ABSTRACT

The paper analyses the graphic novel Kafka in its English original and its German and Polish translations. Written by David Zane Mairowitz and illustrated by Robert Crumb, the book offers an account of Franz Kafka’s life and a discussion of his works, combined with adaptations of his selected writings. It can be conceptualised as a retranslation on two levels: quotations from Kafka’s works abounding in the graphic novel were retranslated into English by the adaptor, and the book itself can be seen as a very specific, alternative rewriting or retranslation of the cultural image of Franz Kafka. The German translation of the graphic novel involved back-translating Kafka quotes into their original language, while the Polish edition used existing translations of his works; both retranslated the author’s image for the respective target cultures. The translators had to decide whether their loyalty lay with the authors of the graphic novel or with the original author; both opted for the latter, redeeming Mairowitz’s departures from Kafka’s text. Employing the concept of retranslation, the paper seeks to unpack the complex relationships between multiple source and target texts, modes, authors, translators and readerships at play.

摘要

论文分析了小说小说卡夫卡。英文原版以及德文和波兰文翻译。该书由大卫·赞恩·梅洛维兹（David Zane Mairowitz）撰写，罗伯特·克鲁布（Robert Crumb）插图，讲述了弗朗兹·卡夫卡（Franz Kafka）的生活，并对其作品进行了讨论，并结合了他精选的著作。它可以在两个层面上进行概念上的重新翻译：改编者将卡夫卡作品中大量引用于插图小说中的引文重新翻译成英文，而这本书本身可以看作是弗朗兹文化形象的非常具体的替代重写或重新翻译。卡夫卡 图画小说的德语翻译涉及将卡夫卡语录翻译回其原始语言，而波兰语版本则使用其作品的现有译本。两者都针对各自的目标文化重新翻译了作者的形象。译者必须决定他们的忠诚度取决于插图小说的作者还是原著者。两者都选择了后者，以挽救Mairowitz脱离Kafka文本的方式。本文采用重新翻译的概念，试图揭示多种源文本和目标文本，模式，作者，翻译者和读者群体之间的复杂关系。