2.1.2. Literary text

As literary text, two excerpts from "Light in August" by William Faulkner (1897-1962) and their translation into German were chosen. (As to the plot, see A. Lass 1966 [1], for instance). At issue in the analysis of the literary translation were, in addition to extra-linguistic problems on account of cultural distance (cf. [2]):

-words since in English words of Latin origin have another status than in German. Polysyllabic Latinate diction in English is in clear contrast to the short, familiar words of Germanic origin but both are equally common in the English language;

-coined compounds mean the use of new or unusual compounds; they are a typical feature of Faulkner's prose;

-repetitions: W. Faulkner's strategy of repetition serves the purpose of punctuation or production of a "leitmotif effect";

-suggestive naming which plays an important role in W. Faulkner's writings and which may lead to considerable translation problems due to cultural distance;

-links between text and biblical names in the form of allusion and suggestive naming;

-plays on words are a common difficulty and not always as easy to overcome as in ...where he broke only the law: never his word due to the collocation of break/brechen with word/Wort as well as with law/Gesetz in English and German;

-antithesis (or polar imagination), another common feature in W. Faulkner's diction;

-oxymoron and synasthesia: do not merely indicate oppositions, as polar imagination does, but indicate the simultaneous existence of poles.

Extra-linguistic problems will be encountered when there is a cultural distance. In the case of W. Faulkner, this cultural distance is particularly felt, apart from suggestive naming, in the field of flora, of buildings, clothing and food.