Måltext i Midgård : Ohlmarks Härskarringen och översättandets normer

Sammanfattning:

This study considers Härskarringen (1959–61), a Swedish translation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (1954–55), within the framework of translation studies and the description of norms within different fields of translation. As the work’s position as a translation has been questioned by a number of critics, the aim of the study is to identify features of the text which can be associated with this critique. The methodology employed by the study aims to separate departures in the target text from the source text within fields such as semantics and style. The departures are then ordered on the basis of linguistic form. The study suggests that the translation contains a number of features, and proposes possible explanations for these, based on the result of the study in relation to these points of departure as well as the circumstances in the context of the creation of the translation. The method used is partly based on a model developed by Rune Ingo (1991), and the results are analyzed by means of key concepts from Yvonne Lindqvist (2002). The study concludes that Härskarringen should be considered a work done mainly in accordance with an acceptable translation strategy, and thereby has characteristics of a low prestige translation. The study further considers that the critics of the translation hold, seemingly, that The Lord of the Rings should be translated as high prestige literature, and that they have reacted against the translation consequently. The study suggests that the reason for the questioning of Härskarringen’s position as a translation seems to be that the work has not been translated in accordance with the norms of the literary field to where it is today attributed. The critique can partly be viewed as a result of a raised status of The Lord of the Rings and J. R. R. Tolkien, and thus of the mobility of a work within the literary system.