A Critical Interpretation Of Translation Issues

Table of Contents

Foreword…………………………………………….

Re (writing) History……………………………….

2. Restoring the Sense in Romanian ………………….

2.1. Introduction to the field of translation………..

2.2. In search of authenticity……………………..

2.3. Coming to a conclusion……………………

3. Incursion into the World of Translation…………..

Afterword……………………………………………..

Glossary………………………………………………

Bibliography…………………………………………

Foreword

My paper is based on an interesting analysis of the translation procedures used in a Romanian translation of Rose Tremain`s novel restoration. In order to do that, I had to follow some important steps that helped me draw some conclusions regarding the professionalism of the translators, the elements they had to take into account, and what is more, the complexity of what represents a good translation. To begin with, my first chapter entitled Re (writing) History is represented by a careful analysis of the novel, in postmodernist terms. These pages represent a small attempt of frame the novel into the period in which it was written, taking into account its postmodernist particularities, and trying to identify them in order to better understand the entire novel and the message of the author. This importance of this chapter stands in the fact that the knowledge of the novel background, its literary analysis and this attempt to label it are really relevant for a good translation. This chapter deals with the understanding of the novel`s characters, getting to know them, particularizing them, and in this way, the entire writing of the postmodern text. I have chosen to begin my paper with this chapter because I consider it meaningful in order to achieve some information about this writing and its author. And I strongly believe that this information is the first key which could bring the success on the translation fields, because this issue takes a lot more than just a dictionary and some procedures of translating. In order to really feel and transfer the author`s ideas into the target language, firstly, we have to understand them, to analyze and to label them. It is absolutely compulsory to be in a total control of these pieces of information which together build the context of the novel. This literary background is certainly required for a translator in order to do a good job, and not only translate words from one language to another. Secondly, the next chapter of my work is entitled Restoring the Sense in Romanian. This section brings into light some fundamental theoretical information about all this field of translation and all it really means, describing some procedures, and revealing some main

opinions of great authors and important linguistics. Restoring the Sense in Romanian starts with a short introduction in this domain, and a lot of theory regarding translation. Then, the entire theory revealed in the previous subchapter is correlated to the actual novel in the next subchapter (In search of Authenticity). In these few pages, I tried to offer a synthesis of the main procedures used by Pillat and Săulescu in their translation with some personal view and commentaries, some suggestions of improvement. Next, I drew some conclusions which were actually the basis of the entire work, because this was actually the purpose of my entire work.

The third chapter of my paper represents „an incursion„ into this translational domain through an attempt of translating the first chapter of another novel of Rose Tremain entitled The Road Home. This is where I tried to follow my own instructions revealed in the previous chapter by observing some recurrent elements and procedures, by improving the field with my personal opinions. To conclude, I would like to bring into consideration the fact that the entire paper reveals my own view concerning the translation, and according to this view I tried to translate the pages from the third chapter. So, I would also like to point out that I maintained a reserved opinion concerning the literal translation, I analyzed it from a critical perspective, and I stood up for my beliefs with strong arguments from the translated text. I have sustained my views with various examples from numerous authors and linguists, adopting their ideas in what concerns the translation I tried to analyze.

Chapter 1 Re (writing) History

Rose Tremain was born in 1943 and graduated from the University of East Anglia. She has published novels and short-stories, and had numerous radio and television performed. She was awarded several important literary prizes and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1989 with Restoration. In order to analyze this novel from a critically perspective, it is highly important that we discuss her literary ideas about what creation means to try to establish and elaborate a basic outlook of her artistic perspective. Therefore, one of the fundamental observations related to her work is that for Rose Tremain, minor characters do not exist, and in the light of postmodernist vision, she actually tries to emphasize them and to make something out of disorder and maybe plenty of downfalls. Her interest in marginal and sometimes trivial characters is exhibited in her novel entitled Restoration where the author builds a typical postmodern man, having an interesting profane allure. The postmodern man we see in Rose Tremain`s works is touched by normality, by a powerful routine which dictates his all actions. So, in order to better understand the hero created by the author, we may even say he is a cliché of the actual society, an anti-hero which is somehow illuminated by her work. Metaphorically speaking, we may even assert she is a sort of doctor for her characters, she transform each of them. This is one of the fundamental novelties that Rose Tremain brings into light in all her works. Restoration makes no exception. For a clearer understanding of the novel, I would start by analysis from the definition of restoration, as we encounter it in the Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Leaners:

(C/U) the process of putting something such as a piece of art or a buiding back to its original condition, so that it looks cleaner and better: +of She specializes in the cleaning and restoration of antique paintings.

(C/U) the act of returning something that was lost, stolen, or removed: Activists are demanding the restoration of democracy.

(U) computing the process of returning the original software programs to a computer after it has been repaired.

Even at the basic level of title, Rose Tremain induced the idea of transformation into something better, the idea of the treatment I mentioned earlier. In this way, the main character of the novel is brought to a higher standard, he evolves in all fields, and his story becomes a process, a literary process through which he has the chance to renew. In addition to this idea of recreating the self, we may say that Restoration is a book about the relationship between the Self and the society which it inhabited. The process I discussed about is one of which permits the protagonists to restore less his fortune than his moral being. Serving as a surgeon in a rural madhouse, Robert Merivel is forced to and finds the grace of serenity. Moreover, modernity alters the nature of day-to-day life and affects the most personal aspects of our experiences; although it must be understood at an institutional level, the transmutations introduced by modern institutions interlace in a direct way with individual life, and therefore, with Self. An overriding stress is upon the emergence of new mechanisms of Self-Identity, for instance the Self is not a passive entity determined by external influences. Although the contexts of actions are specific, individuals contribute to and directly promote social influences that are global in their consequences. In this way, I would dare to call the novel a bildungs novel just because of this process of evolution the hero surpasses. The emphasis that the author puts on the main character may be observed even from the 1st person narration and the relationship that the character establishes with the reader even from the beginning of the novel. We may even speak here about a sort of familiarity towards the reader. The author tries to gain the reader`s confidence from the very first lines:

I am, I discover, a very untidy man. Look at me. Without my periwig, I am an affront to neatness. My hair (what is left of it) is the colour of sand and wiry as hogs' bristles; my ears are of uneven size; my forehead is splattered with freckles; my nose, which of course my wig can't conceal, however low I wear it, is unceremoniously flat, as if I had been hit at birth. (Tremain, 13).

The Self is highly stressed through the reiteration of the first person pronouns I and me, and the reader is, in this way, invited, into the character`s mind, soul and conscience. The relation between the reader and the narrator becomes much more transparent in this way. Therefore, as we may easily see, the narrator becomes self-ironic, managing to bring closer the readers. These are another important postmodernist issues which are relevant in the case of this novel, because by means of all these particularities, Robert Merivel establish a sort of connection with the readers. Modernist or modern social life is characterized by reorganization of Time and Space reflecting in re-combining of social relations across wide time-space distances. So, it radicalizes and globalizes pre-established traits of modernity and act to transform the content and nature of day-to-day social life. Hence, we are offered another perspective on „reality„, on what is the „present„, as referred to the „past„, another perspective on what an event is and on the significance of fact. The Self maintains an intense awareness trough great changes, from infancy to death creating for itself a unique style, despite deprivations in regimes of knowledge and power: reconstructing Individualism on basis of subjectivity and complex efforts are being made to recover individual experience, choice, and initiative. This is Robert Merivel`s message in Restoration. Another important aspect encountered in this novel is the dissolution of the trinity event-character-plot. We are now speaking of the novel seen with a postmodern eye, and analyzing it from the point of view of its literary novelties. Hence, this disappearance of the event, the character and the plot which in 19th century were the basic foundation of the novel, brought with itself a major change within modern literary canon. The invention of a subjectless and plotless historiography in the 20th century has demonstrated that modern historical research and writing could get without the notions of character and plot. The dissolution of the event as a basic unit of temporal occurrence and building block of history undermines the concept of factuality and threatens the distinction between realistic and imaginary discourse and it undermines a founding presupposition: the opposition between fact and fiction. Fiction is conceived as a mode of writing abandoning the referential and poetic functions of language. This aspect of Modernism created new genres of postmodernist approaches of history, such as the docudrama, which is the case of the novel discussed. I consider this theoretical introduction necessary for my paper because it represents an important key for analyzing the novel through critical lens and according to its literary specificity and the period we talk about. Now, proving this idea means automatically identifying that the novel deals with historical phenomena, which is obviously. Moreover, they appear to fictionalize, to a greater or lesser degree the historical events and the historical character as their referents in history (at the beginning of the novel, even the author feels the need to point out the io its literary specificity and the period we talk about. Now, proving this idea means automatically identifying that the novel deals with historical phenomena, which is obviously. Moreover, they appear to fictionalize, to a greater or lesser degree the historical events and the historical character as their referents in history (at the beginning of the novel, even the author feels the need to point out the idea that the novel is definitely fictionalized, and has no correspondents in the real world). Then, they differ from their generic prototype, the 19th century historical novel (which appeared as an inscription within and the interference between an imaginary tale of the romance and a set of real historical events). Hence, the relationship between the historical novel and the projected alternative, mediated by a contrast is a pastiche: its effects depend upon the capacity of the reader to distinguish between real and imaginary events, fact and fiction, and to a greater extent, even between life and literature. A third element which certainly proves the affiliation of the novel Restoration to the postmodern vision is the novelty of the language. As we discussed about earlier, Rose Tremain brings into account lots of novelties by means of this novels in various fields. Language is one of them. She manages to recreate the main character by means of this linguistic tool which seems to be one of the best ways of characterizing the character, and nonetheless, catalogue the entire novel. The language is more or less colored, and encounters no barriers in dealing with the story of the novel. The entire plot just „goes with the flow of the languag`:

I open the door of the closet and this is what I see: the King, completely naked, kneeling by the bed, his arms encircling Celia's spread thighs and his glossy head buried in her little bush. I stand rooted to the expensive carpet. My face, under the mast, becomes boiling red. I close my eyes. I cannot move. I retreat back into the closet and close the door. (Tremain, 39).

It is very interesting how the language knows no limit in postmodernism, and this is why author felt the need to re-write history in a way that allowed them to offer another interpretation in the reader`s mind, to make him a little bit more reticent upon the authenticity of history. In fact, modernity and later on, postmodernism relies on the lack of faith, the dissipation of tradition, and the reinterpretation of values, the re-birth of the canon. This is exactly the case of this novel which re-invents history through a shifting perspective. In this sense, language becomes a weapon of authenticity and sincerity, and its importance relies on the fact that by means of it, literary canon transforms itself, passes to another level. Hence, the depiction of the heart at the beginning of the novel clearly brings things to another level, re-conceptualizing the definition of the heart. An interesting starting point will be only a brief comparison to the romantic idea of the heart and of the soul which were somehow considered linked to the eternal feeling of love. Restoration presents a totally different idea of what heart means in the postmodern era:

Carefully, he unbound the linen and revealed to us a large hole in his breast, about the size of a Pippin apple, in the depths of which, as I leaned forward to look more closely at it, I saw a pink and moist fleshy substance, moving all the time with a regular pulse. (Tremain, 16-17)

It is very interesting how everything is de-sanctified in postmodernism and brought to a more mundane level. I would even dare to say that Restoration is an important means of communicating with the reader, and answer him various questions. Postmodern literature descends his hero into the ordinary, the quotidian issues of men. Therefore, in the quotation provided above, the author minimalize the importance of heart in people`s lives. Better said, I do believe that the author minimalizes the importance of feelings in real lives, and the importance of this episode relies mostly on this aspect. Again, this idea is reflected in the next excerpt of the text where the Merivel is actually asked to touch the heart: You may touch it if you wish (Tremain, 17). And here we have another proof that everything is possible in postmodernist and that barriers are removed, all sorts of barriers. Touching the untouchable, and speaking the unspeakeable become the slogans of the postmodernist authors. The way in which the postmodernist approach takes a snapshot of the entire world is visible in various replies of the characters. One of these key-replies through which we may notice a way of thinking specific to this literary period is attributed to the king:

"Did you know, Your Majesty," I ventured, "that the human heart – the organ itself, that is – has no feeling?" He looked at me with sorrow. "Ah, Merivel," he said, "where have you learned that?" "I have seen it, Sir." "Seen it? But what we see is but a fraction of what it is. You, as a physician, must no doubt have understood that. (Tremain, 23)

I discussed earlier about the decline of the feeling in the postmodern era. Well, this reply helps my ideas to take this shape. Actually, the postmodern author did not encourage us anymore to believe in anything. The reinterpretation of language, the multiply meaning and the ambiguity are again fundamental particularities of the postmodern period. In fact, we now assist at a reinterpretation of life. Everything is taken at another level in postmodernism. The general truth is dismissed, does not exist anymore in this paradigm. What we see is actually our truth, our own vision, our subjective perspective upon things. There is no such thing as the unique truth in postmodernism. We only deal with alternatives of the truth. Nothing is impenetrable and undeniable. Everything can be reinterpreted. Even history. Merivel even asserts at some point in the novel that he doesn`t trust his knowledge. Well, I guess this is one of the cleverest keys to read this postmodern text which emphasizes this lack of confidence, lack of trust: I don't trust my own knowledge (Tremain, 53). I would go even further with this interpretation and say that the character`s transfer from a medical career to an artistic one is another element which proves this idea. It is a general fact that knowledge is represented by means of medicine, and therefore this aspect is rescinded by the postmodern approach. This transfer of identities, from the rational realm to a spiritual one, may have an explanation for what I discussed earlier. Nonetheless, I do consider important to mention that the spiritual issue is another delicate matter in postmodernism because the disbelief in knowledge and rationality does not mean we are dealing with an increasing divine experience. The disbelief is manifested in all domains of our lives. This is what postmodernism brings to people`s lives. Here, this transfer of identities means that spiritually, man can achieve freedom through his work. The modern approach brings into light this possibility of men to dive into this accurate knowledge in order to be free. And when I say free I totally refer to the freedom to think for themselves, and what is more, to take their own decisions. The structure of the novel is another aspect which is worthy of being analyzed. The novel is divided into three parts, each of them being subdivided into chapters with some quite relevant titles for the entire plot (The Five Beginnings, Wedding Games, My New Vocation, An Indian Nightingale, Two Worms.) The interesting part is that this structural approach is not quite familiar for the postmodern vision which is actually far from this particularity. In my view, I believe that the author uses this stylistic device mainly because of the historical theme she emphasizes in the novel. In this way, she brings the reader even closer to this type of historical stories, even if she gives these stories a totally inedited and new version which is indeed characteristic to postmodernism. Every detail is carefully taken into consideration by Rose Tremain in order to offer the reader the novelty expected. I guess this is one of the most important and interesting characteristics of her entire work. In a delicate and gallant way, the author shifts from one perspective to another. Even if it is not a postmodern approach, the author transforms this structural pattern in a postmodern one. We may even say that she re-creates the canon. Hence, we can discuss her innovative way of seeing not only history, but also writing in all its forms. Moreover, related to this field of structure, we can discuss Rose Tremain`s originality even in matter of the words she uses and the way she manages to introduce the reader into the literary universe. Therefore, the first line of the novel is crucial: ”I am, I discover, a very untidy man.” (Tremain, 14) We realize that we deal with a totally bold beginning of the plot, and we are suddenly and unexpectedly introduced into the imaginary field. This is another interesting way of seeing things in postmodernism because the subjective meaning of the text is another peculiarity that we deal with in postmodernism („I am, I discover„). So, I believe that the beginning is an interesting key in reading the text and disclosing its fundamental particularities in order to analyze the literary universe of the novel in relation to the postmodern approach. Moreover, if we discuss this chapter, we can observe the close relation that the author tries to establish with the reader from the very first lines:

„I don't know whether you can imagine me yet. I am thirty-seven years old as this year, 1664, moves towards its end. My stomach is large and also freckled, although it has seldom been exposed to the sun. It looks as if a flight of minute moths had landed on it in the night. I am not tall, but this is the age of the high heel. I strive to be particular about my clothes, but am terribly in the habit of dropping morsels of dinner on them. My eyes are blue and limpid.„ Tremain (14-15)

Even the depiction of his physical appearance is a very interesting element to be discussed. The main character manages to create a sincere view in what concerns him. Therefore, we can easily observe a sort of frankness that leads to authenticity. His characterization is a proof that he treats even himself with a powerful sense of irony as the author treats the entire book. Hence, a hint of postmodernism is also present in this aspect. We do not deal with a general objective truth, but with subjective view and opinions based on the

social construction of the truth. If we take into consideration the entire novel, we may see that the language used by Merivel is a powerful means of characterizing the author`s narrative style, and to emphasize a 17th century`s depiction of the world. The effort made by Tremain in this sense is huge, because she actually manages to re-create and re-shape the entire world of 17th century through words. This prose echoes the reality of the 17th century in a way that is very subtle, but in the same time truly expressive. Hints that we are „thrown„ in this age are inserted by the author all over the plot. At the beginning of the novel, the main character asserts that he lives in the age of Possibility, and therefore, he is allowed to do whatever he wants. I discussed earlier the liberty achieved by both the author and the reader through this idea of writing. This is one aspect of this freedom. In an attempt to put a name to the period in which he lives, because he needs an identification with the space he is actually using, Merivel uses this term of the „possibility„ which defines perfectly this era. And I would go even further with this interpretation and say that this age of the possibility equals in some way the idea of freedom in any sense presented in the novel: freedom of thoughts, of actions, of decisions. It is also likely to talk here about the freedom of conscience, and everything it presupposes. One of the main features of the characters from Restoration is the fact that they are aware and conscious of the era in which they live in:

„What she couldn't see, and what I had not the heart to point out, was that we no longer live in an honourable age. What has dawned instead is the Age of Possibility.„ (Tremain, 15).

This age of every single possibility is also reflected in other reply of the main character which helps us to better understand both the times of the characters, but also the characters themselves. And this is exactly what postmodernism brings new to the literary canon:

I am also in the middle of a story which might have a variety of endings, some of them not entirely to my liking. The messy constellations I see through my telescope give me no clue to my destiny. There is, in other words, a great deal about the world and my role in it which, despite all my early learning, I utterly fail to understand. (Tremain, 16)

Besides the large amount of „possibilities„ I already discussed, this „variety of endings„ also pictures a certain percentage of uncertainty concerning future which could lead to an absence of something to rely on and to support the character`s own decisions. This non-totalized, chaotic, fragmented style of postmodernism is also based here on this uncertainty of what the future could mean. An interesting correlation to the doctrine of postmodernism is also interesting here. This doubt related to the future covers the entire sphere of the novel. Even at the linguistic level, we may discuss this hesitation in matters of the interpretation of the text. As a short conclusion to this idea, we may say that this hesitation in all its forms it is „floating„ over the entire area of postmodernism. Another particularity of this novel which proves its authenticity in matters of the high levels of novelty it brings into light is also related to the characters in the novel. The fact that postmodernism does not function on some well-established and shaped rules of writing is also reflected in the way which Robert Merivel is emphasized all over the novel. His role is far more important in the entire plot than the king`s acts and replies. Therefore, this reviving, but also original manner of re-writing history provided by Rose Tremain crosses this barrier of a primary character. In this way, the author does not feel the need of a hierarchy within the plot of the novel. This decision is in accordance to the relativist principle in the postmodernist culture, proving that the novel as the entire postmodernist approach is characterized by informality and lack of discipline. Postmodernism plays by its own roles even in this situation. The changes that take place in the plot of the novel compared to reality are also based on a major postmodernist issue which rejects any kind of undeniable historical truths. Postmodernism is not a fan of general truths. Actually, this period is the perfect mirror of subjectivity and millions of opinions and interpretations which are all valuable and reliable. In this way, postmodernism strongly supports originality and creation in order to find an identity to correlate to the reality in which one is living. In this sense, history becomes only a myth, and not the whole basis in constructing the future. The „bricks„ of the history are irrelevant in postmodernism in constructing identities. What is does matter is the subject. Rose Tremain redecorates history by means of this novel and the characters she brings, in an attempt to refresh the reality and to give it new coordinates according to the subjective vision I discussed earlier. Therefore, Postmodernism is an influential instrument in regarding differently reality, by means of a „dispersed eye„. The novelty of this period also relies on the fact that the values are socially and individually determined. In the following lines I would like to bring into notice one of the fundamental scenes from the novel which subtly disclose one of the basic parameters of postmodernist era. One of the eternal struggles of postmodernism is related to reality versus image. Writers of this period were in a perpetual search of new ways of seeing the world, new ways of capturing the detail that could become the revelation in matter of creating. Restoration provides in this sense one of the most interesting hints to this preoccupation of the time. The author tries to transfer this idea to the brushwork level of searching „the essence„, but by means of experimentalism. Postmodernism offers this chance of re-creating through art, and finding an identity.

„I had spent a peevish night trying to decide which pigments to use and in what quantities in order to achieve the exact colour of Meg Storey's neck, her hair, her heel, her nipples. I longed with such envious longing to put onto my canvas something that was more than a mere portrait of Meg Storey. I wanted to capture in colour her very essence, so that anyone seeing my picture would be able to "see" her, exactly as she is, both beautiful and vulgar, and these two opposing conditions conflicting in her with such subtlety that one's perception of her is a constantly changing thing. But how was I to do it? I stood at my easel exhausted and downhearted. How can you capture in a medium which is static that which is constantly moving and altering? I began, without confidence, to mix my pigments. Meg's nose, I noticed, was red ("From the cold I caught, sitting here, Sir Robert"), so I thought I would start with that and work outwards. At once, I could see, I had made a bad decision. You do not, if you are striving for the essence of something, begin with a small detail.„ (Tremain, 48)

Related to this quote, a discussion concerning the importance of colors for Merivel is also interesting to be taken into consideration. At some point he even asserts that he has a great love for colors as these colors would somehow define his life and his identity. And I guess this is the answer. Robert Merivel, as the typical postmodern character, defines himself by means of colors which equal the perception of light. Without going too far with an interpretation based on finding all sorts of symbols in the text, the idea of light presupposes the need for identity. Without colors, the character is depleted of his own perception upon the world. Even speaking of his wardrobe, the colors define the character in every single detail of his life:

„No sense of colour! I was dumbfounded. "Colour," I began to say, "is what excites me more than anything on earth. I was married in purple and gold! At the King's coronation, I fainted almost at the sight of his crimson barge …" (Tremain, 52)

The need for color and the search for essence are two important elements in depicting the role of Robert Merivel in the plot of the action because they come hand in hand with the lost identity of the character. I discussed earlier the possibility of this novel to be analyzed as a bildungs novel which purpose is to take the main characters on the unknown roads of human evolution. Well, the lost identity of Merivel, and, what is more, the fact that he also loses his knowledge are an important part in the evolution of the character:

„Very reluctantly, I got out my surgical instruments and my remedies, ointments and powders, but, having set them out next to Minette on the Dining Room table, found that I was at a loss to know what to do; in my desire to forget my former profession, I had succeeded in burying knowledge that was vital to me now.„ (Tremain, 54)

By means of his own decisions, he gets to a point where he doesn`t even know who he is. Even professionally speaking, he gets through several jobs. The passage of time in the novel equals with a strong rebuilding of his professional goals because he passes through totally different jobs, from the medicine field to a servant of the king`s caprices, and then he wants to become a painter and redefine himself by means of art. The entire life of Merivel is actually a process, but a circular operation in which he almost gets to the same point of the beginning. Of course that major events took place in his life which helped him gain another perception upon reality and introspect his decisions, but at the end, he still remains a doctor. What is more, he also manages to earn again the king`s trust, as in the beginning of the novel. The entire process which pictures his life is the way in which he manages to evolve, and to develop a sort of complexity. And this is the key to the literary success of the novel: the fact that the character manages to obtain this kind of complexity although he starts from a basic level, and this evolution of the non-heroic Robert Merivel is one of the powerful novelties which Rose Tremain lays it on the line. The fact that postmodernism grounds its literary parameters on the opinion based vision, and not on a logical course of nature or things is one of the aspects covered by the author of Restoration.I would like to bring into sight the moment when Merivel manages to paint the color he wished for. I guess this is a representative moment in the novel because by means of the painting the character finally succeeds to re-create his identity. We may correlate this idea to the fact that the man re-shapes his view through art. He even compares his main particularities to those of the painting he just created. The relation between art and the creator is something worthy to be mentioned here because in his long way towards achieving complexity, Merivel plays the role of the creator at this point. In his search for identity, this moment of the plot is relevant because it brings to attention another level of evolution:

„What I could try to capture, however, were the colours. Thus, without sketching anything in charcoal on my canvas, I began furiously to mix my pigments and to lay the paint on in bold sweeps and flourishes, colour upon colour, a scrabble of white for a cloud, wavering lines of green and yellow for the rich grass, cascades of oranges, reds and golds for the chestnuts, a deep mass of purple and brown and black for the further beeches. I worked like a furnace-feeder, like a glass-blower, puffing and straining. My temperature rose and my heartbeat quickened. I was ablaze with my painting. I knew that it was as wild, as undisciplined, as excessive as my own character, but it perfectly expressed, all unskilled as it was, my response to that autumn day, and thus, to me, had a satisfactory logic to it. Furthermore, when it was at last finished and I stepped back from it a few paces and looked at it through half closed eyes, it did resemble to some degree the scene before me. It was, perhaps, as if a child had painted it. It was crude. The colours were too bright and too many. And yet it didn't lie (not even as much, Finn, I wanted to say, as your beautifully painted Greek columns or shepherdesses' picnics). It was, in some essential way, what I had seen.„ (Tremain, 62)

The last lines of this quote are crucial in understanding how the postmodern thinking actually functions. Everything that is logical, linear or may contain an objective truth vanishes in postmodernism. The relation cause-effect or the need of the author to be correctly understood by the readers is simply replaced by a hazard of meaning. Therefore, the central role in a postmodern text is that of the reader whose responsibility is to create this meaning according to his own way of seeing things („It was, in some essential way, what I had seen„), his own manner of perceiving reality. The discourse of a postmodern text is to a certain extent, incoherent and anarchical. Language crosses all sorts of barriers in this sense. I discussed earlier the importance of colors in Merivel`s life. If we carefully follow the array of the novel, it may be easily observed that all the experiences of the main character are somehow related to this chromatic field, and his love for light. The last chapter entitled Margaret Returned to my Mind we deal with the reviewing of his daughter:

„This was the first time that I had held her or indeed held any baby at all and I did not know if I should lay her in the crook of my arm or put her little face over my shoulder, or what. So I sat down on the hard chair where the clients of the money-lender sat and laid Margaret on my lap and looked down at her. She had grown very much and her face was as round as the moon. Her eyes, I now realised, were very large and clear and she looked up at me gravely for a while, then began to kick her legs inside the shawl and to blow little frothy bubbles out of her mouth. "See her hair, Sir?" said the wet-nurse after a while. "Colour of fire, it is." (Tremain, 365)

Even his daughter is measured in terms of the colors which were so important in his life, and accompanied him all across the years and his own experiences. The colors played a major part in his evolution, because at some point of his life, he was characterized by them, and his identity was linked to them.

The fact that the world built by the postmodernist thinking is illogical and, sometimes even superstitious brings us closer to another excerpt from the novel which also represents a key-moment in disclosing its „secrets„:

„Now, the loss of Minette had not only saddened me, but had also made me afraid. My own deliberate act of forgetfulness had allowed her to die; King Charles, in his turn, I now saw, had consigned his onetime Fool to oblivion. I had my house and my title as recompense, but I was forgotten. Cleverer, wittier, less ignoble people had replaced me. I had served my purpose and was now cast from favour.„ (Tremain, 58)

This excerpt reveals a possible comparison between the dog`s destiny and the life of Merivel. What is interesting is that by means of this comparison, the character adds superstition to his postmodern features. He transfers his life to this level of oblivion, and he realizes that he has only been used. The death of the animal appears as a sort of revolution of his own acts and decisions. The fact that Merivel is self-conscious of his mistakes is another hint to the postmodernist approach which is based on a meaningful introspection whose goal is to find the character`s identity. Moreover, the fact that he is aware of his mistakes indicates that he is heading for complexity, and I think this is one of the main goals of the entire novel: to create a character with all these qualities, and with a powerful sense of wholeness. Passing through the chapters of the novel, we get to the end which is the moment when the story of Merivel gets to an end, which it is a happy one and plenty of experiences. Drawing some comparisons between the beginning of the text and the end, we find two distinct sides of our Merivel. While the beginning of the novel pictures a man without a spiritual richness, and interested only in all sorts of superficial preoccupations, the end of the novel is a prof of his transformation. His words, his depictions and the introspection he uses in order to better understand his mistakes show this intense modification of his character. The experiences he had during his life showed him a lot of things and changed his mentality. He is now able to see things with different eyes, and act mature. The moment when he manages to receive the king`s forgiveness represents the end of his transformation. The process is finally over, and the aim was in this way achieved. All the challenges Merivel had to confront got him to the point in which he achieved complexity, and therefore he is rewarded by the king with the room, and of course, his forgiveness:

"Yes. I am giving you the room. It is yours. Until my reign is over and another age comes. Until then it is restored to you – in return for the life you saved and in return for the man you have become. It is your room and you can come and go from it as you please, and I will never take it from you." (Tremain, 382)

The space has an interesting signification because, as the king himself assets, is the place where he comes to dream. By giving this place to Merivel he also gives him the possibility of dreaming, and fulfilling his wishes. In the end, Merivel returned to Bidnold because he continued to dream over and over again this place, and he felt the need to visit it. Therefore, this space is represented through this powerful symbol of dreaming, and can be also correlated to the idea of settlement. The king was the one who offered Merivel a scandalous job at the beginning of the novel. And yet, he is the one who wants him exonerated of any guilt, and starting fresh. Because the end of the novel can also be read as a new start for the main character, a new era, a new cycle of his life. He is offered another perspective to see things, and what is more, the king offers Robert Merivel a second chance. This attitude is also explained at the first level of the title Restoration. I discussed earlier also the idea that Merivel`s life could resemble a circle because he returns to the same point he left, only richer in experience, and with a deeper understanding of things surrounding him. In his journey with the predicted end, we may even say that Robert Merivel abandoned the superficial in favor of the spiritual gain. His life have been restored and re-balanced. He finally found some principles to rely on. Nevertheless, these principles and also his staying in Bidnold strongly depend on the king and his reign. So, even if things arranged for the main character who finally settled down, uncertainty still floats in the air, and the text offers no guarantee for Merivel. This lack of cohesion regarding the future of the character can also be read in his character. His change and this transformation which took place in his life, in his thinking are not necessarily permanent or even durable. Tremain`s postmodern prose is shadowed, in this way, by hesitation and indecision. Everything is let in the hands of hazard.

As a conclusion of this chapter which was meant to introduce into discussion the correlation between the postmodern approach and the text of Rose Tremain, I would like to add a confession made by the author for The Guardian where she asserts that Robert Merivel in all his complexity was the result of the 1980s society, and that he created him as a mirror to this period which she considers to be a re-loaded Restoration:

„But what gave rise to the idea of Merivel? I am often asked this question and I know that, at the time of writing, in 1988, I was casting around for some means to examine the moral consequences of Britain's plunge into Thatcherite materialism. Rather than try to seize the fast-moving, food- and property-obsessed present, it occurred to me that to set a novel at the time of the restoration would be to hold up some kind of mirror to the 1980s. It would also be a very diverting way into the period and readers could take or leave the contemporary parallels as they chose.„ (The Guardian, John Mullan).

By analyzing all particularities which create Merivel, we get to the conclusion that he is a very sympathetic character, which connects to the reader even from the very first lines. His drawbacks are overlapped by a powerful sense of humor and an intelligent self-irony which manages to overreach the literary public.

Chapter 2 „Restoring„ the Sense in Romanian

2.1. Introduction to the field of translation

One of the fundamental issues which creates and marvelously shape our individual and national identities is undoubtedly the language. It is indispensably in creating ourselves, and it represents the cultural means through which we get to know the other. By means of a language, we may easily step towards other cultural domains so that we can enlarge our horizons. As a matter of fact, language plays a crucial role in developing our personalities and creating sense:

In my view, language may be one of many elements that allow us to make sense of things, of ourselves. I am thinking, of course, of gestures, pauses, but also of chance, of the sub-individual force-fields of being which click into place in different situations, swerve from the straight or true line of language-in-thought. Making sense of ourselves is what produces identity. (Venuti, 1992)

The importance of this quote relies on the fact that creating sense is the first step towards communication which is also a compulsory instrument in our daily life. Hence, a sort of permanent relationship is created between language => communication => identity. And by means of identity we define ourselves, our personalities, and we can live our lives. I wanted to write down this short introduction about the importance of language in our lives, because in order to understand the complexity generated by the study of translation, it is highly required to descend to this linguistic level. The importance of language translation is globally recognized, due to the fact that it is a powerful way of interacting between nations. Hence, the field of translation`s purposes is to interchange cultural identities, and therefore, to destroy the cultural wall of every country. Language, together with translation, helps people do this.

Now that I have established the important place of language and translation within our lives, a short depiction of translation, its basic particularities, and some important approaches of several linguists are required. I have chosen to expose here what I have considered important and relevant for the topic I discuss. First of all, in his book entitled The Translator's Invisibility: A History of Translation Book, Lawrence Venutti discusses this idea of invisibility related to translation, stating that this particularity should be present in every translated text because it should reflect the originality of the translator in matters of reveling the reader the real meaning of the original script. The basic idea of this concept is that a text should not suffer from that superficiality which often comes with the translation, and the transfer which is generated by putting the author`s words into another language. Moreover, this invisibility of the text leads also to another concept that the Lawrence explains in his book, that of the transparency which diminishes the presence of the translator within the book, when his contribution is huge. Therefore, in order to talk about the transparency of the text, we ought to discuss the so-called invisibility of the translator:

I see translation as the attempt to produce a text so transparent that it does not seem to be translated. A good translation is like a pane of glass. You only notice that it's there when there are little imperfections-scratches, bubbles. Ideally, there shouldn't be any. It should never call attention to itself. (…)." The illusion of transparency is an effect of fluent discourse, of the translator's effort to insure easy readability by adhering to current usage, maintaining continuous syntax, fixing a precise meaning. What is so remarkable here is that this illusory effect conceals the numerous conditions under which the translation is made, starting with the translator's crucial intervention in the foreign text The more fluent the translation, the more invisible the translator, and, presumably, the more visible the writer or meaning of the foreign text. (Venutti, 1)

In my view, this concept of invisibility represents a very important notion in the field of translation studies because it is the first step towards an accurate translation, especially in matters of literature. The language used, and the way the translator manages to restore the basic meaning and ideas of the original text is hugely relevant for the reader, and for the authenticity of the author. When talking about literature, authenticity and quaintness are strongly related to the author`s style, and his manners of expressing himself. The work of a translator is not easy at all. The „invisibility„ discussed in the previous lines actually means that he has to put himself in the author`s place when translating his text. Writing literature is a part of that author which the translator has to know and to reflect in his work. The analysis and research he has to do in order to get an accurate translation are important steps that go a lot further than just reading the text.

Secondly, another fundamental key-word in translation studies is equivalence. Susan Bassnett in her work entitled Translation Studies, deals with the fact that there is no entire equivalence between the two languages. The similarity of the two languages involved in the process of translation cannot be flawless. In this way, the translator is somehow forced by the linguistic circumstances to make that „transfer„ of meaning in order his text would be fully understood by the public, because a translation means a lot more than linguistic„bricks„ to build a text. The original text often brings into the author`s consideration some extra-linguistic elements which are highly important for the reader in order to get to the deep meaning of the text. Hence, the social realities of the languages are different and the main duty of the translator is to make these two worlds more or less compatible by means of his translation. He must find that correspondence between them and actually make the text an authentic copy of the original text:

Translation involves far more than replacement of lexical and grammatical items between languages and, as can be seen in the translation of idioms and metaphors, the process may involve discarding the basic linguistic elements of the SL text so as to achieve Popovič's goal of 'expressive identity' between the SL and TL texts. But once the translator moves away from close linguistic equivalence, the problems of determining the exact nature of the level of equivalence aimed for begin to emerge. (Bassnett, 32)

She also discusses about the strong relationship that governs the language and culture of a nation. Therefore, if language and culture are so inseparable, the lack of equivalence in both languages involved in the process of translation will automatically lead to a lack of equivalence between cultures:

Language, then, is the heart within the body of culture, and it is the interaction between the two that results in the continuation of life-energy. In the same way that the surgeon, operating on the heart, cannot neglect the body that surrounds it, so the translator treats the text in isolation from the culture at his peril. (Basnett. 22)

In the Translation Studies Reader edited by Lawrence Venuti, Eugene Nida discusses a similar topic in his essay entitled Principles of Correspondence. Nida states that the lack of a perfect translation should not exclude the correspondence between two languages. I guess this correspondence is the basis of the entire translation, and, moreover, it also represents the first bond between the source text and the translation. There cannot be a perfect identification, but the correspondence established between the two languages is definitely a bridge towards a good translation, which he calls „a natural translation„. This final product`s purpose is to produce the same effect on the readers, as the source text has produced on its readers. This can be very difficult to deal with, especially if we take into consideration the concept of untranslatability which will be discussed further. This natural translation has to be built on the ground of these correspondences between the two languages which ultimately lead to a relation between the two cultures. One of the huge areas of responsibilities of the translator is to maintain this sort of relation on the entire route of the translation. Nonetheless, it may be difficult sometimes to establish these correspondences if the source text is actually really good literature. The reason is, of course, the presence of the denotative and connotative linguistic aspects that we encounter in the text:

It must be recognized, however, that it is not easy to produce a completely natural translation, especially if the original writing is good literature, precisely because truly good writing intimately reflects and effectively exploits the total idiomatic capacities and special genius of the language in which the writing is done. A translator must therefore not only contend with the special difficulties resulting from such an effective exploitation of the total resources of the source language, but also seek to produce something relatively equivalent in the receptor language. (Nida, 133)

In this way, it is really difficult to deal with a text which is wreathed in this equivocal type of language. The fact is the most difficult task is to find the equivalence between the two languages involved in the process, based on some correspondences the translator has to create. Therefore, he has to find and re-create the essence of the text in his translation. He has to be aware that the linguistic loss generated by the lack of a perfect equivalence has to be counterbalanced by other means of expressing the author`s intentions. Hence, the translator becomes the second creator of the text in other language than the primary one. The means of this „re-creation„ of the source text can be differently accomplished, according to the cases we are talking about, but the main idea is that the translator has to adjust the text at a grammatical and lexical level to arrive at this „understanding„ between the two languages, and implicitly between the two cultures. On the grounds of this important aspect of equivalence in matters of translation studies, we can think to another relevant question. To what extent can we talk about loss and gain in the process of translation? Well, it is a general fact that the translator may encounter situations in which terms or concepts from the source language cannot be translated because they do not exist in this language. So, the translator has to replace this loss by adding important other explanatory notes to the text which may help the reader understand what is all about, and moreover, enrich the meaning of the translated text. This additional information can actually be a valid way to embellish the translation, and to bring it closer to the author`s writing intentions. Here is another reason to arise the work of the translator to a higher level, because his contribution, is again, truly important for the authenticity of the text. Like an unfinished chain, the next issue generated by the field of translation is related to the idea of untranslatability which is also frequently encountered, and is also strongly connected to the lack of equivalence I mentioned earlier. This concept of untranslatability can be discussed in terms of the ambiguity which is often resent in a literary work. This ambiguity generated various interpretations by the readers, and we should forget that first of all, the future translator is actually a previous reader of the text. Therefore, his variant of translation is just another form of interpretation the artistic work of the author. In my opinion, the idea of untranslatability is to a great extent, the main consequence of the ambiguity of a literary text, and in this way, the cultural and literary background of the translator plays an important role in this process. In the end, his interpretation will strongly depend on this, and in order to this interpretation be actually valid, he is required to be informed about all linguistic and extra-linguistic elements which surround the text:

„As has already been suggested, it is clearly the task of the translator to find a solution to even the most daunting of problems. Such solutions may vary enormously; the translator's decision as to what constitutes invariant information with respect to a given system of reference is in itself a creative act.„ ` (Bassnett, 42)

So, in conclusion I would say that these characteristics mentioned in these pages are only a few elements which together can help in building a good translation. The fact is that there is a lot of material left undiscussed because the truth is that this field becomes larger and larger as the time passes, and new developments help the study of translation in making huge progresses. The particularities I chose to discuss are fundamentally important in developing the next chapters of my work, but there is no doubt that I left out a lot of interesting theories concerning this topic, due to the large material and thousands of pages written about it. Nonetheless, in terms of literary translations, I do believe I have managed to make a short introduction into this branch which will be the basis for my further analysis.

2.2. In search of authenticity

Now that we have stepped into this slippery and ambiguous world of translation, it is required to have a careful examination of the Rose Tremain`s novel, Restoration, in terms of its Romanian translation, carried out by RAO International Publishing Company, by means of Monica Pillat and Nicolae Săulescu. To begin with, I would like to add the fact that I intent to make an objective analysis of the translation, pointing out its advantages and its drawbacks, in terms of translation studies volumes I read and quotes in the last chapter. I also intent to frame this Romanian translation into several categorizations made in these books by several authors. To begin with, in order to frame the translator`s work, I would like to define the main type of translation that we deal with. First of all, according to Jean Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet in A Methodology for Translation encountered in The Translation Studies Reader, edited by Lawrence Venuti, we have a sort of taxonomy which is very important in analyzing the text. The two authors bring into consideration the existence of two main types of translation: direct, or literal translation, and oblique translation. The former presupposes the use of a series of translational procedures such as transposition, modulation and equivalence, whereas the direct translation emphasizes methods such as literal translations, caiques and borrowings. Another classification made by researchers in this domain of translation is shown by Roman Jakobson is his essay entitled On Linguistic Aspects of Translation. What I am interested in is to define and place the translation we are dealing with in a way that could ease the difficulty of analyzing. It is indeed very important to establish the circumstances that lead to the final translation. So, the three main types of translation described by Jakobson are:

1 Intralingual translation or rewording is an interpretation of verbal signs by

means of other signs of the same language.

2 Interlingual translation or translation proper is an interpretation of verbal

signs by means of some other language.

3 Intersemiotic translation or transmutation is an interpretation of verbal signs

by means of signs of nonverbal sign systems. (Venuti, 114)

The interlingual translation or the translation proper is the one which best fits here from all the three categories. This is, of course, the most problematic of them because it brings into light the issue of equivalence between the SL and the TL, also discussed by Jakobson in his essay mentioned earlier. Together with the matter of equivalence, the essay also brings into light the ability of the translator to interpret the text according to his own vision. So, this means that the translator should also have a critical view upon the work of the author, and definitely some knowledge regarding the literary field. The next pages of my work will bring into light notifications and explanations of some of the methods I mentioned earlier sustained by various examples and my own opinions on how should the translation be more appropriate to the TS. I would also like to point out the fact that the Romanian version I am analyzing here is mainly based on a direct translation, which sometimes did not prove to be the best solution, as we may easily observe in the next lines.

Since the beginning of a book plays such an important role for a reader because it represents his first contact with the literary work, I chose to start with the first lines from the book:

„I am, I discover, a very untidy man. Look at me. Without my periwig, I am an affront to neatness. My hair (what is left of it) is the colour of sand and wiry as hogs' bristles; my ears are of uneven size; my forehead is splattered with freckles; my nose, which of course my wig can't conceal, however low I wear it, is unceremoniously flat, as if I had been hit at birth. Was I hit at birth? J do not believe so, as my parents were gentle and kindly people, but I will never know now. They died in a fire in 1662. My father had a nose like a Roman emperor. This straight, fierce nose would neaten up my face, but alas, I don't possess it. Perhaps I am not my father's child? I am erratic, immoderate, greedy, boastful and sad. Perhaps I am the son of Amos Treefeller, the old man who made head-moulds for my father's millinery work? Like him, I am fond of the feel of objects made of polished wood. My telescope, for instance. For I admit, I find greater order restored to my brain from the placing of my hands round this instrument of science than from what its lenses reveal to my eye. The stars are too numerous and too distant to restore to me anything but a terror at my own insignificance.„ (Tremain, 14)

The fact that the English version of this text brought a huge success for the author is not a secret, and therefore, can be proven from the very first lines. The expressivity and the way in which the author brings in the reader are fabulous, and truly meaningful. She manages to establish a strong contact with the audience since the beginning which is a little bold, but yet, full of significances, in terms of postmodernist literary art. In order to draw a comparison, it is necessary to see the text in Romanian and analyze the effects it possibly has on the readers:

Descopăr că sunt un om foarte dezodonat. Uită-te la mine. Fără perucă sunt o sfidare a exactității. Părul meu (ce a mai rămas din el) are culoarea nisipului și e zbârlit ca perii porcului; urechile mele au mărimi diferite, fruntea mi-e pătată cu pistrui, nasul, pe care bineînțeles nu îl pot ascunde sub perucă, oricât mi-aș îndesa-o pe cap, e necuviincios de turtit, de parcă aș fi fost lovit la naștere. Am fost lovit la naștere? Nu cred, deoarece părinții mei erau oameni cumsecade și buni, dar acum nu mai am cum să știu. Au murit într-un accident în 1662. Tatăl meu avea un nas de împărat roman. Acest nas drept, mândru, mi-ar fi corectat fața, dar vai, nu îl am. Să nu fiu oare fiul tatălui meu? Asemeni lui, îmi place să pipăi obiectele făcute din lemn lustruit. Telescopul meu, de pildă. Pentru că, recunosc, în mintea mea se face mai multă ordine când îmi pun mâinile pe acest instrument de știință decât atunci când mă uit la ceea ce îmi arată lentilele lui. Stelele sunt prea numeroase și prea îndepărtate pentru a-mi restitui altceva decât spaima propriei mele nimicnicii. (Tremain, 10)

In the chapter 6 of the Translation Study Reader edited by Lawrence Venuti, Jean-Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet wrote a condensed manual of analyzing a translation from several perspectives and following a wide variety of procedures. The procedure number 7 entitled adaption is the also the key-word in dealing with the introduction of the novel discussed in my paper. The lack of adaption within a translation may lead to a sort of superficiality which may affect the entire view of the reader upon the whole book. This chapter discusses that this is one of the most common impressions which appear in this translation made by international organizations:

Even though translators may produce a perfectly correct text without adaptation, the absence of adaptation may still be noticeable by an indefinable tone, something that does not sound quite right. This is unfortunately the impression given only too often by texts published by international organizations, whose members, either through ignorance or because of a mistaken insistence on literalness, demand translations which are largely based on caiques. (Jean-Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet, 91).

The importance of this excerpt relies on the fact that translating good literature is very difficult. This is the case of the novelist Rose Tremain. This introduction into the text, as well as the entire text, involves a great deal of linguistic superficiality and lack of literary meaning. It also gives the impression that there is no fluency in discourse. This procedure of adaptation to the source text is taken too far in this translation of Monica Pillat and Nicoale Săulescu, which are members of an international publishing company. The fidelity to the source text went too far in this case, creating a sort of intermittent perception of the translated text. Unfortunately, this automatically lead to a loss of authenticity. Although the text in English provides a great start for the novel, in Romanian, the text doesn`t have the same effects on the reader. One of the terms I find highly inappropriate in this context is the translation of the verb „to restore„ into the Romanian „a restitui„ which, linguistically speaking, is a neologism, and it simply doesn`t fit in this historical context. Although reloaded into a postmodernist approach, the historical context of the novel still matters for the development of all the characters and their main particularities. And even if not for the historical context, I consider this term timeless because we deal with an artistic manner of building the background of the novel, talking about stars. I would go for the term „a înapoia„ in Romanian which is more close to the actual meaning of the original text.

Moreover, going back to the first line of the novel, the word „untidy„ in English is not the most appropriate equivalent of the word „dezordonat„ in Romanian, as translated by the two authors. In my view, the term which is more close to the original meaning would be „neglijent„. The further characterization of the physical aspect of the character shows this thing. As a matter of fact, „untidy„ equals here with the term „disheveled„, whereas „dezordonat„ in Romanian is explained as somebody who doesn`t keep his/her things in order. I think that what I am trying to say is actually based on my entire advocacy in favor of the originality of the translated text, and the loss of the word-by-word adaptation of the English version of the text, in this case. The introduction into the fictional world of the characters is definitely made by means of some superficial linguistic tools which do not manage to achieve that „transfer of meaning„ I discussed in the previous chapter. The purpose of the translated text is not entirely fulfilled. There are plenty of examples through the entire novel which prove that one of the most used procedures used by the two translators was actually based on adaptation, and what is more on linguistic calques. The lack of authenticity is visible, and the translation seems just a copy-paste from the dictionary. In order to maintain the literary sense of the novel by using such a faithful translation, the correspondence between the two languages and cultures somehow failed. Another slight difference in meaning related to the two texts is related to modal verb „might„, which in English expresses a lower level of probability. The example I will provide deals with a „forced„ translation of the term in Romanian, by using the present form of it, and not the conditional one: „poate„ instead of „ar putea„: „I am also in the middle of a story which might have a variety of endings, some of them not entirely to my liking.„ It may seem an indistinguishable distinction, but for the development of the entire plot of the novel is really important. In the end, the novel doesn`t have a large number of endings, but only one. I do believe that the choice for this form of the verb darkens the reader`s expectations, by not being used correctly, and by not expressing the real meaning of the verb „might„. Moreover, there are situations in which the translators do not follow the right definitions of words that we find in Romanian dictionaries. For instance, at page 16 in the Romanian translation we have the sentence „Mi-am suflecat dantela de la mânecă„, whereas in English we have „I rolled back the lace at my wrist.„ Well, the correct translation of the word „wrist„ in Romanian is „manșetă„. Of course that the authors have very good moments in their translation, and we have entire sets of paragraphs which totally make sense, and which also have a profound sense of the Romanian language and culture. The success of these excerpts is based on the use of several translational methods, other than the literal translation which is very present through the entire novel:

„Mi-am retras mâna. Mă simțeam tot atât de tulburat ca și bietul meu prieten quaker, căruia i-aș fi cerut o dușcă de brandy, numai că știam că n-avea niciodată la el așa ceva. Astfel încât, în timp ce vizitatorul nostru îți punea la loc, calm, tamponul și placa de oțel și se apleca să-și ridice de jos cămașa, Pearce și cu mine stăteam așezați pe banca tare și câteva minute în șir nu izbutirăm să scoatem nici un cuvânt.„ (Tremain, 17)

Unlike the original English version of the novel, the Romanian translation brings into light another kind of expressing the author`s ideas be means of an entire sentence. So, in Romanian we have „ nu izbutirăm să scoatem nici un cuvânt„, whereas in English we have simply „devoid of words„. This translational procedure is called transposition, defining the changing of one word class with another, preserving the meaning and the main idea of the sentence. The rest of the except is entirely based on the literal translation, which is actually part of the translator`s style.

„I withdrew my hand. I felt as full of trouble as my poor Quaker friend, to whom I would have turned for a tot of brandy, except that I knew he never had any. So while our visitor calmly strapped on his linen pad and his steel plate and stooped to pick up his shirt, Pearce and I sat down on his extremely hard settle and were, for a good few minutes, devoid of words„. (Tremain, 19)

Another relevant example of transposition is offered by the author in the next excerpt: Moartea bunilor mei părinți, precum și potolirea dorului de femei au trezit în mintea mea de anatomist conștiința repeziciunii cu care timpul poate ceda morții. Nu mă pierd ușor cu firea. (Tremain, 22).

I am mainly interested in the last line, but the context is important in order to emphasize this translational procedure. The English version is: „I am not squeamish„. Hence, we may easily observe the fact that transposition appears in the Romanian translation in the shape of an expression, whereas the English version concentrates the entire meaning in the shape of an adjective. Nonetheless, we have to point out the fact that there is a certain loss of meaning in this Romanian version because the two manners of expressing this idea are to a certain extent different. The word „squeamish„ in English is not a perfect synonym for the expression „a nu se pierde cu firea„ which defines somebody who is courageous and able to face different situations. This choice for a translation to not preserve the exact same meaning as the version is called modulation which is defined by Jean-Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet in the essay entitled A Methodology for Translation, present in The Translation Studies Reader edited by Lawrence Venuti, as follows:

„Modulation is a variation of the form of the message, obtained by a change in the point of view. This change can be justified when, although a literal, or even transposed, translation results in a grammatically correct utterance, it is considered unsuitable, unidiomatic, or awkward in the TL.„ (Venuti,, 89)

However, the choice of changing the actual meaning of the TS remains ambiguous, because in my personal view, I would have rather used: Nu sunt un om grețos, if I would have liked to preserve the basic meaning of the word. Yet, the version of the translator is not wrong if we try to frame it into the whole context. The next pages of the novel also bring into consideration the use of another translational procedure. The borrowing is one of the simplest procedures and it is often used with the purpose of overcoming a lacuna, or to preserve the exact same meaning of the ST when we do not find a perfect equivalent in the translated language. Actually, linguistic specialists mention that the borrowing „would not even merit discussion in this context if translators did not occasionally need to use it in order to create a stylistic effect. „ (Venutti, 85). We discuss here the word „vermillion„, a French borrowing used both by the author of the novel, and the translator:

„This money enabled me to buy a great quantity of Chinese furniture for my Withdrawing Room, to hang the walls with niched vermilion taffeta and Peking scrolls, to upholster my chairs in scarlet and carmine and gold and to lay upon the floor a carpet from Chengchow so elaborate in design it had been a thousand days upon the loom.„ (Tremain, 45)

The word is preserved with the exact same form in the translation. In this situation, the fact that Robert Merivel was fashionable at the time by using this kind of French borrowings is a very important aspect of his characterization as the main charters. The fact that the word is kept in the translation in French has a significant role in creating the historical background of the novel, and in showing the reader that Merivel was very keen on everything that means fashion and novelty at the time. The French-English dictionary defines the word „vermillon„ as „a vivid red to reddish orange„. The choice to maintain the term is actually a good idea even from the point of linguistic economy, because it would have been very difficult to explain its meaning in English. Its presence was absolutely necessary to create and to shape the novel.

Another important aspect to be discussed within the translation is related to some grammar issues that the translator neglects to preserve their correct form. The example I am providing in this sense is related to the intransitivity of the verb „a lenevi„ which the translator uses as transitive in the sentence: „Dar mă leneveam„ (Tremain, 17). The English version of this line is „ But I was becoming lazy„ (Tremain, 19), and in my view a more appropriate translation would be „Începusem să lenevesc”. I would go for this version because it is very important to mark the fact that the action is at the beginning.

Moreover, one of the fundamental results provided by the ceaseless use of the literal translation is the fact that Romanian clauses lose their meaning if there are forced to cohabit into a continuous sequence of elements which, is true, in English totally make sense. In order to make a great show of zeal, sometimes the translator doesn`t take into consideration that the readers usually deal with only the Romanian text which should follow a literary course in order to build the entire meaning. Therefore, it is required to cut the clauses which are too long, and to try to adjust the text from a formal point of view, so that the reader can enjoy and really understand the plot without a misty topic, and an ambiguous use of the translated language, as in the following situation:

Finn și-ar fi pus pe cal și patul cu rotile dacă nu l-aș fi oprit, iar Frances Elizabeth și-ar fi pus măsuța de scris, căci nu s-a putut găsi nici o căsuță să le ia, și chiar când focul se apropia din ce în ce, cei doi se agățau de aceste lucruri și refuzau să fie despărțiți de ele și când am plecat în sfârșit, cu Danseuse clătinându-se sub încărcătura grea, au încercat să le ridice și să le care și multă vreme i-am auzit în urma mea, pufăind și gemând și spunându-și unul altuia ,,Putem să facem asta, putem să facem asta.” (Tremain, 388)

It is absolutely obvious that the reader gets confused when reading this excerpt, because it is very hard to follow the meaning. The translator uses too many connectors to chain the ideas (iar, căci, și chiar, și, și când), some of them even being reiterated a couple of times. Trying to make his translation more accurate and closer to the original, the translator failed in achieving a Romanian text correct from a semantic and grammatical point of view. Some changes are definitely required in order to achieve a good translation. The English version of the novel, shows continuity of the action, and a flow of the author`s thoughts in a marvelous manner, but the translation should have been adjusted in order to seem appropriate and so fit in into the language in which it was written. This paragraph is definitely an example that the literal translation which reigned over the entire text also suffocates it from time to time. Another situation in which this reiteration of connectors sounds weird and unprofessional in Romanian is at the end of the novel, in the last chapter:

Prefăcându-se că nu observă că eram fără perucă și neras și desculț și purtând o cămașă de noapte sfâșiată plină de firimituri de prăjitură, Regele m-a invitat, cu o voce dulce și blândă, să fac un tur cu el în parc.

(Tremain, 406-407)

We encounter the same situation here because the repetition of the word „și„is still very annoying for the Romanian reader. In an oral speech, maybe we do use this reiteration because it offers a sort of continuity to our ideas and thoughts, but the situations in which the author choses to preserve the exact same topic and words from the English version are present in the book in a large number and definitely not good for the accuracy of translation. The modification that were necessary in these cases for the text to sound like an original Romanian one are meaningless, from a formal point of view. In my opinion, the cut of one or two „și„ from the excerpt would not change anything, but the sound and familiarity with the language.

In the end, the purpose of translation is based on the right communication of the author`s ideas. Sometimes, using the same words in a different language is not the right decision because the process of translation also implies some decisions to make in order to come down with the right information. Jirví Levý in the essay entitled TRANSLATION AS A DECISION PROCESS in a book edited by Venuti I already discussed exposed this theory that a right translation is not entirely based on communicating some information from one language to another, but the translator should also pay attention on how he does this thing, on what decisions to make in order to obtain the result wanted.

„FROM THE TELEOLOGICAL point of view, translation1 is a PROCESS OF COMMUNICATION: the objective of translating is to impart the knowledge of the original to the foreign reader. From the point of view of the working situation of the translator at any moment of his work (that is from the pragmatic point of view), translating is a DECISION PROCESS: a series of a certain number of consecutive situations—moves, as in a game—situations imposing on the translator the necessity of choosing among a certain (and very often exactly definable) number of alternatives.„ (Venuti, 1967)

I guess a translated text should really preserve the key to open people`s hearts and minds from the original one. It should still have the flavor of originality, but by means of another language. And this is not an easy thing to do. Literary translation often deal with this problem, of omitting the essence and not recognizing the seed of the author`s talent. This seed has to be seen also in the so-called target language. As a matter of fact, translation is also about choice, and always having an alternative. The problem is whether that alternative is good enough, and how it should be adjusted to fit in in the traditions and the entire world of the translated text.

Nonetheless, there are some excerpts from the book where the translator manages to really deliver over the message of Tremain. There are some moments in which the literal translation succeeds in communicating the right information in the best way possible. It seems that the literal translation does work in many of these situations, as I exemplified in the previous pages of my work. Although there are a large number of positions in which this procedure ends by a total lack of sense in Romanian, sometimes we may find it useful, as in the next paragraph:

Sunt desculț, dar lemnul scării, bătut de soare, este cald. Și atunci observ, cum cobor, că ușa din față e deschisă și pot vedea umbre pe pietriș, ca ale unor oameni care trec, și undeva în creierul meu, care e îmbâcsit de somn, știu ce trebuie să însemne asta și totuși înțelesul refuză să ajungă la mine, apropiindu-se doar foarte încet…atât de încet…ca o veche amintire care zace ruginită și neglijată pe jumătate ascunsă… și atunci ajung în hol ca să chem unul din câini la mine, dar vin toți, se înghesuie în jurul meu și îmi sar pe picioare și către mâna mea întinsă și dau din cozi. Sunt înconjurat de ei. (Tremain, 406)

It is absolutely obvious that in this case, the fidelity of the translator lead to some positive changes in the translated text, because the words are settling down in a perfect order, and sounding like they were actually created in Romanian. The expressions such as „creierul… îmbâcsit de somn„ or „ ca o veche amintire care zace ruginită și neglijată pe jumătate ascunsă„ totally make sense in Romanian and they seem so real, natural, and even original. The literal translation is the correct choice here, and makes a wonderful job with the text.

2.3 Coming to a Conclusion

Still, the translation of a literary text is very difficult to deal with. There are some terms or words we confront, and which seem more or less untranslatable in a foreign language. That is where the translator`s ability as a writer and creator of sense should interfere. There are some important aspects within this Romanian version of the text which are very original and worthy to be taken into consideration. Although there are situations in which the „transfer of meaning„ is lost I just want to point out that there are several ways to picture the situation, and therefore, to analyze the translation. The Romanian version of the text reveals a literal translation which often leads to superficiality of language, but which can also be explained by the connection present between the European languages. Jean-Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet in the essay entitled A Methodology for Translation, present in The Translation Studies Reader edited by Lawrence Venuti, also discuss this relationship between the European languages based also on a similarity which is achieved even at a cultural level. This similarity is practically the reason why literal translation can be understood and accepted, when we talk about European languages, for instance.

In principle, a literal translation is a unique solution which is reversible and complete in itself. It is most common when translating between two languages of the same family (e.g. between French and Italian), and even more so when they also share the same culture. If literal translations arise between French and English, it is because common metalinguistic concepts also reveal physical coexistence, i.e. periods of bilingualism, with the conscious or unconscious imitation which attaches to a certain intellectual or political prestige, and such like. They can also be justified by a certain convergence of thought and sometimes of structure, which are certainly present among the European languages (cf. the creation of the definite article, the concepts of culture and civilization), and which have motivated interesting research in General Semantics. (Venuti, 86-87)

If I were to draw a short conclusion on every single observation I made in this book, I would say that the use of literal translation as a standing procedure all along the

Romanian text was sometimes a good decision, and sometimes was not enough. The complexity of a postmodern novel is usually huge, and Rose Tremain is one of the best writers at the time which means that her writing perfectly targets this complexity in her novel. Restoration re-writes history in postmodern terms and conditions. Restoration writes a destiny, and Robert Merivel is one of the most interesting tools with which the author manages to create this historical world. I guess that what I am really trying to say is that the perfect translation of this text would have definitely been based on a sort of balance. Achieving a balance between the situations in which literal translation was beneficial for the TL, and the situations in which the translator should have created and re-shaped the meaning in Romanian. I also believe that a literary text is almost impossible to satisfy every single critical opinion, because translation automatically means creation and interpretation. The translator has to be the author while he is dealing with the book. He is recreating the world of the novel with different linguistic tools and through various interpretations. His presence is very important for the reader, and he has to be very well-informed about the TL in which he writes.

Incursion into the World of Translation

Drumul spre casă

Rose Tremain

I Țigările pline de înțeles

În vagon, Lev și-a ales un scaun în spate și s-a așezat zgribulit lângă fereastră., privind spre pământul pe care îl părăsea, la câmpurile cu floarea-soarelui, pârjolite de vântul uscat, la fermele de porci, la cariere și râuri și la usturoiul sălbatic cel verde care creștea la marginea șoselei. Lev purta o jachetă de piele, blugi și o pălărie din piele care îi acoperea ușor ochii. Chipul său arătos era ușor încărunțit de la fumat, iar în mâini a apucat nervos o batistă roșie din bumbac și un DENTED pachet de țigări rusești. Avea să împlinească în curând vârsta de 43 de ani. După câteva mile, după cum soarele avea să se ridice, Lev își luă o țigară, o prinde între buzele sale, iar femeia de lângă el, o durdulie și o persoană calmă cu alunițe precum petele de noroi pe fața sa, spuse dintr-o dată:

Îmi pare rău, dar fumatul este interzis în acest autobuz.

Lev știa asta, știa dinainte și încercare să se pregătească mintal pentru această lungă agonie.

Dar chiar și o țigară stinsă era și ea o companie – ceva de care să te ții, ceva care făgăduia o promisiune – și tot ce putea să facă acum era să încuviințeze, să îi arate femeii că auzise ceea ce spusese, să o reasigure că nu avea de gând să cauzeze probleme; pentru că aveau să stea împreună mai mult de 40 de ore, unul lângă celălalt, fiecare cu durerile și visele sale, precum un cuplu căsătorit. Aveau să-și audă unul altuia sforăitul și suspinul, să-și miroasă mâncarea și băuturile pe care fiecare le adusese cu el, să-și observe nivelul de teamă sau curaj, să facă scurte, să facă scurte incursiuni în conversație. Și apoi, mai târziu, când aveau să sosească, în sfârșit, la Londra, să se despartă unul de altul cu doar o privire sau un cuvânt, să plece într-o dimineață ploioasă, fiecare singur, începând o nouă viață. Și Lev își dă dădea seama cum toate aceste lucruri erau ciudate, dar necesare, spunându-și deja lucruri despre lumea în care avea să călătorească, o lume în care avea să se spetească muncind – dacă această muncă ar putea fi găsită. Avea să se distanțeze de ceilalți oameni, să găsească propriile colțuri și umbre în care să stea și să fumeze, demonstrând că nu are nevoie să își găsească locul și că inima lui avea să îi rămână în țara sa. Erau doi șoferi în vagon. Acești doi oameni conduceau și dormeau fiecare pe rând. Ăn autobuz se afla un grup sanitar, astfel încât autobuzul nu se oprea decât să alimenteze. În stațiile de benzină, pasagerii puteam să se cațere, să facă câțiva pași, să privească florile sălbatice de pe margine, hârtiile murdare din tufișuri, soarele sau ploaia de pe șosele. Puteau să își întindă brațele, să se apere de lumina naturii cu ochelarii întunecați de soare, să caute frunze de trifoi, să fumeze sau să privească mașinile grăbite. Apoi aveau să fie conduși înapoi spre vagon, reluându-și vechile atitudini și pregătindu-se pentru următoarele o sută de mile, pentru mirosul greoi al următoarei zone industriale, sau al unei subite licăriri de pe vreun lac, pentru ploaie, pentru apus și pentru apropierea întunericului de pe mlaștinile cele silențioase. Aveau să fie momente în care această călătorie avea să facă veșnică. Somnul în această poziție verticală nu era ceva cu care Lev să fie obișnuit. Cei bătrâni păreau că pot facă acest lucru, dar vârsta de patruzeci și doi de ani nu se încadra încă în această categorie. Tatăl lui Lev, Ștefan, obișnuia să doarmă în această poziție vara, pe un scaun din lemn tare, în pauza de prânz de la fabrica de cherestea Baryn, cu soarele fierbinte care acoperea feliile de cârnaț învelite în hârtie de pe genunchiul său și termosul cu ceai. Atât Ștefan, cât și Lev puteau dormi pe o claie de fân sau pe un covor din mușchi într-o pădure. Deseori, Lev dormea pe o pătură veche, lângă patul fiicei sale când ea era bolnavă sau îi era frică. Atunci când soția sa, Marina, era pe moarte, a dormit timp de cinci nopți pe podeaua acoperită cu linoleum, pe o suprafață nu mai mare decât brațul său întins, între patul de spital al Marinei și perdeaua imprimată cu margarete roz și mov. Somnul venea și pleca într-un mod misterios, pictând imagini stranii în mintea lui Lev care nu aveau să dispară niciodată. Spre seară, după două opriri pentru alimentarea cu benzină, femeia cu pete a început să desfacă un ou fiert tare. L-a decojit în tăcere. Mirosul oului i-a amintit lui Lev de izvoarele cu sulf de la Jor, unde o dusese pe Marina cu speranța că natura avea să vindece ceea ce omul nu reușise. Marina și-a scufundat corpul ei ascultător în apa spumoasă, stătea întină și privea o barză întorcându-se la cuibul său înalt, și spunându-i lui Lev: „Dacă am fi doar niște berze…”

De ce spui asta? întrebă Lev.

Pentru că niciodată nu vezi o barză murind. Este ca și cum ele nu ar muri. Dacă am fi doar niște berze.

Pe genunchiul femeii, era întins un șervețel curat de bumbac netezit de mâinile sale albe. Ea a desfăcut pâine de secară și un praf de sare.

Numele meu este Lev, spuse Lev.

Numele meu este Lidia, spuse femeia. Și și-au strâns mâinile, mâna lui Lev ținând batista împreună cu mâna Lidiei, aspră de la sare și mirosind a ou. Și apoi Lev a întrebat:

Ce plănuiești să faci în Anglia?

Am un interviu în Londra pentru o slujbă de translator.

Sună promițător.

Sper și eu. Am fost profesor de engleză la Școala 237 în Yarbl și vocabularul meu este destul de colocvial.

Lev o privi pe Lidia. Nu îi era greu să și-o imagineze stând în fața unei clase și scriind cuvinte pe o tablă.

Mă întreb de ce îți părăsești țara când ai un serviciu atât de bun la Școala 237 în Yarbl, spuse Lev.

Ei bine, spuse Lidia, începusem să mă satur de priveliștea oferită de fereastra mea. În fiecare zi, fie vară, fie iarnă, priveam spre curtea școlii și spre gardul cel înalt de la blocul în care se afla apartamentul meu. Am început să îmi imaginez că voi muri văzând toate aceste lucruri și nu îmi doream asta. Înțelegi ce spun?

Lev și-a dat jos pălăria sa din piele, trecându-și degetele prin părul său des încărunțit. A văzut-o pe Lidia întorcându-se la el pentru moment și privind cu seriozitate în ochii săi:

Da, înțeleg, spuse el.

Apoi se lăsă o tăcere în care Lidia începuse să își mănânce oul său fiert. Mesteca foarte discret. Când și-a terminat oul, Lev a spus:

Engleza mea nu e foarte rea. Am luat câteva ore în Baryn, dar profesoara mea mi-a spus că pronunția mea nu e printre cele mai bune. Pot să îți rostesc câteva cuvinte și să îmi spui dacă le pronunț corect?

Da, desigur.

Lev spuse: Lovely. Sorry. I am legal. How much, please? Thank you. May you help me?

Pot să vă ajut, îl corectă Lidia.

Pot să vă ajut, repetă Lev.

Continuă, spuse Lidia.

Stork, spuse Lev. Stork`s nest. Rain. I am lost. I wish for an interpreter. Bee-and-bee.

Bee-and-bee? Spuse Lidia. Nu, nu. Vrei să spui: a fi sau a nu fi.

Nu, spuse Lev. Bee-and-bee. Hotel de familie, destul de ieftin.

O, da. Știu. B&B.

Lev putea să vadă acum cum întunericul avea să se lase în afara ferestrei și se gândea cum în satul său întunericul sosise întotdeauna în același fel, din aceeași direcție, deasupra acelorași copaci, fie devreme, fie târziu, fie iarnă, vară, primăvară în timpul întregii sale vieți. Acest întuneric, tipic acestui loc, Auror, era întunericul care mereu avea să se aștearnă în inima lui Lev. Astfel, i-a spus Lidiei că vine din Auror, că muncise la fabrica de cherestea Baryn până se închisese, acum doi ani, și de atunci nu îți mai găsise de lucru. De atunci, familia sa – mama sa, fiica lui de cinci ani și el – trăiau din banii pe care mama lui îi câștiga din vânzările de bijuterii confecționate din tablă.

Oh, spuse Lidia, bănuiesc că este foarte inventiv să confecționezi bijuterii din tablă.

Cu siguranță, spuse Lev. Doar că nu este suficient.

Ascunsă în cizma sa stătea o mică sticlă de votcă. Deschise sticla și luă o înghițitură lungă. Lidia continuă să mănânce din pâinea sa de secară. Lev își șterse gura cu batista cea roșie, văzându-și fața reflectată în oglinda vagonului. Și-a retras repede privirea. De la moartea Marinei, nu îi plăcea să își privească propria imagine, pentru că nu vedea altceva decât propria sa vinovăție încă vie în el.

De ce s-a închis fabrica de cherestea de la Baryn? Întrebă Lidia.

Li s-au terminat rezervele de copaci.

Foarte rău, spuse Lidia. Ce altceva știi să faci?

Lev bău din nou din sticlă. Cineva îi spusese că votca era prea scumpă în Anglia. Imigranții își făcuseră propriul alcool din cartofi și apă de la robinet, și când Lev se gândi la acești imigranți, și-i imagina stând la un foc făcut din cărbuni într-o casă falnică, vorbind și râzând, cu ploaia auzindu-se căzând în afara ferestrei, cu autobuze roșii întorcându-se spre trecut și un televizor pâlpâind într-un colț al camerei. A suspinat și a spus:

Voi face orice muncă este nevoie, spuse Lidia. Fiica mea, Maya, are nevoie de haine, papuci, cărți, jucării, absolut tot. Anglia este ultima mea speranță.

În jurul orei zece, pasagerilor vagonului le erau înmânate niște pături roșii. Unii dintre ei adormiseră demult. Lidia și-a pus deoparte ce i-a rămas din mâncare, a-a acoperit cu pătura, s-a întors spre o mică lumină aprigă deasupra spațiului său de bagaj și a început să citească dintr-o carte îngălbenită veche, tipărită în limba engleză. Lev a văzut că titlul cărții sale era Puterea și gloria. Dorința de a fuma o țigară începuse să crească hotărâtor de când începuse să bea votcă, iar acum se acutizase. Putea să simtă dorința arzătoare din plămânii și sângele său, începuse să își miște mâinile nervos și să simtă un tremur în picioarele sale. Cât mai era, oare, până la următoarea oprire? Ar fi putut să fie patru sau chiar cinci ore. Toată lumea din autobuz avea să doarmă pe atunci, cu excepția lui și a unuia dintre șoferi. Doar ei aveau să vegheze singuratici și epuizați, șoferul tensionat din cauza neliniștii cauzate de încercarea de a descifra șoseaua întunecată, iar el împreună cu suferința sa alinată de nicotină sau uitare – sau poate niciuna dintre ele. Își adusese cu el o carte cu fabule, povești neverosimile despre femei care s-au transformat în păsări în timpul orelor de întuneric, și o turmă de mistreți care și-au omorât și prăjit vânătorii. Dar Lev se simțea mult prea agitat să citească astfel de povești fantastice. În disperare, și-a scos din buzunar o bancnotă nou-nouță de douăzeci de lire britanice, s-a întins până sus, a aprins propria mică lumină de citit și a început să examineze bancnota. Pe o parte, regina modestă, E II R, cu diadema ei și fața sa încărunțită pe un fundal purpuriu, iar pe cealaltă parte, un bărbat, ceva personaj din trecut, cu o mustață lăsată și întunecată și un înger care sufla într-o trompetă deasupra lui și toată strălucirea îngerului revărsându-se asupra lui în linii verticale. „Britanicii își venerează propria istorie”, i se spusese lui Lev la ora de limba engleză, mai ales pentru că nu au fost niciodată supuși ocupației. Abia din când în când recunosc faptul că unele din faptele trecutului lor nu au fost printre cele mai bune. Durata de viață indicată pe bancnotă era 1857-1934. Arată precum un bancher, dar ce putuse să facă astfel încât să ajungă pe o bancnotă de 20 de lire în secolul XXI? Lev se uita fix la falca sa, chinuindu-se să îi citească numele scris pe o notiță de sub aripa gulerului, dar nu l-a putut citi. Credea că aceasta era o persoană care nu cunoscuse alt sistem de trai decât capitalismul. Ar fi auzit de nume precum Hitler sau Stalin, dar nu îi era teamă – nu era nevoie să îi fie frică de nimic cu excepția unei mici pierderi de capital pe care America o numea Prăbușirea, atunci când bărbații din New York începuseră să sară de pe ferestre și se pe acoperișuri. Ar fi murit în siguranță în patul său înainte ca Londra să fie bombardată în ruine, înainte ca Europa să fie zdruncinată. Chiar spre sfârșitul zilelor sale, lumina îngerului strălucea probabil deasupra frunții omului, si pe hainele sale demodate, pentru că era știut în întreaga lume: Englezii erau norocoși. Ei, crezuse Lev, voi merge în țara lor acum și îi voi face să își împartă norocul infernal cu mine. Am plecat din Auror, și această plecare din locul meu natal a fost grea și amară. Dar timpul meu se apropie. Lev se trezise din gândurile sale din cauza zgomotului făcut de cartea Lidiei care căzuse pe jos în autobuz. Se uită spre ea și văzuse că adormise, studiindu-i fața chinuită de alunițe. I-a estimat vârsta undeva în jur de treizeci și nouă de ani. Părea să doarmă fără prea multă trudă. Și-o imagina stând într-un chioșc cu căști agățate de părul său de culoare gri închis, optimistă și alertă cu un val neobosit de traduceri simultane. Ai putea să mă ajuți, te rog? Nu. Aș putea să te ajut. Lev a decis, după cum noaptea înainta, să încerce să își amintească câteva țigări care aveau o anumită însemnătate a trecutului. Era în posesia unei imaginații vibrante. La fabrica de cherestea din Baryn, era cunoscut, într-un mod peiorativ, ca și un visător. ,,Viața nu este făcută pentru a visa, Lev”, îl avertizase șeful său. „Visatul duce la subversiune.” Dar Lev știa că natura lui era fragilă, ușor de distras, ușor de înveselit sau de întristat de cele mai ciudate sau mici lucruri și că această condiție i-a afectat copilăria și adolescența și l-a împiedicat, probabil, să devină un bărbat. Mai ales după moartea Marinei. Pentru că acum moartea Marinei avea să fie mereu cu el, ca o umbră a unei raze X pe caracterul său. Alți bărbați ar fi putut să alunge această umbră departe – cu băutură sau femei tinere, sau cu noutatea de a face bani – dar Lev nici măcar nu încercase. Știa că încă nu era în stare să o uite pe Marina. Peste tot în jurul lui, pasagerii moțăiau. Unii erau prăbușiți înspre culoar cu brațele atârnând într-o atitudine de predare. Aerul era încărcat cu repetate suspine. Lev și-a tras vârful pălăriei înspre față și a decis să-și amintească ce era știut dintotdeauna de el și de mama sa, Ina, ca fiind miracolul poinsettia pentru că aceasta era o poveste care ducea înspre un sfârșit bun, înspre niște vorbe la fel de imaculate precum iubirea. Ina era o femeie care nu și-a permis niciodată să îi pese de nimic, spunând adesea: „Ce rost are dacă viața oricum îți ia totul?” Dar erau, totuși, câteva lucruri care îi ofereau bucurie și unul dintre ele era POINSETTIA. Cu frunze stacojii și în formă de brad, semănând mai mult cu un artefact realizat manual decât cu o plantă vie, POINSETTIA trezea în Ina o adevărată admirație, grație unicității și caracterului ei bizar, grație aparentei lor permanențe într-o lume în care totul se decolorează și moare.

Într-o duminică, acum câțiva ani, aproape de aniversarea de șaizeci și cinci de ani, Lev se trezise foarte devreme și pedală douăzeci și patru de mile până la Yarbl unde flori și plante se vindeau într-o piață în aer liber în spatele unei stații de metrou. Era aproape o zi de toamnă și pe fețele tăcute care își aranjau tarabele cădea o lumină blândă. Lev fuma și privea de la bufetul din metrou unde își bea cafeaua și votca. Apoi a ieșit afară și a început să caute poinsettia. Majoritatea mărfii vândute în piața din Yarbl era reprezentată de produse crude: frunze de varză, semințe de floarea-soarelui, cartofi încolțiți tufe de coacăze, bastoane de afine. Dar tot mai mulți oameni se complac în gustul lor decorativ pe jumătate uitat, în lucruri nefolositoare și vânzările florilor creșteau cu trecerea fiecărui an. Florile poinsettia erau întotdeauna vizibile de la mare depărtare. Lev se plimba încet, căutând atent ceva roșu. Soarele strălucea pe pantofii lui negrii zgâriați. Își simțea inima ciudat de luminată. Mama sa avea să împlinească șaizeci și cinci de ani și el dorea să o surprindă și să o uimească plantând flori de poinsettia pe veranda ei, și în serile în care avea să tricoteze și să le admire, vecinii vor veni să o felicite atât pentru florile sale, cât și pentru grija fiului său. Dar nu erau flori de poinsettia în toată piața. Lev îți târâia picioarele în sus și în jos, holbându-se fără speranță la ferigile de morcovi și la grămezile de ceapă , la pungi de plastic umplute cu gunoi de porc pentru grajd și cenușă. Nici o poinsettia. Marea catastrofă se anunța acum lui Lev. Începuse, așadar, să se reîntoarcă pe urmele sale de-a lungul cărărilor case duceau spre tarabe, oprindu-se din când în când să bată la cap titularii cabinelor, recunoscând că această bătaie de cap era acuzatoare, lucru sugerat de faptul că acești oameni era încărunțiți pentru că păstrau plantele roșii la vedere, așteptând cumpărătorii care ofereau dolari americani, piese auto sau droguri. Am nevoie de poinsettia, îți spuse lui însuși, ca un om însetat sau ca și un copil nerăbdător.

Ne pare rău, tovarășe, spuse comerciantul din piață. Doar de Crăciun.

Tot ce putea să facă era să pedaleze înapoi spre Auror. Trăgea după bicicleta sa o rulotă făcută acasă din lemn (construită cu resturi de cherestea din curtea Baryn), și roțile acestei rulote scârțâiau în bătaie de joc pe măsură ce milele treceau. Golul aniversării celor șaizeci și cinci de ani s-a deschis înainte ca lui Lev ca o mină abandonată. Lev se mișcă repere pe scaunul său, încercând să nu deranjeze somnul Lidiei. Și-a rezemat capul de geamul cel rece. Apoi a încercat să își amintească priveliștea care l-a salutat ca o viziune, în ceva sat pierdut de-a lungul șoselei: o femeie bătrână îmbrăcată în negru, stând pe un scaun în liniște, în fața casei ei, cu un copil care dormea într-un cărucior de plastic lângă ea. Și la picioarele ei, multe bunuri pestrițe de vânzare: un gramofon, un cântar cu niște greutăți, un șal brodat și o foaie de piele. Și o roabă de plante poinsettia, cu frunzele proaspăt vopsite în roșu. Lev șovăia pe bicicletă, încercând să își dea seama dacă visează sau nu. A pus un picior pe șoseaua prăfuită.

Sunt poinsettia, mătușă?

Așa le spune? Ei le numesc steaguri roșii.

Le-a cumpărat pe toate. Rulota era înghesuită și grea. Banii săi dispăruseră. Le-a ascuns pe toate în pungi până ce s-a lăsat întunericul., le-a plantat în sub stele și a stat lângă ele, privind răsăritul. Apoi, când soarele a ajuns la ele, roșul din frunzele lor s-a intensificat într-un mod surprinzător, la fel cum apar florile deșertului după ploaie. Și atunci a fost momentul când Lit și-a aprins o țigară. S-a așezat pe scările verandei, a fumat și a privit florile de poinsettia. Iar țigara părea să fie precum un chihlimbar strălucitor, fumând-o până la ultimul ei centimetru, stingând-o apoi, dar ținând-o strânsă în mâna sa murdară. A adormit și Lev, în final. S-a trezit când vagonul s-a oprit pentru a alimenta cu benzină, undeva în Austria, presupunea el, pentru că stația de benzinărie era mare și strălucitoare, iar într-un golf, într-o parte, erau parcate o mulțime de camioane, cu nume nemțești scrise pe el, luminate de lumina portocalie de sodiu. Freuhof. Bosch. Grunewald. Königstransporte . . . Lidia era trează și a ieșit împreună cu Lev să respire aerul curat al nopții. Lidia și-a pus pe umeri un cardigan, iar Lev căuta pe cer răsăritul, dar fără nici un rezultat. Și-a aprins o țigară. Mâinile sale tremurau după cum o băga și o scotea din gură.

Va fi frig în Anglia, spune Lidia. Ești pregătit pentru asta?

Lev s-a gândit la casa sa falnică imaginară cu ploaia care cădea, licăritul televizorului și autobuzele roșii care se îndreptau spre trecut.

Nu știu, spuse el.

Când va veni iarna, zice Lidia, vom fi de-a dreptul șocați.

Iernile noastre sunt și ele destul de reci.

Da, dar nu pentru o perioadă prea îndelungată. Mi s-a spus că în Anglia, unele ierni nu pleacă niciodată.

Vrei să spui că nu este deloc vară?

Este vară, doar că nu o simți în sânge.

Ceilalți pasageri din vagon se plimbau acum în jurul stației de benzină. Unii chiar vizitau toaletele publice. Alții doar stăteau precum Lev și Lidia, tremurând puțin, fiind niște spectatori pasivi nesiguri de ceea ce priveau, nou-veniți care nu sosiseră încă, toată lumea în derivă și indeciși în privința orei pe care ceasurile lor trebuia să o arate. În spatele spațiului unde camioanele erau parcate se așternea întunericul adânc și impenetrabil al copacilor. Lev a simțit o dorință subită să îi trimită o vedere din acest loc fiicei sale, Maya pentru a-i descrie această noapte plină de incertitudine: cerul ca de sodiu, copacii nemișcați, strălucirea stației de plată, oamenii ce păreau scoși din galerii de artă, oameni neputincioși în fața exponatelor indescifrabile, Dar Maya era mult prea tânără pentru a înțelege toate acestea. Avea doar cinci ani. În fiecare dimineața, o lua de mână pe Ina să o ducă la școală. La prânz îi plăcea să mănânce cârnați reci și pâine cu semințe de mac. Când venea acasă, Ina îi dădea lapte de capră cu scorțișoară într-un pahar galben, prăjituri cu stafide și gem cu petale de trandafir. Își făcea tema la masa din bucătărie, apoi mergea pe strada principală din Auror să își caute prietenii și să se joace împreună cu caprele și găinile în praf.

Mi-e dor de fiica mea deja, îi spuse Lev Lidiei.

În timp ce vagonul trecea granița dintre Germania și Olanda, Lev cedase deja în fața spațiului său mic de lângă fereastră, interminabilului zumzet al aerului condiționat, prezenței liniștitoare a Lidiei care îi oferise ouă, fructe uscate și bucăți de ciocolată; mirosului și vocilor celorlalți pasageri, mirosului produselor chimice din grupul sanitar, acelui sentiment de deplasare înceată în ciuda marii distanțe, dar întotdeauna înainte.

Privind câmpurile plane și plopii strălucitori, canalele, morile de vând, satele și animalele care pășteau în Țările de Jos îndreptându-se spre trecut. Lev s-a simțit atât de împăcat și de liniștit, încât autobuzul devenise viața lui și nu dorea să se sustragă din inerția acestei vieți-autobuz niciodată. Începuse chiar să își dorească ca Europa să fie și mai mare pentru a hoinări prin acest peisaj pentru multe alte zile, până în momentul în care ceva dinlăuntrul lui avea să se modifice, până ce avea să se plictisească de ouă fierte tari și de priveliști cu viței pe pășuni verzi și să redescopere dorința de a ajunge la destinație. Știa că această distanțare a sa era periculoasă. Începuse să își dorească ca prietenul său Rudi să fie lângă el. Rudi nu cedase niciodată în fața nimănui, și nu ar fi cedat nici în fața acestui opiu al milelor ce se scurgeau. Rudi a dus o luptă măreață în fiecare oră din viața sa. „Viața e doar un sistem”, îi amintea Rudi adesea lui Lev. „Tot ceea ce contează este să spargi acest sistem.” În timpul somnului, Rudi adesea stătea ghemuit, cu pumnii împotmoliți în fața pieptului, ca un boxer. Când se trezea, sărea și lovea de la distanță lenjeria de pat. Părul lui lung și negru lucea cu propria sa strălucire invincibilă. Îi plăcea votca, să meargă la cinema și fotbalul. Visa, de asemenea. Să fie proprietarul a ceea ce numea el ,,o mașină serioasă”. În autobuz, Rudi obișnuia să cânte diferite cântece, să danseze pe muzică folk pe culoar și să facă schimb de bunătăți cu ceilalți pasageri. El ar fi rezistat cu siguranță. La fel ca și Lev, Rudi era un fumător împătimit. Într-una din zile, după închiderea fabrici de cherestea, au făcut chiar o călătorie în care au fumat încontinuu spre îndepărtatul oraș Glic, în frigul profund și violet al iernii, când soarele cădea încet printre oasele copacilor și gheața strălucitoare precum un strat de diamant pe liniile de metrou. În buzunarele lui Rudi erau ascunși bani cenușii, iar în valizele lui se aflau unsprezece sticle de votca, legate cu paie. Zvonuri că s-ar vinde o mașină americană, un Chevrolet Phoenix în Glic au ajuns și la Rudi în Auror. Rudi își descria mașina cu afecțiune ca pe un „Tchervi”. Spunea că era albastră cu alb și ornamente cromate și că avea doar patru mii două sute de mile. Avea să meargă până în Glic să o vadă și dacă îl va convinge pe proprietar să lase din preț, cu siguranță avea să o cumpere și să o conducă până acasă. Faptul că nu mai condusese niciodată o mașină nu îl îngrijora deloc pe Rudi. „De ce ar trebui să mă îngrijorez?” îi spunea lui Lev. „Am condus vehiculele acelea de muncă grea la fabrica de cherestea în fiecare zi din viața mea nenorocită. Condusul tot condus este. Și cu mașinile americane nici măcar nu trebuie să te îngrijorezi pentru piese. Împingi doar schimbătorul spre poziția D5 și decolezi.” În tren era foarte cald, mai ales cu țeava groasă de încălzire care rula direct sub scaune. Lev și Rudi aveau un vagon doar pentru ei. Și-au înghesuit hainele lor din piele de oaie și pălăriile din blană în spațiul pentru bagaje, au deschis valiza cu votcă și au ascultat muzică la un radio zgomotos mic cât un șobolan. Votca fierbinte cu mirosul specific transportului în vagon era delicioasă și cu un gust sălbatic. S-au simțit curând la fel de nechibzuiți precum mercenarii. Când a venit controlorul, l-am îmbrățișat din ambele părți. La Glic, au dat de o ninsoare cu viscol, dar sângele lor încă era fierbinte, astfel că zăpada li s-a părut chiar încântătoare, la fel ca mângâierile unei fete tineri pe chipurile lor. S-au poticnit undeva pe străzi râzând. Dar noapte avea să vină curând și Rudi a spus: „Nu am de când să mă uit la Tchevi pe întunericul acesta nenorocit. Vreau să o văd strălucind.” Așadar s-au oprit la prima pensiune ieftină pe care au găsit-o și si-au potolit foamea cu boluri cu gulaș și găluște, iar apoi au dormit într-o cameră mică care mirosea a naftalină și a soluție de curățat linoleumul. Nu s-au clintit de acolo până dimineață.

Soarele se ridica pe cerul senin albastru tocmai când Lev și Rudi se îndreptau spre clădirea proprietarului lui Tchevi. Zăpada din jurul lor era mare și curată. Și acolo era, parcat singur pe strada întunecoasă, sub un tei singuratic, cu lungimea lui extraordinară, un Chevrolet Phoenix de culoare albastră, întocmai ca și cerul, cu aripile albe și aranjamente cromate. Atunci Rudi a căzut în genunchi: „Asta e fata mea”, spuse el. „Asta e copilul meu!” Avea, ce-i drept, imperfecțiunile ei. Ușa șoferului prinsese rugină. Gumele de la ștergătoarele de parbriz se distruseseră în iernile friguroase succesive. Toate cele patru anvelope erau uzate. Radioul nu funcționa. Lev îl vedea pe Rudi cum ezită. Se plimba în jurul mașinii, târându-și mâna peste caroserie, curățând zăpada de deasupra, examinând lamele ștergătoarelor, lovind anvelopele, deschizând și închizând ușa defectă. Apoi și-a ridicat privirea și a spus:

O cumpăr!

După aceea a început să negocieze, dar proprietarul și-a dat seama că Rudi își dorește foarte mult mașina și a cam refuzat să scadă prețul. Tchevi l-a costat pe Rudi tot ceea ce avea cu el, inclusiv haina din piele de oaie, pălăria îmblănită și cinci din cele opt sticle de votcă care mai rămăseseră în valiză. Proprietarul era un profesor de matematică.

Mă întreb la ce te tot gândești, se auzi o voce. Era Lidia, care luase o pauză bruscă de la tricotat.

Lev o fixă cu privirea. I se păruse că trecu foarte mult timp de când cineva îi mai adresă vreo întrebare. Sau poate că într-adevăr nimeni nu îl mai întrebase nimic niciodată pentru că Marina părea să știe întotdeauna ce era în mintea lui și încerca să ajute ceea ce găsea acolo.

Ei bine, spuse Lev, mă gândeam la prietenul meu Rudi și la timpul petrecut împreună cu el în Glic când am mers să cumpărăm o mașină împreună.

Oh, înseamnă că este bogat prietenul tău Rudi?

Nu, spuse Lev. Sau niciodată pentru mult timp. Dar îi place mult negoțul.

Negoțul este atât de dăunător, spuse Lidia suspinând. Niciodată nu vom reuși să facem progrese atâta timp cât încă există GRAY TRADE. Dar spune-mi despre mașină. Și-a luat-o până la urmă?

Da, spuse Lev. Și-a luat-o. Dar tu ce croșetezi acolo?

Un pulover, spuse Lidia. Pentru iarna engleză. Englezii numesc acest articole de îmbrăcăminte „jumper”.

Jumper?

Da. Uite încă un cuvânt pentru tine. Acum mai spune-mi despre Rudi și mașina lui.

Lev și-a scos sticla de votcă și bău. Apoi îi povestise Lidiei cum, după ce Rudi și-a cumpărat acel Tchevi, a condus de câteva ori înconjurând străzile goale din jurul locuinței pentru a se obișnui la volan, cu profesorul de matematică privind din pragul ușii și purtând un pălărie astrahan însoțită de o expresie amuzată pe chipul său. Apoi Lev și Rudi plecaseră spre casă cu soarele strălucind încet asupra lumii înghețate și tăcute, apoi Rudi a setat nivelul de căldură din mașină la maximum și a spus că acesta este momentul lui cel mai aproape de Paradis. Motorul mașinii emitea un zgomot intermitent încet, ca și motorul unei bărci și Rudi spusese că acesta este sunetul Americii: muzical și puternic. În cutia pentru mănuși, Lev a găsit trei bucăți de ciocolată elvețiană, îngălbenită cu trecerea timpului și le-au împărțit, mâncându-le printre țigările fumate pe care le aprindeau cu lumina de la bricheta auto.

Acum mi-am găsit vocația în Auror, spuse Rudi. Șofer de taxi.

Spre amiazi, la multe mile depărtare încă de satul lor, s-au oprit la o stație de benzină, care consta într-o pompă ruginită aflată într-o vale tăcută și un câine pistruiat care stătea de pază. Rudi a claxonat și un om în vârstă a ieșit șchiopătând dintr-o colibă de lemn, unde se aflau saci plini cu cărbuni de vânzare. S-a uitat înspre Tchevi cu frică de parcă ar fi fos un tanc înarmat sau un UFO, iar câinele pistruiat s-a ridicat și a început să latre. Rudi a ieșit, purtând doar pantalonii, cizmele și cămașa lui în carouri și când a trântit ușa șoferului înapoia sa, balamaua ce rămăsese se rupse, iar ușa căzu în zăpadă.

Rudi înjură. El și angajatul de la pompă priveau spre ceea ce tocmai se întâmplase, realizând că nu părea să existe o soluție imediată. Până și câinele a căzut într-o tăcere nedumerită. Apoi Rudi a ridicat ușa, încercând să o pună înapoi, dar chiar dacă reușise atunci, nu avea să rezite mult timp și trebuia legată de scaun cu o bucată uzată de frânghie.

Nenorocitul de profesor, spuse Rudi. Știa că se va întâmpla asta. M-a păcălit frumos și lingușitor.

Rudi călca în picioare zăpada, în timp ce rezervorul era umplut cu gaz. Pentru că începuse să înghețe, iar el nu avea nici haină, nici pălărie, căderea ușii umpluse paharul. Lev ieșise afară să verifice balamaua ruptă și spuse:

Este doar balamaua, Rudi. O putem repara acasă.

Știu, spuse el, dar va rezista oare nenorocita asta de ușă în următoarea sută de mile? Asta e întrebarea.

Au continuat să conducă, cu rezervorul de benzină plin până la refuz, pe care o plătise Lev, îndreptându-se spre vest o dată cu soarele,iar soarele se făcuse la început portocaliu închis, apoi roșu fumuriu, apoi purpuriu, iar umbre de liliac pătau apoi câmpurile acoperite cu zăpadă. Lev spuse:

Câteodată țara asta e atât de frumoasă.

Rudi suspină și spuse:

A arătat minunat în dimineața asta, dar curând ne întoarcem la întuneric.

Când s-a lăsat întunericul, s-a format și gheața pe parbriz și tot ceea ce puteau să facă ștergătoarele uzate era să scârțâie peste gheață, înainte și înapoi, încet, gemând după cum se mișcau, și curând deveni imposibil să vezi în față. Rudi conduse mașina până la marginea șoselei, și el și Lev începuseră să se holbeze la modelele pe care gheața le desena și la strălucirea galbenă slabă emisă de faruri spre ramurile filigrane ale copacilor. Lev o observat că mâinile lui Rudi tremurau.

Acum ce naiba mai e?

Lev și-a luat fularul de lână și l-a înfășurat în jurul gâtului lui Rudi. Apoi s-a dat jos, a deschis portbagajul și a luat una din cele trei sticle de votcă care rămăseseră printre paie și i-a zis lui Rudi să oprească motorul. În timp ce motorul se oprea, ștergătoarele de parbriz se arcuiau pentru ultima dată nefolositor. Apoi s-au oprit, precum doi oameni bătrâni extenuați căzuți cu capetele unul lângă celălalt pe un patinoar. Lev smulse sticla de votcă, deschizând-o, luă o înghițitură lungă, apoi a început să p toarnă lent pe parbriz, privindu-l cum se scurge încet printre gheață. Pe măsură ce înghețul dispărea puțin câte puțin, Lev putea să îl vadă pe rudi cum făcea niște ochi mari, foarte aproape de parbriz, cu un chip asemănător unui copil căzut în venerație. Apoi au continuat să conducă pe parcursul nopții, oprindu-se să mai toarne votcă din când în când și privind acul ce indica benzina din rezervor scăzând și iar scăzând.

Lidia luase o pauză de la croșetat. Își ținea jerseul la piept pentru a vedea cât mai are de făcut până să ajungă la cusătura de la umăr.

Acum chiar sunt interesată de această călătorie. Ați ajuns până la urmă acasă?

Da, spuse Lev. La ivirea zorilor reușisem și noi să ajungem. Am fost destul de obosiți. Și rezervorul de benzină era aproape gol. Mașina aceea e atât de lacomă, încât cred că va ajunge să îl falimenteze pe Rudi.

Lidia a zâmbit și a dat din cap.

Și ușa? Ați reușit să o reparați?

Oh, da, spuse Lev. Am sudat niște balamale de la căruciorul unui copil. Doar că acum, ușa șoferului se deschide destul de violent acum.

Violent? Și Rudi încă mai conduce acest Tchevi ca pe un taxi cu ușa lui violentă?

D, în timpul verii. Deschide toate ferestrele și poți să călătorești alături de vântul din părul tău.

Oh, nu mi-aș dori asta, spuse Lidia. Am cheltuit o grămadă de bani încercând să îmi protejez părul de vânt.

Noaptea se lăsa din nou când vagonul ajunsese la Hook of Holland și aștepta la o coadă lungă să conducă pe feribot. Nici un loc de dormit nu era rezervat pentru pasagerii din autobuz; erau sfătuiți să își caute bănci sau șezlonguri în care să doarmă și să evită să cumpere băuturi de la barul navei, pentru că cereau prețuri exagerate.

Când ajunge feribotul în Anglia, spuse unul dintre șoferi, mai avem doar două ore până să ajungem la Londra și astfel, la destinația voastră. Așadar, încercați să dormiți cât puteți.

Odată ajuns la bordul vaporului, Lev s-a îndreptat spre puntea de sus, privind în jos spre port, cu macaralele și recipientele sale, cu halele sale voluminoase, cu birourile și locurile de parcare, cu cheile sale sidefate cu ulei. O ploaie aproape invizibilă se lăsa. Pescărușii plângeau ca și cum și-ar fi pierdut insula lor cea de acasă, și Lev se gândea cât de greu trebuie să fie să locuiești aproape de mare și să auzi acest sunet al melancoliei în fiecare zi a vieții tale. Marea era calmă și feribotul porni foarte încet, cu motoarele sale mari aparent înăbușite de întuneric. Lev s-a aplecat peste bară, fumând și privind atent portul olandez cum alunecă spre depărtare, și când pământul dispăruse, iar cerul și marea se uneau în întuneric, își adusese aminte de visele pe care le avea când Marina era pe moarte. Era adeseori în derivă pe un ocean fără limite și care nu ajunsese niciodată pe vreun pământ locuit.

Mirosul sărat al mării făcea țigara să aibă un gust mai amar, așa că o călcă în picioare pe puntea de mare și se întinse apoi pe o bancă pentru a dormi. Și-a tras pălăria pe ochi și pentru a se calma a început să își imagineze noapte lăsându-se peste Auror, ca întotdeauna, peste dealuri acoperite de brad, peste grămezile de șemineuri și peste clopotnița din lemn a școlii. Și acolo, în acea noapte calmă, ședea Maya, sub pilota ei de gâscă, cu unul din brațe aruncat în lateral ca și cum ar arăta vreunui vizitator invizibil camera cea mică pe care o împărțea cu bunica ei: cele două paturi, peticul acela ce servea drept covor, cufărul ei cu sertare vopsite în verde și galben, aragazul ei cu gaz și fereastra sa pătrată deschisă pentru aerul rece, pentru roua de noapte și pentru cântecul bufnițelor. Era o imagine drăguță, dar Lev nu reușea să o stabilizeze în mintea lui. Faptul că atunci când fabrica de cherestea Baryn va fi fost închisă, Auror și încă vreo câteva zeci de alte sate erau osândite să arunce uitării camera și fetița dormind, chiar și imaginea Inei șovăind în întuneric înainte de a-și spune rugăciunile.

Rugăciunile nu sunt de nici un folos, spunea Rudi când ultimul copac era tăiat, transportat departe și toate mașinăriile au tăcut brusc. Acum vine socoteala, Lev. Numai cei descurcăreți vor supraviețui. (…)

Afterword

This paper helped me to learn a lot of new things in this domain. And all the novelties I discovered are strongly related to the complexity of this field. Of course that the theory is very important in order to analyze a translation, or even more, to translate a text, but there would always be new situations, new extra-linguistic context or untranslatable words which require knowledge in several fields. The translator should always be a very-well informed person in what he/she is translating. I strongly believe this is one of the fundamental abilities that a good translator should have. And the literary translation is even more difficult, especially if one of the languages is English (due to its analytical condition). It is very hard to choose the right term in the TL if you want to re-build the exact same meaning from the original language. Another thing that I learned from writing my paper was that the loss of a certain meaning is inevitably when translating. And this loss is something a translator cannot avoid if he wants to construct a reasonable text in the TL. I also think that the most important element a translator should have in his mind when translating a foreign text is that the majority of the readers are not interested in the original version, and what is strongly recommended for the translator is to create the meaning in the TL. It is absolutely compulsory to know not only the language in which the translator is writing, but also the country for which he or she are writing, their traditions, their own perspective upon what means life and living, in general, the problems they are confronting or maybe simply their strengths and drawbacks. The translator is required to have a historical background concerning the TL. It is strongly recommended in order to reach a good translation, and to avoid the superficiality which is so characteristic for many of the translated texts. Unfortunately, it is inevitably for a translated text to preserve the entire wide range of peculiarities of the original one. This is why the creativity of the translator is highly important. A translation will never be the same as an

original text, but the most important thing is to try to approach the „copy„ to its „original„.

The job of a translator is not easy at all. It involves a lot of knowledge, and important decisions concerning the reader`s interpretation. A translator should imagine himself being both the reader, and the author of the work. He is a mediator of meaning between them, and the person who can provide or cut information concerning a certain subject. The translator is the provider of meaning and knowledge for those who cannot speak the target language. Without having this job in our lives, no one could have ever read the Bible. Even from ancient times, translators were important links in people`s lives, and what is more, their importance strongly relied on the world`s evolution of today.

Even if we cannot talk about perfection in discussing the field of translation because of the eternal „loss„ meaning I already mentioned, the magnitude they had in the cultural and scientific world in which we live today is fundamentally important, and worthy to be taken into account.

Glossary

There were some pages where I chose to use some abbreviations in order to go deeper into this field of translation, and try to accommodate with the terminology:

SL = source language

TL = target language

Bibliography

Bassnett Susan – Translation Studies, Routlege, 2002;

Brown, Mick – Rose Tremain Interview, 5:43PM BST 04 Sep 2012, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/9512390/Rose-Tremain-Interview.html#

Butler, Christopher – Postmodernism – A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press Inc, New York, 2002;

Călinescu, Matei – Five Faces of Modernity, Duke University Press, 1987, traducere de Tatiana Patrulescu și Radu Țurcanu;

Hatim, Basil&Munday, Jeremy – Translation. An advanced resource book, Routlege Applied Linguistics, serios editors: Christopher N. Candlin and Ronal Carter, London&New York, 2004;

Mullan, John – Restoration by Rose Tremain. Week three: Rose Tremain on becoming a historical novelist, The Guardian, Friday 28 September 2012 22.55 BST, http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/sep/28/rose-tremain-restoration-book-club

Nicol, Bran – The Cambridge Introduction to Postmodern Fiction, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2009;

Rubel, Paula G. and Rosman, Abraham (ed.) – Translating Cultures Perspectives on Translation and Anthropology, Oxford, New York, 2003

Tremain, Rose – Restoration, Sceptre edition, Hodder and Stoughton Ltd.,Great Britain, 1990, Hamish Hamilton Ltd;

Tremain, Rose – Restaurația, RAO International Publishing Company S.A., traducere din limba engleză: Monica Pillat și Nicolae Săulescu, Ediția 1; 1997, București;

Tremain, Rose – The Road Home, Hachette Book Group, USA 237 Park Avenue, New

York, NY 10017;

Venuti, Lawrence – A History of Translation Book, Routlege, 1995;

Venuti, Lawrence (ed.) – The Translation Studies Reader, Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004;

Zainurrahman (ed.)- The Theories of Translation. From History to Procedures, 2009.

Bibliography

Bassnett Susan – Translation Studies, Routlege, 2002;

Brown, Mick – Rose Tremain Interview, 5:43PM BST 04 Sep 2012, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/9512390/Rose-Tremain-Interview.html#

Butler, Christopher – Postmodernism – A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press Inc, New York, 2002;

Călinescu, Matei – Five Faces of Modernity, Duke University Press, 1987, traducere de Tatiana Patrulescu și Radu Țurcanu;

Hatim, Basil&Munday, Jeremy – Translation. An advanced resource book, Routlege Applied Linguistics, serios editors: Christopher N. Candlin and Ronal Carter, London&New York, 2004;

Mullan, John – Restoration by Rose Tremain. Week three: Rose Tremain on becoming a historical novelist, The Guardian, Friday 28 September 2012 22.55 BST, http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/sep/28/rose-tremain-restoration-book-club

Nicol, Bran – The Cambridge Introduction to Postmodern Fiction, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2009;

Rubel, Paula G. and Rosman, Abraham (ed.) – Translating Cultures Perspectives on Translation and Anthropology, Oxford, New York, 2003

Tremain, Rose – Restoration, Sceptre edition, Hodder and Stoughton Ltd.,Great Britain, 1990, Hamish Hamilton Ltd;

Tremain, Rose – Restaurația, RAO International Publishing Company S.A., traducere din limba engleză: Monica Pillat și Nicolae Săulescu, Ediția 1; 1997, București;

Tremain, Rose – The Road Home, Hachette Book Group, USA 237 Park Avenue, New

York, NY 10017;

Venuti, Lawrence – A History of Translation Book, Routlege, 1995;

Venuti, Lawrence (ed.) – The Translation Studies Reader, Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004;

Zainurrahman (ed.)- The Theories of Translation. From History to Procedures, 2009.