How, Why and to What Effect Dickens’ Great Expectations Has Been Translated Into Peter Careys’ Novel Jack Maggs.
How, Why and To What Effect Dickens’ Great Expectations has been Translated into Peter Careys’ Novel Jack Maggs.
Translation is defined as a word, phrase or a text in another language that has a meaning that is equivalent to that of the original. It is also defined as a change in form or state of original text.
The translation that occurs between the two novels Great Expectations and Jack Maggs is called Intralingual translation, which is defined by Jackobson as “an interpretation from one text to another in the same language using different synonyms in order to convey the same message but in a different way.
There is not any one way to translate, that would enable the translator to translate perfectly. There will always be the loss of some information or the adding of other information during the process. Translation also occurs to help the original text to fit in with the changing times, to allow the original text to fall in with social, historical, cultural issues and influences.
Previous works may be translated because some people may feel that the original source has unanswered questions that has left the reader frustrated. Other works are translated to enable other characters point of view and to breathe new life into old forgotten books.
Peter Careys’ Jack Maggs is a translation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations but whereas Great Expectations is a piece of imperial work based on the English point of view written by an English man Jack Maggs is a post colonial piece that is based on the Australian point of view written by an American who was born in Australia.
Peter Carey borrows Dickens characters, stylistic techniques, narrative pace and depth. Carey does however shift the core focus from Pips/Henry Phipps to Magwitch/ Jack Maggs transferring the narrative voice away from Pip and given to Magwitch. Carey re-invents Magwitch into Jack Maggs, changing his name and his looks although they do however both have the same biography.
Translation is defined as a word, phrase or a text in another language that has a meaning that is equivalent to that of the original. It is also defined as a change in form or state of original text.
The translation that occurs between the two novels Great Expectations and Jack Maggs is called Intralingual translation, which is defined by Jackobson as “an interpretation from one text to another in the same language using different synonyms in order to convey the same message but in a different way.
There is not any one way to translate, that would enable the translator to translate perfectly. There will always be the loss of some information or the adding of other information during the process. Translation also occurs to help the original text to fit in with the changing times, to allow the original text to fall in with social, historical, cultural issues and influences.
Previous works may be translated because some people may feel that the original source has unanswered questions that has left the reader frustrated. Other works are translated to enable other characters point of view and to breathe new life into old forgotten books.
Peter Careys’ Jack Maggs is a translation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations but whereas Great Expectations is a piece of imperial work based on the English point of view written by an English man Jack Maggs is a post colonial piece that is based on the Australian point of view written by an American who was born in Australia.
Peter Carey borrows Dickens characters, stylistic techniques, narrative pace and depth. Carey does however shift the core focus from Pips/Henry Phipps to Magwitch/ Jack Maggs transferring the narrative voice away from Pip and given to Magwitch. Carey re-invents Magwitch into Jack Maggs, changing his name and his looks although they do however both have the same biography.
Bibliography: Boswell (2010) Authors Interviews [online] Powells Books : Oregon Available from http://www.powells.com/authors/carey.html Carey, P (1997) Jack Maggs. Faber and Faber :London, Boston Cohurn J (2002) Interplay between Dickens Great Expectations and Careys Jack Maggs [online] Queens University: Belfast. Available from http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/SchoolofEnglish/imperial/austral/Dickens-Carey.htm Dickens, C (1860) Great Expectations Penguin Group : London Koval R (1997) Peter Carey Transcript [online] Brisbane Writing Festival. Radio National : Brisbane. Available at http://www.abc.net.au/rn/arts/bwriting/stories/s97268.htm