I decided to start my thesis with a quote, this one in particular, because it summarizes completely the book and it compresses the reason why I chose this particular novel. Suicide is a real problem that society has had such a hard time discussing and this bestseller represents the first book that deals with this from the perspective of the person who has committed suicide.
The purpose of my thesis is to analyse several key-fragments of the Romanian published version of 13 Reasons Why written by Jay Asher and translated by Mariana Piroteală in order to see if the 13 reasons why the main character committed suicide, placed on seven tapes, remain intact in the translation and if their message has been kept in the same tone.
According to Susane Bassnett and Andrè Lefevere, translation represents a rewriting of an original text. All rewritings, whatever their intention, reflect a certain ideology and a poetics and as such manipulate literature to function in a given society in a given way. Rewriting is a manipulation, undertaken in the service of power, and in its positive aspect can help in the evolution of a literature and a society. Rewritings can introduce new concepts, new genres, new devices, and the history of translation is the history also of literary innovation, of the shaping power of one culture upon another. But rewriting can also repress innovation, distort and contain, and in an age of ever increasing manipulation of all kinds, the study of the manipulation processes of literature are exemplified by translation can help us towards a greater awareness of the world in which we live. (Venuti 8)
Translation is not an automatic process. It is about finding the perfect balance between language and content, so as we can project pictures that convey the underlying message, concept or idea in another language. As translators, we should take an interest in protecting the style of writing and the personality of the characters untouched.
The following chapter of this thesis is to observe and compare the three texts: the original text, the published version by Mariana Piroteală and my personal translation of the original text. The aim of this stage is to point out what the Romanian version of the book loses if it is partially translated, and how the text is altered if quality and quantity are not kept.
In conclusion, this paper will analyze Jay Asher’s 13 Reasons Why from a literary point of view, but will concentrate on the translations and misinterpretations found in the Romanian version of the book, identifying where a transparent translation was not achieved.
Translational Guidelines
Language is one of the most complex communication tools elaborated by humankind throughout the centuries. Besides linguistic features such as grammar, syntax, and lexis, each language has its unique cultural specifics that make proper intercultural communication almost impossible without language specialists, also known as translators. There are so much interesting data about languages and translators but one of the most interesting aspect is, perhaps, preserving the meaning of a text in the source language while translating it into the target language.
How does one, or several persons, deal with the evasive meanings and gaps between the source language and the target language? Or, how does one manage to identify what gives authenticity and fluency to a text and reproduce it in the target language without losing the conveyed meaning or the tone of the text in the source language?
One such aspect I find relevant to understand are the features a text must have in order for the reader to perceive it as worth reading, interesting, good, bad or relevant for his time period.
Let us take for example the book at hand: 13 Reasons why by Jay Asher. Although published eleven years ago the novel discusses some of those hard topics we avoid talking about but we should talk about more often. It provides a safe comfortable space where readers can explore the issue of suicide and although it is not a fun topic, it still is one that people struggle with everyday.
In spite of its simple vocabulary and structure, this novel represents much more than what can be seen with the naked eye. Jay Asher is remarkable for its technical elegance in weaving words from Hannah’s tapes with Clays’s reactions and memories. Sometimes there are stumbles in meaning and tone, but the suspense is wound tight as the reader waits to discover who is next on Hannah’s list.
Although the novel was translated by Mariana Piroteală in 2009 and uses quite recent vocabulary, I believe that the structures and words used did not manage to reproduce the exact message or tone of the text. My opinion is that the fault of this translation does not stand completely in the improper use of grammar of choice of words, but in the way in which the translation reproduces only the text without its underlying message too.
However, Mariana Piroteală’s translation has some strong points and qualities that will be discussed in the conclusions section of this thesis.