The direct translation methods are Borrowing, Calque and Literal Translation. The first is the most straightforward: it involves copying a word from the SL into the TL. This is mostly done to add “flavour” to the translation, but at times words get a status of their own, e.g. words such as ‘menu’, ‘hangar’ and ‘déjà vu’ (32). Calque is highly similar to borrowing, but it involves an expression or construction from the SL that is literally translated into the TL (33). The third one, Literal Translation, hardly needs explanation: it is the direct transfer of text, though still taking into account grammar and proper lexicon (34). One important remark Vinay and Darbelnet make, is that this procedure is mostly used between languages belonging to the same family. Dutch and English can be considered part of the West Germanic language family, for example. Of vital importance, the
authors note, is to be on guard for False Friends, where seemingly similar words do not have the same meaning in SL and TL—using Literal Translation, Borrowing and especially Calque wrongly because the semantics have changed between the languages, is a common mistake.
The oblique translation methods are Transposition, Modulation, Équivalence and Adaptation. The first one, Transposition, involves the use of a (syntactic) construction in the translation that is different from its counterpart in the source text, because in the process of translating a word class was changed. This may sound complicated, but a straightforward example given by the authors shows the concept: 'dès son lever' in French, which literally means 'upon his rising', should be translated into English with 'as he gets up'. Vinay & Darbelnet dub this an obligatory transposition, as opposed to an optional transposition—two more terms that are described which together form “one further important parameter”. Servitude is another word for obligatory or fixed transpositions and modulations, and Option refers to non-obligatory changes “that may be due to the translator's preference or style” (Munday 91). An example of the latter would be translating 'après son retour' with 'after he comes back' instead of the more literal 'after his return' (36).
About Modulation, Vinay & Darbelnet say that it is used mainly when although a literal or even transposed translation would “[result] in a grammatically correct utterance, it is considered unsuitable, unidiomatic or awkward” in the target language (36). As Munday puts it: Modulation “changes the semantics and point of view in the SL” (88). An example that is given in Vinay & Darbelnet is the proper translation of 'the time when' into French with 'le moment où', which would literally translate as ‘the time where’, because that is simply the most natural way of saying it in French. As with Transposition, there are obligatory and optional kinds of Modulation too (37).
Équivalence is a complicated term within Translation Studies, as it has been used to express subtly different concepts. Vinay & Darbelnet use the term, with an e-acute, to mean cases in which not just a word class or some of the words in an utterance are changed, but when “completely different stylistic and structural methods” are used (38). Expletives are an excellent example provided by the authors, which tend to be different for each language. Idioms, clichés, proverbs and nominal or adjectival phrases are also mentioned.
The last procedure is Adaptation, with which “we reach the extreme limit of translation: it is used in those cases where the type of situation being referred to by the SL message is unknown in the TL culture” (39). Vinay & Darbelnet use the term “situational equivalence” to further clarify the procedure, and state that it is a well-known procedure amongst interpreters. Film and book titles are often Adaptations, as are descriptions of very culture-bound habits and customs. The example given is that of a father kissing his daughter on the mouth, which is acceptable in England but is unheard
of in France; the translation of a sentence describing this action, unless it is a vital part of the story, should thus involve Adaptation as not to be highly obtrusive to the French reader (39).
Vinay and Darbelnet devote a few paragraphs to the application of the seven procedures in general, noting as well that they are all frequently found and used in the rest of their book, which focusses on an analysis of differences in French and English stylistics. They emphasise that the use of procedures for one word, phrase or sentence is not limited to one: there can be a “whole complex of methods” (40). It is essential to understand that all of the aforementioned procedures operate on different 'levels', is the authors’ claim, namely (i) the lexicon, (ii) the syntactic structure and (iii) the message (27-30).
In addition to the procedures mentioned before, several other techniques are simplified by Vinay & Darbelnet for the translator to make use of. They will not be explained in detail here, but are listed below with a short explanation of their nature. Firstly there are Amplification and Economy, where the TT uses more and less words respectively. They are slightly different from Explicitation, where there is extra information in the TT which was implicit before. Often, it is used in cases of Loss (or Gain), as Compensation. Loss occurs frequently when Generalisation is employed, which is the use of a more general term (e.g. machine) for something specific (e.g. computer).
The concepts in Vinay & Darbelnet are a very tangible tool for me to use in my analysis of the three translations. They provide me with the possibility of expressing in rather concrete terms what choices and decisions were made by the translators, and how these differ between the texts. In the Analysis, I will look for instances of all the mentioned procedures. In the discussion of this thesis I will make certain claims about the intentions behind the translators' choices based on the procedures they used.
2.1.2 Catford
In 1965, J.C. Catford published a book titled A Linguistic Theory of Translation, which is based on lectures he had given at Edinburgh University. In the preface he explains that his aim is to determine “what translation is” (vii). The most relevant chapter of the book is, eponymously, about Translation Shifts. It is first of all, however, important to be familiar with the notions ‘textual equivalence’ and ‘formal correspondence’. Catford uses these two terms to describe “particular ST-TT” pairs and “a more general system-based concept between a pair of languages” respectively (Munday 93). Especially the latter is important to Catford, as he frequently emphasises that identifying shifts can only happen on the assumption that there is formal correspondence between two languages to begin with. Translation Shifts, then, are those instances where the translator
departs “from formal correspondence in the process of going from the SL to the TL” (Catford 73). He further distinguishes two different types of shifts, namely ‘level shifts’, which refers to cases in which something is expressed by lexis in either language and by grammar in the other or vice versa, and ‘category shifts’, which consist of four different kinds: structural, class, intra-system and unit shifts (or rank shifts).
Structural shifts are mainly due to differences in grammatical structure. An example from Munday (93) is the word order in English versus that in Spanish in the sentence 'I like jazz music', which takes a subject pronoun + verb + direct object form, but is translated with 'me gusta el jazz', which has an indirect object pronoun + verb + subject structure.
Catford provides Halliday's definition of 'class': “that grouping of members of a given unit which is defined by operation in the structure of the unit next above” (78). He then states that Class-shifts are most easily recognisable in translations of adjectives and adjectival phrases between English and French, because in the former adjectives occur mostly before the noun, whereas in the latter they generally come after the noun, e.g. 'a white house' translates as 'une maison blanche'. Although 'white' and 'blanche' have complete textual equivalence in this context, the function they have within the clause is slightly different, namely 'modifier' versus 'qualifier'. Catford uses a second example that shows more clearly how those functions can differ: 'a medical student' translates as 'un étudiant en médecine'. In this example, the simple adjective 'medical' has as its lexical equivalence the noun 'médecine' (79).
Intra-system shifts are those that occur when the SL and the TL “possess systems which approximately correspond formally as to their constitution, but when translation involves selection of a non-corresponding term in the TL-system” (80). The best example Catford provides is the translation of articles between French and English. The two languages have arguably formally corresponding systems, each containing four types of articles: zero, definite, indefinite and partitive. The French articles 'le', 'un' and 'du', for example, have the English counterparts 'the', 'a/an' and 'some/any' respectively. However, statistics show that a translation of 'du' is most often not present in English translations; although there are formally corresponding systems, it would seem that in this case they are flouted in translation. Or, as Catford puts it: “translation equivalence does not entirely match formal correspondence” (82).
Unit shifts can also be called Rank shifts, because it has to do with the 'rank' or hierarchy of linguistic units in a sentence. Examples of Unit shifts, then, are when an utterance in the form of a clause in the SL is translated in the form of an entire sentence, or a mere single word in the TL—the utterance has changed in 'rank'.
and categorising translation choices, albeit more specifically. The use of translations shifts truly indicates linguistic (in)competence in a language and shows to what extent a translator intends to retain the ST syntax and structure. In the Analysis, I will look for translations shifts throughout the texts.
2.1.3 Nida, Newmark and Koller
A relevant subject in Translation Studies for this thesis is that of equivalence, which, as briefly mentioned before, is a term with many definitions. Nida was among the first to address the issue of words and their translations not having the exact same meaning. In his 1964 book he broke down the meaning which a word has into three different kinds: linguistic meaning, which is the contextual meaning of a word within the clause or sentence, referential meaning, which is the 'dictionary' definition of a word, and emotive or connotative meaning, which, self-evidently, is the associations a word calls to mind (Munday 64-5). Nida then goes on to elaborate upon his view on equivalence, of which he claims there are two types, namely 'formal' and 'dynamic'. Formal equivalence is “keenly oriented towards the ST structure” and is concerned that the message in the translation should “match as closely as possible the different elements in the source language” (Munday 66). Dynamic equivalence, on the other hand, is based on “equivalent effect”, which states that it is the relationship between ST and ST-readers that should be substantially the same as that between TT and TT-readers. The aim of dynamic equivalence is then to achieve the same “response” a translation would get from its readers as the original text would from its respective readers. Newmark argues, however, that the principle of equivalent effect does not always hold: a modern Dutch translation of Shakespeare, for example, could never hope to or presume to, or even know how to elicit a similar response as the original. Newmark's semantic translation has similarities with literal translation, although in contrast to the latter, the former “'respects context', interprets and even explains” (Munday 70).
One final important piece on the subject is that of Koller, who differentiates the terms 'equivalence' and 'correspondence' rather clearly. Correspondence, according to him, falls within the domain of De Saussure's langue, or the formal knowledge people have of a language, its rules and constrictions. Equivalence, in contrast, pertains to De Saussure's concept of parole, or the way language is used by people. In order to be able what qualifies as equivalent, however, Koller lists five types of equivalence relations: 'denotative equivalence', which is about extralinguistic context, 'connotative equivalence', which is about lexical choices and near-synonyms (stylistics), 'text-normative equivalence', which is about text types, 'pragmatic equivalence', which is basically Nida's dynamic equivalence, and 'formal equivalence', which is about form and aesthetics and not at all
similar to Nida's formal equivalence (Munday 73-4).
Discussion about equivalence in the three translations will mainly be of importance in the “Discussion” chapter, where I will talk about the effect and consequences the translations ultimately accomplished and caused.
2.2 Theories and Concepts of Retranslation
Since all three editions are essentially retranslations—the first translation of The Adventures having appeared back in 1893—it is vital to understand what implications this might carry. Literary retranslation is commonly regarded in a positive way, as it would lead to “diversity” and broadening of the “interpretations of the source text” (Tahir Gürçağlar 233).
2.2.1 Retranslation Hypothesis
The first thing to mention in the context of theories on retranslation, is the so-called ‘retranslation hypothesis’, first formulated by Antoine Berman, who claimed that “translation is an 'incomplete' act” that can only “strive for completion through retranslations” (Tahir Gürçağlar 233). In a broader sense, he argued that first translations tend to stray further away from the source text, i.e. are more localising, than subsequent translations. With localisation, I mean the activity of adapting a text to norms and conventions of the language and culture it is being translated into. The Encyclopedia words it as first retranslations naturalising foreign works, “by a concern for higher levels of readability”. The underlying cause for subsequent translations paying more attention to the nature of the source text, then, would be the security of knowing for almost certain that the target audience will accept a second translation based on the acceptance of the first translation. Retranslators are thus less concerned with whether their product will be successful and can place more focus on conveying what the original text constitutes. The Encyclopedia mentions that traditional views regarding the subject that were generally held, have been challenged in the previous decade. It is now understood that retranslation is a highly complex practice and should be considered within “a broader discussion of historical context, norms, ideology, the translator's agency and intertextuality” (233). The critique a number of scholars had on the retranslation hypothesis, is that it assumed linear progress over time, which implies a rather negative view on what first translations constitute. Instead, they argue, an approach to retranslation should foreground “novelty”. Rather than focussing on the negative causes and effects, Françoise Massardier-Kenney, for example, attempts to “invert this paradigm of lack” and argues that retranslation “matters because it actualizes the potential contained in a literary text” (73). She argues that retranslations are not a mark of the deficient nature of previous translations, but that they are rather a “necessary condition” for the
original text to survive (81). If, she says, the translation of texts are a proof of “its value, of its ability to expand beyond the linguistic confines of the source culture and literature”, the apparition of subsequent translations must reinforce and strengthen this proof (81). Although the retranslation hypothesis has since been disproved as a universal rule, it still holds out for a substantial percentage of retranslations.
2.2.2 Ageing
In addition to the issue of 'inherent failure' within (re)translations, Berman's retranslation hypothesis also suggests that, opposed to the original work, a retranslation will age and thus “give rise to a need for new translations” (Tahir Gürçağlar 234). Although a fair notion, it does not always hold out, obviously. There have been many occurrences of retranslations of the same work within far too short a period of time to assume any ageing of the first one, and some works have never been translated a second time at all (and not always because no-one reads them any more). When there is a need for an update of “wording and terminology” in a translation, ageing can be said to be the motivation for retranslation (234). My expectation is that ageing is probably the main reason for the issuing of a retranslation of The Adventures, which is why I would like to go into more detail with regard to the concept of ageing in retranslation.
A very recent article by Piet van Poucke from Ghent University addresses the issue of ageing as a motive for retranslation. In it, Van Poucke states that although the subject of retranslation has become quite a popular one within translation studies in recent years—“it became the key theme for a number of multi-faceted analyses of retranslation . . . and in 2015, Target devoted a special issue to Voice in Retranslation” (92)—the majority of academic writings on the topic are mere case studies. Van Poucke argues that there is an academic need for more substantial “theoretical material on retranslation” (92), and devotes the main part of his paper to the analysis of a corpus of retranslation case studies. No less than 44 of the 70 case studies that Van Poucke analysed, which adds up to almost 63%, addressed the issue of ageing. This confirms that, as he claimed in his introduction, ageing is indeed a popular topic among retranslation theorists. However, most scholars seem to take ageing ‘for granted’ without providing any empirical evidence, which might suggest that it “is not so strictly linguistic – since linguistic changes can be illustrated in practical examples – but are [sic.] features of cultural and translational evolution” (107). Another important claim made in Van Poucke’s article, is that of the positive correlation between the degree to which a translation is “target-oriented” and the speed at which that translation ‘ages’ (96). This would be a confirmation of the ‘retranslation hypothesis’, as first translations that are more oriented would age faster and thus prompt retranslations that are less
target-oriented. Naturally, ageing is relative and genre-dependent: children’s literature, for example, is obviously more likely to require ‘updating’ than adult literature, as “children are usually familiar with contemporary language use only”, and the inherently higher degree of functionality of drama translations also requires them to be “modernized more frequently” (Van Poucke 97).
There are certainly other reasons, or motives, for the retranslation of a text than merely ageing. As mentioned before, the context of a retranslation—historical, ideological, intertextual, etc. —has to be taken into account, as it is probably of greater relevance to the motivation for retranslation than “any inherent characteristic of the source text” (Tahir Gürçağlar 234). The Encyclopedia devotes an extensive part of the entry on Retranslation to the “Motives for retranslation”, but it would be too much to cover it all in detail here. Social changes and an evolving set of 'rules' or norms for translation are obvious reasons, or as Kujamäki puts it: retranslations are largely governed by “the context of time-bound normative conditions” (quoted in Tahir Gürçağlar 234). Ideology is another reason, for example the competing French translations of Tom Sawyer that were issued by communist and anti-communist political parties from the 50s, or contemporary retranslations of many canonical literature by feminist translators. Close to ideological retranslations, are attempts at introducing new interpretations or addressing different audiences. Simpler, less weighty reasons are translators being unaware of the existence of previous translations, faulty communications within a publishing house resulting in multiple simultaneous translations, the discovery of mistakes, etc. A “revised or expanded” source text is also a legitimate reason, states the Encyclopedia (235). Very relevant in this thesis, however, is the tendency of publishing houses to produce retranslations because of their “prestige, cost-effectiveness and guaranteed sales”, especially with regard to literary classics (235). As will be discussed in the Analysis, the paratext of the 2014 translation of The Adventures seems to indicate that the latter motive has been one of the main reasons for this particular retranslation.
The Encyclopedia devotes a long piece on the unfortunate implications of the publishing houses' eagerness as described above, namely that there seems to be constant struggle over the “control and production of new interpretations” (235). Publishers compete over being the one with the newest, and thus most authoritative version of a text's translation. The inherent assumption made by many retranslators, is that their activity renders any previous (re)translation no longer acceptable. This kind of retranslation is dubbed 'active retranslation' by Pym, as opposed to 'passive retranslation', which denotes retranslations that are “separated by geographical distance or time and do not have a bearing on one another” (quoted in Tahir Gürçağlar 235).
2.3 Detective Fiction Versus Mystery Fiction
One might automatically assume the Sherlock Holmes franchise to fall in the category of detective fiction, but it is necessary to do some research to determine whether that is justified. Detective fiction itself is a very young genre—although John Samuel Harpham rightfully points out that Oedipus was supposedly the first detective story in history (Harpham 121). It was only halfway into the 19th century that the term 'detective' itself was coined, according to the Online Etymology
Dictionary (“detective.”) This was around the same time that detective fiction became a well-known and independent genre. Until then, most literary fiction concerning similar topics centred around either the mere analysis of situations and objects or the developments of crimes and their punishment, as opposed to the solving of crimes (Seago 316). In the early 20th century the genre
became incredibly popular and the 1920s and 30s, the period between the two World Wars, are therefore also called the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. The genre at that time has been described as rather innocent, light-hearted and pure, which is also a big part of the reason for its downfall. Critics, among which were former authors of detective fiction, remarked upon the “narrow, if not deliberately elitist, vision of society” and claimed the genre “trivialized its subject” (Ousby). As a reaction to this, the subgenre that is now known as 'hardboiled' fiction, or even 'pulp fiction', came into being in the United States. This is a much rougher, more cynical depiction of crimes and detectives. Sherlock is a nice change from the average contemporary crime fiction of today, however, because the latter obtained a “fixation on the crime of murder as the only crime of note” (Cobley 287) and many of Sherlock's stories do not involve the killing of any person.
It is difficult to say where detective fiction stops and mystery fiction begins. In fact, according to author Joel Goldman, both are some sort of blend belonging to the supergenre 'crime fiction'. The 'thriller' genre is also closely related to all of these, and it is mainly the focus of a story that determines in what category it should be placed. Goldman states that “[c]rime fiction is the blanket term” for any piece of writing that deals with crime, be it murders, lawsuits, thefts, etc. (Goldman) The difference between a mystery novel and a thriller is in the question that is the focus of the story: a mystery revolves around the question of who did it, whereas thrillers are more involved with the question of how. In the latter genre, the perpetrator is already revealed in the beginning of the story, whereas in the bulk of mystery fiction, the goal of the protagonist throughout the entire story is to find out who they are. Goldman does not mention detective fiction as a genre in itself, but it can be assumed that detective novels may fall into either category, depending on the focus question. The Sherlock Holmes stories always revolve around how the crime was committed, and most often also about who did it, thus rendering it part of both mystery and thriller fiction according to Goldman's definitions.
However, Carl D. Malmgren has come to a different conclusion in his extensive paper “Anatomy of Murder: Mystery, Detective and Crime Fiction.” Without going into too much detail, it is relevant to explain his view on the differences between the three genres mentioned in the title of his work, which he considers subgenres of 'murder fiction'. Malmgren only uses two variables, “basic novelistic signs having to do with Self and World” (131), which can either be motivated/grounded or unmotivated/lacking ground. Mystery fiction incorporates stable signs that pertain to both Self and World, “the signs comprising its world and it characters . . . are finally grounded and decipherable” (131). Detective fiction, on the other hand, is set in an 'unstable' World, where all the 'making sense of reality' comes from the protagonist because “the world's signs are not trustworthy or secure at all”. Crime fiction are the stories written from the perspective of a criminal or the prosecuted, according to Malmgren, and therefore erode the Self, because the protagonist's point of view is unreliable, dishonest. It is somewhat harder to apply this theory to Sherlock Holmes, as the protagonist of the stories is not the detective. However, it is safe to say that in his adventures, Sherlock Holmes always finds a way to 'decipher' the signs of the world—never does the world seem 'unstable' or 'untrustworthy'. This would mean that according to Malmgren, Sherlock Holmes falls into the category of mystery fiction.
A key aspect of detective fiction specifically, is that it does more than tell a story about some crime. In a paper by Karen Seago and Victoria Lei, the history of crime fiction is studied with special focus on the differences between Western and Eastern development of the genre. Before Edgar Allen Poe, there were exclusively crime narratives which did exactly that; in which the “crime solving largely depend[ed] on coincidence, and the (didactic) focus is on (inevitable) punishment” (Seago 316). In the stories of Poe’s creation Dupin, however, “logical deduction, ratiocination, scientific investigation of the crime and its motives and a rationale male detective” were placed at the centre of the narrative. The depth of the narrative was infinitely increased by these extra layers in the story. In fact, the genre of detective fiction has been called the ‘narrative of narratives’ by the celebrated director Peter Brooks (Seago 317) because it incorporates a dual narrative: that of the crime itself and that of the detective investigating and trying to solve it. After Poe and Doyle, the standard was set for the average (Western) detective, who uses logic and reasoning—not intuition and lucky coincidence—to solve his problems. Sherlock Holmes compares to this very easily: the focus of his adventures is especially on the reasoning behind his actions, even framed a second time by Watson's protagonist point-of-view.
Britta Martens in her 2011 article compares the genres of detective fiction and the dramatic monologue. It is relevant here, because she makes the sharp observation that, like in the latter genre, the story in detective fiction includes an ‘author’ of its own: “the criminals resemble
authors in that they plot first their crimes, and then false stories of the crimes, by eliminating clues or planting false ones that initially lead the investigator(s) and the reader to construct a logical, but wrong, plot” (Martens 202). By extension, this implies that the detective is a ‘reader’, which is why the actual reader feels a strong connection with them. Martens adds that in the case of Sherlock Holmes stories, there is a second ‘intransparent mind’ to scrutinize, namely that of the narrator John Watson. Along the same lines as Malmgren’s division into signs pertaining to Self and the World, Martens states that detective fiction focusses “on the representation of the subjective psyche in its attempt to make sense of a world of epistemological uncertainty” and even that it encourages readers “to reflect on their own search for meaning” (217).
The dubious identity of the detective character seems to be another important key aspect of the genre. Harpham quotes Ian Ousby saying that the sleuths appearing in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century were not quite criminals like their ancestor Oedipus, but were at best “suspect and ambiguous” characters (121). Although Poe launched a new kind of detective, Dupin’s colleagues in subsequent literature “did retain an almost unseen understanding with those who transgressed the law” (121).
The original Sherlock Holmes stories can thus be categorised as belonging to the genre of detective fiction, although they are very close to mystery fiction, as the definitions and descriptions all the aforementioned scholars use support this view.
2.4 Modern Media
A core feature of the 21st century media companies is their tendency to ‘reboot’ old
franchises, the two biggest players in this field being Marvel and DC Comics, whose 1940s comic book super heroes now all have their own film and most of them also get together in films such as
The Avengers (2012), the X-Men series or the upcoming Justice League (2017). For example, the
Spider-man trilogy by Sam Raimi and especially Bruce Nolan’s Batman reboot have, as put in William Proctor’s words, “ushered in a new a zeitgeist of franchise regenerations that strive to emulate its accomplishments” (1). Proctor argues that these reboots invited and enthused film companies to wipe the slate clean of other big names as well and start over again. This is, understandably, due to the prospect of producing rather lucrative and relatively ‘safe’ films. Safe, because the chances of already popular heroes being embraced by the general public are rather high. In another article, Chuck Tyron proposes different reasons for the reboot trend that has dominated the past decade. He believes that, apart from the obvious monetary interests, modern film makers also want to make something new using technology that wasn’t available before. The 3D developments inspired directors such as James Cameron to produce films like never seen before.
It is certainly easy to imagine that film makers are eager to make films about their favourite heroes of old and presenting them in an even more compelling, spectacular fashion than ever. We can now almost feel the wind blowing across our face when we follow Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man swinging from his web through the streets of Manhattan in high-definition 3D. This might also be the cause then, for the frequent modernisation of old franchises—why not use today's technology
3. ORIGINALTEXT
3.1 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Born Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle in Edinburgh, the man that was to write up the most famous detective of all time originally set out to become a medical man (Arthur Conan Doyle). He was born into an Irish Catholic family, but became an agnostic later in life. During his studies Doyle began writing short works of fiction, but these were not very successful yet. In the years after completing his education, he was employed on two different ships and even acquired an M.D. Degree. He then started a medical practice with a classmate, but it didn’t work out and he decided to set up his own practice. Although his practice wasn’t very successful, it has ultimately led to good fortune; it was while waiting for his patients to arrive that Doyle began to fantasize and write up stories about some consulting detective named Sherlock Holmes (arthurconandoyle.com). It is interesting to note that his surname is officially just Doyle, but since his graduation from high school he started using his middle name as part of his surname as well, hence he is now often referred to as ‘Conan Doyle’.
Doyle’s writings did not become a sensation overnight. At first he was even having trouble finding someone willing to publish the stories. When the rights for his first book, A Study in Scarlet, were eventually bought and the novel got published, it received good reviews. Three years later the second book, The Sign of Four, appeared. Doyle and his publisher got into a dispute, however, and he left the company to publish subsequent short stories in the Strand Magazine. This “would change his life” (arthurconandoyle.com) as it made Sherlock Holmes available to a vast audience. After a few years, Doyle killed off his extremely popular protagonist, because he wanted to focus on writing historical novels instead. He did this rather successfully, as both him and many critics regard those seven novels as his best work (arthurconandoyle.com). After an eight-year gap, dubbed ‘The Great Hiatus’ by fans, however, he resurrected the detective, metaphorically at first, in The
Hound of the Baskervilles, a story that took place chronologically before Sherlock’s last adventure
in “The Final Problem.” After that, Sherlock Holmes was resurrected somewhat more literally, when he appeared in a new story, “The Adventure of the Empty House”, in which he explained he had faked his death before. In the end, the consulting detective has appeared in no less than 56 short stories and four novels from Doyle’s hand. Additionally, the knighted writer has written a substantial number of other works, among which are multiple novels, a piece on the Boer War, poetry collections and several stage works.
Doyle did not just write about criminal prosecution and peculiar cases; he became voluntarily involved in two real cases in which he believed the accused to be innocent of the alleged crimes. His interference in both cases led to new insights and ultimately the exoneration of both
men. Doyle is sometimes described as an advocate of justice, which would seem justified in this context. In the Sherlock Holmes stories, the detective expresses an equal feeling of righteousness and seems frustrated by injustice as well; evidently a value Doyle held dearly.
Another interest of Doyle’s was that in spirituality and the paranormal—even the existence of spirit life and communication with the beyond were something Doyle strongly believed in. In a filmed interview in 1927, he said that he had his first experiences with spiritualism during the same time that Sherlock Holmes formed in his mind. He also said the it was not plausible he would write any more stories about Sherlock Holmes, because his “principle thought is that I should extend, if I can, that knowledge which I have on psychic matters and spread it as far as I can to those who have been less fortunate” (“Arthur Conan Doyle Interviewed”). Interestingly enough, however, Doyle’s dabbling in spirituality and his conviction about the existence of the paranormal, although he did write a number of novels on the subject, never really showed in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle died in his own house in the summer of 1930, at the respectable age of 71 years.
3.2 The Character Sherlock
For this thesis it is of great importance and value to highlight those aspects of the literary character of Sherlock Holmes that link him to his time, i.e. the turn of the twentieth century, so as to be able to quickly notice aspects in translations that go against these links and are therefore (probably) attempts to modernise the detective.
Almost everything we know about Sherlock Holmes is told to us through the eyes of someone else. In only a few instances it is the omniscient narrator, but most often—all four novels and 53 of the 56 short stories—it’s Sherlock’s best friend doctor John Watson who describes to us the actions, demeanour and words of the world’s only ‘consulting detective’. His year of birth is likely 1854 and he has a brother called Mycroft, who appears in only three stories, but besides that very little of the detective’s backstory is revealed to the reader. He developed an interest in detective work when still in college, and after six years of working as a consultant accepted John H. Watson as his fellow lodger at 221B Baker Street, London. The subsequent seventeen years the two form an increasingly intimate friendship and successful partnership.
Sherlock Holmes’ personality features are most often described in terms of antisocial, eccentric behaviour. The term ‘bohemian’ is perhaps most fitting, used by John Watson—and by extension Doyle himself—on several occasions throughout the story. The detective values cold reasoning “above all things”, and is therefore not inclined to give in to any emotional clouding of his judgement. He takes little interest in anything that does not contribute to his ability to solve
crimes and mysteries. This has led him to dabble in various fighting arts, and to collect knowledge about botany, geology, chemistry, anatomy and British law. However, his knowledge extends as far as it has practical value; according to Watson he knows nothing about literature, philosophy and astronomy since those subjects are of no use to him in his profession. As can be deduced from these descriptions, there is nothing in Sherlock Holmes’ life which he deems more important than using his intellect to solve crimes that others could not. His fellow lodger, Watson, is his only true friend and besides him and Irene Adler, Holmes never shows true affection towards anyone. This is not to say that he is cruel or heartless, because on several occasions the man expresses disgust at the actions of criminals, and compassion for his clients. As for pastime, Sherlock Holmes is known for his usage of drugs, mainly as stimulation and at times as an aid in solving cases. He mostly takes a seven-percent solution of cocaine, but has taken to morphine a small number of times. Some more mundane facts about Sherlock Holmes are that he regularly smokes a pipe, likes to show off his intellect and appreciates flattery, and likes to listen to classical music, especially the violin.
Many have speculated about potential sources of inspiration from which the character of Sherlock Holmes might have sprouted. To name Edgar Allen Poe’s creation Auguste C. Dupin is in this context almost a prerequisite. Dupin is generally regarded as the first detective character ever created and Poe is therefore widely credited for ‘breathing life’ into the new genre (Quinn 311). Holmes is actually compared to Dupin by Watson in his first story, A Study in Scarlet, to which Holmes’ reply reads as follows: “In my opinion, Dupin was a very inferior fellow … He had some analytical genius, no doubt; but he was by no means such a phenomenon as Poe appeared to imagine” (11). Still, the character of Dupin has set the bar for what the modern detective generally aspires to be, to which Sherlock Holmes is no exception. Both share eccentricity as a character trait, are brilliantly observant, and value human interaction rather lowly. Like Sherlock Holmes did after him, Dupin based his investigations on keen observation and making inferences. What sets Dupin apart, however, is his attempt to put himself in the mind of the criminal and think like them; this is not a feat Sherlock Holmes pursues throughout his stories as actively as his predecessor.
Additionally, Doyle himself has admitted that he based part of the character on a personal acquaintance of his: Scottish surgeon and lecturer Joseph Bell, who is said to have the tendency of, not unlike Sherlock Holmes, drawing broad conclusions from the most fleeting, though precise observations (The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia). Bell actually was involved in several police investigations himself—not as a witness or an accused, but as an aid in solving the cases.
Ever since the first adaptations and especially in the past decade, Sherlock Holmes' fan base have let their fantasy run wild. The most extravagant adaptations have sprouted from the minds of devoted fans and creative aficionados, and modern media jumped on this band wagon eagerly. Like
many other long-running fandoms, this one, too, has been compared to religious cults in their devotion and belief in the hero. Benjamin Poore even goes as far as saying that “Sherlock Holmes fandom . . . has developed some of the characteristics of institutionalised religion” (159). It is the main argument Poore makes in a quite enjoyable paper on the Holmesian fandom, worth the read for any fan of Sherlock Holmes. He also reminds us that in the 50s and 60s of the previous century, among the most devoted of fans Doyle was merely seen as the 'Literary Agent' of the ostensibly historical characters of Holmes and Watson. The Canon, with which fans refer to the adventures of the duo in Doyle's stories, has become much more than a collection of writings; people like to figure out how they relate to the real world and how it could fit in reality—this activity has been dubbed 'The Game' and is still being 'played' by fans today. Very cleverly, Poore compares the ending of Scorcese's The Last Temptation of Christ, in which St Paul dismisses Jesus' still being alive and states that “[his] Jesus is much more important and much more powerful”, to the icon Sherlock Holmes has become: the image of a detective with an erroneous deerstalker and calabash pipe “is the language that is understood worldwide, not Conan Doyle's words” (160). In other words, Sherlock Holmes' (and Watson's) literary character(s) have grown beyond the works of their creator and have established an idea which can be and already is being exploited by fans and franchises all over the world. This is, of course, splendidly exemplified by Doyle’s killing off Holmes and later resurrecting him under pressure of the general public.
Poore also uses Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes film series and the BBC's Sherlock series to show how the most recent adaptations put more focus on the friendship between the two main characters. Perhaps this started with Basil Rathbone and Nigle Bruce’s portrayal of them, which became so popular that the original stand-alone film in which they appeared turned into a 14-film series (Gaines).
Because of all the adaptations of Sherlock Holmes and especially the “connections and resonances” between them as opposed to between them and the original work, Poore concludes, the original Canon is 'eroded', made to “seem smaller in comparison—just one planet in a constellation” (169).
A sharp observation is made by Ashley Polasek, who, in her paper on the post-millenial Sherlock Holmes, remarks that most of the contemporary adaptations or merely Sherlock-inspired media productions present the main character “as a kind of child prodigy in an adult body”, an “out-of-control genius who needs to be grounded and managed” (386). This applies to BBC's Sherlock, Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes and even CBS's Elementary, and also for the eponymous character of the series House M.D. Polasek points out how the latter is not exactly an adaptation of Sherlock Holmes in the strict sense, as the show was never intended to be a re-imagining of the famous
sleuth's adventures, but still shares many similarities with him. The original Holmes, however, was never anything like an immature genius who needed parent-like managing. Another observation Polasek makes, is that the focus in the latest adaptations tends much more towards high-paced action and thrills than you would expect from stories about a character who was originally an arm-chair detective (388).
3.3 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
The story collection that is under analysis in this thesis was not the first appearance Sherlock Holmes made. The book was published five years after Holmes’ first adventure in A Study in
Scarlet, although the twelve stories in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes had appeared separately
in the year before in The Strand Magazine. The popularity of the stories caused the subscriptions to the magazine to soar, which in turn motivated the writer to produce more stories, albeit for a larger amount of money. After the two full-length novels he had written, these short stories were unfamiliar grounds for him, but he discovered a preference for this format. Even the first edition of
The Adventures was already published in the United States too, which is a mark of its immense
popularity. The impact of the stories can be illustrated by the words in a news article around a year after their publication, in which a story of a different author was reviewed: the author said the story “might have been read with a moderate amount of interest a year ago”, but there was a simple different level of quality between it and “the unique power” of Doyle’s stories (“Literature.”).
The stories in the book are not chronologically ordered and have very little interconnection. A larger theme throughout the stories is said to be that of a stronger sense of justice in the detective than in the prior works (arthurconandoyle.com). One aspect of the book in particular has received an increasingly disproportionate amount of attention, especially in adaptations of the works: Irene Adler, “the woman”. Although she only ever appears in “A Scandal in Bohemia”, she often plays much larger, more prominent roles in adaptations, frequently as a love interest for the detective. Doyle has picked the story around her as his fifth favourite Sherlock Holmes story, and three other stories from The Adventures were listed in his own Top 12 as well (sherlock-holmes.co.uk).
A characteristic of all twelve stories is their being told through the eyes of John Watson. The reader knows exactly as much as Watson does, and, reversely, lacks every bit of information with which Sherlock Holmes has not entrusted his friend. It is a well-known literary instrument to use a first-person narrative that is not the protagonist’s, widely used in mystery fiction in particular, as it does an excellent job in withholding clues and hints to the reader to build up and maintain tension. Doyle gave his stories a somewhat metaphysical twist, however, by making Watson say he (i.e. Watson himself) is the author of the stories, which he based on the adventures he experienced
together with his friend Sherlock Holmes. This lends the stories a touch of reality; it is almost as if they had really happened. Moreover, Holmes is aware of his friend penning their adventures and even comments on it: “You have attempted to tinge [the science of detection] with romanticism, which produces much the same effect as if you worked a love-story” (The Sign of Four 5). Watson is irritated by this negative commentary because he feels “a small vanity underlay [Sherlock’s] quiet and didactic manner”. It is short interactions such as this one which make the two characters appear as if transferred onto paper from real-life. No-one should be surprised, then, by the fact that many people have believed the detective to be a real person. The possibility of Sherlock Holmes being real, and by extension the crimes and persons in his adventures, undoubtedly contributes to the immersion of the readers in the story.
4. ANALYSES
4.1 Methodology
The most recent Dutch translation of The Adventures is the publication by De Boekerij from 2014. On the back of the cover it says that this edition is a “geheel nieuwe vertaling”, which means it's an entirely new translation. The translators are Gert van Santen and Fanneke Cnossen. The second translation I studied is the 1976 publication by Contact, which is translated mostly by Simon Vestdijk. In fact, this publication is a reprint of a translation made in 1946. I will still refer to it as the 1976 translation, however, as I think it is a striking mark of the text that it is still acceptable 30 years later, without a need for retranslation. The oldest translation under my analysis is a publication from around 1921 by the Internationale Bioscoop-Roman-Maatschappij with an unknown translator. I chose these three translations, because there are comparable time intervals between them: between the first two there are twenty-five years, between the second and its republication (in 1976) there are thirty years, and between the republication of the second and the third translation there are 38 years.
I have chosen to use The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes as my object of study, because I thought it would provide me with the most versatile subject material. If I had opted for one of the novels instead of this collection of short stories, there would be a different distribution with regard to the different part of a narrative. That is because these shorter stories together inherently contain relatively more introductory and concluding parts, which are both of special significance in my analysis: much descriptive language is used in the introduction of the characters and setting, and much talking is done at the end of each story when Sherlock Holmes explains his train of thought. This is important to my thesis, because to narrow down the scope of my research and simultaneously render it precise enough to be able to gather sufficient results, the actual object of my analysis has to be rather specific and I have therefore decided to study the target texts with regard to two broader features: firstly, I will focus on the spoken lines in the stories, which should give me an insight into the projected language use of the characters; and secondly I will focus on the descriptive lexicon with regard to people, objects and scenes, so as to be able to make claims about the modernity of the world in which the stories are set. These two features are not the direct instances of translation I will be searching for, however, as I will mainly attempt to find interesting translational choices, but they will be of importance later, in the “Discussion”, where I will use my findings to make claims about whether or not and to what extent the translations have tried to modernise the text. Moreover, as mentioned earlier, I will use the concepts and theories as presented in Vinay & Darbelnet and Catford to categorise and identify the translational choices.
Firstly then, I will take a look at the entire paratext of the translations one by one. Subsequently, I will take one of the stories, namely “The Man with the Twisted Lip”, and analyse the lexicon of Sherlock Holmes in it for all translations one by one. There will be some cases in which I will compare a translation to the other two, although that is not the main focus of this stage. And lastly, I will take bits and samples that will prove interesting for translation, and compare the three different translations simultaneously. Throughout these three stages, I will try to find and highlight any instance that might point in the direction of modernisation.
4.2 Paratext
Before considering the actual contents of the book, it is important to analyse the paratext as well. The term is used by literary theorist Gérard Genette to refer to things such as the name of the author, the publishing house and the book, prefaces, illustrations, and the cover of a book in its totality (Genette 1). As the title of his book, Thresholds of Interpretation, indicates, he views the paratext not as a “boundary or sealed border” but rather as “a threshold” (1), with which he means to say that a reader is inescapably confronted with it and it can therefore have a great influence on a reader’s perception of the text itself. The 2014 and the 1976 translations contain a book cover, on which are featured the name of the author, the publishing house and the title of the book itself as well as an illustration, and they both contain a preface, but the 1921 translation is rather different. Additionally, the 1976 translation contains a number of footnotes, which are part of the paratext as well. As I will be considering the translations one by one this, section is further subdivided into the three different works, starting with the most recent one and going back in time.
4.2.1 De Avonturen van Sherlock Holmes (2014)
The 2014 Dutch translation of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was published by publishing house De Boekerij. The name of this company is an old-fashioned term for a library. The company publishes mainly adult fiction, a large part of which are translations from foreign writers. Famous examples are translations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings or of John Boyne’s The Boy in
the Striped Pyjamas. According to their own website, they are a broad, general publishing house,
dividing their publications into the categories of romance novels, thrillers, fantasy and young-adult fiction, as well as non-fiction and e-books (boekerij.nl).
The translators of the book are Gert van Santen and Fanneke Cnossen. Van Santen is a recognised translator in the Netherlands who has been involved in some very famous projects, such as the translation of “nearly the complete Dutch Star Wars series”, a biography of Steve Jobs and a book about the making of the film The Lord of the Rings (Gert van Santen). He has a lot of affinity
and experience with translating science fiction novels, thrillers and adventure stories. Although Sherlock Holmes would not fall into these categories at first glance, Van Santen’s broad specialisation makes him an apt translator for this kind of stories nonetheless. The other translator, Fanneke Cnossen, does not have her own website and it is much harder to find information on her. The National Library of the Netherlands (Koninklijke Bibliotheek) in Den Haag lists her as the translator of recently translated, well-known works by David Baldacci, Victoria Scott and Henriette Lazaridis Power, among others. Her translated works fall into several categories of fiction writing, from children’s novels and fantasy to historical fiction, also including several light crime novels.
Although the cover of the 2014 translation of Sherlock Holmes suggests otherwise, the twelve stories are not altered in any way in order to seem to be taking place in today’s society. This is evident from the everyday habits and customs Sherlock Holmes and his companion have: yes, they do occasionally take the train but mostly travel in horse-drawn carriages and coaches, for example. The currencies they use and mention are also a giveaway, considering the fact that shillings, crowns and guineas have been out of circulation for quite some time. The 2014 edition should therefore be considered simply a translation, and not an adaptation.
It might need an explanation why anyone would suspect otherwise. The main clue that made
me doubt the ‘fidelity’ of the translation with regard to the time in which it is set, is the cover of the book, as stated before. It features, rather showily as well, the pictures of two actors who are in the most popular recent series adaptation of Sherlock Holmes’ stories. That series, Sherlock, is set in the 21st century, with all of its modern technology and its societal and international conflicts. The
explicit reference to a Sherlock who is fully adapted to and is making characteristically clever use of every aspect of life in London in the 2010s carries the inevitable implication that the content of the book has been modernised as well. And when in the past decade multiple translations of works from the Sherlock Holmes canon have already been published (Koninklijke Bibliotheek), why would there suddenly be a need for a new translation so soon, if not to offer something new? But as it turns out, the ‘brand new translation’ is just that—a brand new translation. It would seem that the two actors are featured on the cover not as a proud reference to the contents of the book, but as a way to deceive people into buying it anyway.
What is even bolder than the two actors, however, is the text on the back of the book, which could be translated as:
The popular BBC series Sherlock offers a fresh, contemporary view on the world famous books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Besides a brand new translation, this edition contains a preface by actor and co-creator Mark Gatiss.
It is seriously difficult to imply more strongly that the translation has modernised the original stories without actually stating it.
Mark Gatiss is a versatile artist who has worked on much of the series Sherlock and plays an acting role in it as well. In the preface of the 2014 translation, his words are supposedly translated from English as well. He tells the story of how he first fell in love with the Sherlock Holmes stories in his youth and what impression they made on him. He also elaborates, however, on the reason for his creating the Sherlock series in the way he has; the idea to modernise the Sherlock Holmes stories came not from a lack of fondness for the enchanting late-Victorian world, but rather because his desire – and that of his co-creator Steven Moffat – was to remove the fog from ‘that incorruptible friendship between Holmes and Watson’ (Van Santen 9).
There is a stark contrast between the preface of Mark Gatiss, who has everything to do with the modernising HBO-series, together with a picture of the series’ actors on the cover on the one hand and the unaltered content of the book on the other. In this case, the paratext can undoubtedly be accused of being rather misleading.
4.2.2 De Avonturen van Sherlock Holmes (1976)
Publishing house Contact has published the 1976 translation of The Adventures, and has since fused with another publishing company to form Atlas Contact. According to Wikipedia, the original Contact publisher was known for its easy-to-read books and a strong engagement with society (“Uitgeverij Contact.”). They were the first to publish the diary of Anne Frank in 1947, for example. The company has worked with many famous Dutch names, among which are Midas Dekkers, Renate Dorrestein and Yvonne Kroonenberg. Originally, the focus was on non-fiction, but even before the fusion with Atlas still, their scope had widened.
The 1976 publication, called De Avonturen van Sherlock Holmes was translated mostly by Simon Vestdijk, except for three stories that were done by Jean. A. Schalekamp, and the introduction that was done by Pé Hawinkels. Simon Vestdijk is a truly fascinating person, who was a famous writer, poet, music critic, doctor and evidently also a translator. His works are so extensive and versatile – a Dutch poet has called Vestdijk ‘the man who writes faster than God can read’ (Vestdijk) – that he cannot be said to belong to a specific literary movement. He is mainly known for his (semi) autobiographical novels such as Terug tot Ina Damman (1934) , De koperen tuin (1950) and Kind tussen vier vrouwen (1972). Several of his best works have been adapted for radio, television or film. Besides The Adventures, Vestdijk also translated Doyle’s The Hound of the
Baskervilles, as well as works by Emily Dickinson, Eric Lowe and Edgar Allen Poe, among other
English authors. Other languages from which he translated into Dutch are French and German. Although he was never awarded one, he has long been considered the most likely candidate for a Nobel Prize in Literature and had in fact been on the list of nominees as much as nine times between 1950 and 1964 (vestdijk.nl). What can be deduced from this short biography, is his exceptional expertise in writing. His writing style is marked by full sentences with interruptions and corrections, all of which shows the grasp of the Dutch language Vestdijk possessed. It would have made him an excellent translator as long as his understanding of the source language was good enough as well. A curious characteristic of the man was his fondness of captivating first sentences, which he endeavoured to write into most of his works (Vestdijk). Surely the opening sentence of
The Adventures must have captivated Vestdijk himself: “To Sherlock Holmes she is always the
woman.” An entire story is promised in that short opening line.
Compared to Vestdijk, the second translator, Jean Schalekamp, is not as renowned. He was an established writer and literary translator in his own right, however, who produced the translations of several novels of Nobel prize winner Claude Simon. Most of his own works, consisting of articles and reports as well as novels and travel guides, are about life in Spain, where he resided from 1960 until his death in 2015, especially under the dictatorship of Franco. His first three novels
