Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Αγγλική ΓλώσσαLibrary of the School of Philosophy
Author:
Stefou Vasiliki-Aikaterini
Supervisors info:
Χατζηδάκη Άννα, Λέκτορας, Τμήμα Αγγλικής Γλώσσας και Φιλολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή ΕΚΠΑ
Σιδηροπούλου Μαρία, Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Αγγλικής Γλώσσας και Φιλολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή ΕΚΠΑ
Μήτση Ευτέρπη, Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Αγγλικής Γλώσσας και Φιλολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
The Translator as Communicator in Damian Thompson's The Fix: How Addiction is Invading Our Lives and Taking Over Your World (2012)
Translated title:
The Translator as Communicator in Damian Thompson's The Fix: How Addiction is Invading Our Lives and Taking Over Your World (2012)
Summary:
The Fix: How Addiction is Invading our Lives and Taking over Your World (2012) is a book written by the acclaimed English journalist and writer Damian Thompson. In his book, Thompson explores addiction outside the field of medicine supporting that it is more of a construct rather than a disease. The broadening of the definition of addiction and the expansion of the spectrum of addictive behaviors attempted by the author proves that addiction is a matter of choice that people resort to, consciously or unconsciously, since the environment we live in actuates them to. His views have provoked controversy among both readers and critics. Regardless of the validity of Thompson’s re-conceptualization of addiction, the freshness of his outlook and the immediacy with which he addresses the average reader explain the success of the book as well as its value as a translational option. Hatim and Mason’s (1993; 1997) communicative approach to translation which was elaborated on their works Discourse and the Translator and Translator as Communicator constitutes the cornerstone of our analysis with regard to the textual as well as contextual aspects that have informed the choices made in the Greek version of the first chapter of Thompson’s text. Moreover, Herman’s (1996) notion of the Translator’s Voice and the need for assimilation within that of the author’s underscore the importance of maintaining the full communicative thrust of the original in the target language. The whole process of translation is framed by Fairclough’s (1995) model of Critical Discourse Analysis which foregrounds the significance of language variation for triggering reader response on the basis of linguistic, generic as well as contextual conventions. Overall, the analysis aims at illustrating the need for a communicative, reader-oriented approach to Thompson’s text by bringing to the fore the translator’s endeavor to achieve successful mediation on the basis of her role as a communicator between different cultural contexts.
Main subject category:
Language – Literature
Keywords:
addiction, translation, communicative approach, orality
