Real and Fantasy World Concepts in Children’s Fantasy Translation
Keywords:
children’s literature translation, children’s and young adult’s fantasy, food translation, linguistic world viewAbstract
In this article, I attempt to bridge the academic disciplines of literary geography and children’s literature translation studies, thereby enriching the scholarly discourse surrounding the distinctions between the real and fantasy worlds within fantasy literature. Oziewics (2015), in his essays, characterises children's fantasy as a global phenomenon, asserting that children from any country and culture can readily immerse themselves in fantastical realms. However, the translation of children's fantasy literature is frequently perceived as a process of localisation, often involving a considerable degree of domestication, which may shift the concepts of real and fantasy world for a target reader. This study delves into the translator's strategies employed in translating food descriptions from fantasy realms, with a particular focus on Alexander O’Smith’s English translation of food within the fantasy world of Vision, as depicted in Miyuki Miyabe’s Bureibu Sut?r? /Brave Story/ (2003). The narrative follows the journey of Wataru, a Japanese youth, who finds himself transported to the fantastical realm of Vision. Here, he encounters diverse inhabitants and engages in everyday activities, including the consumption of fantastical cuisine and the pursuit of sustenance. These vivid descriptions offer valuable insights into the distinctive geography, climate, and culture of Vision's world. Given that the story unfolds from the perspective of a protagonist who hails from Japan, the representation of Vision's surroundings, the description of real-world food, and the portrayal of fantasy commodities are all categorised in accordance with conventional Japanese linguistic norms. Drawing upon a comparative analysis of O’Smith’s translation strategies, I argue that the translation of food-related concepts significantly influences the overall depiction of Vision's fantasy world. Consequently, these translation choices bear a substantial impact on the reception and role of works like Bureibu Sut?r? (2003) within the target culture.References
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