translation studies - Facultatea de Litere - Dunarea de Jos

Elena Bonta and Raluca Bonta
Translation within Reception (Oscar Wilde’s Reception in Romania – A Documentary Perspective –)
- 2 translations of The Remarkable Rocket ( 1929; 1967)
- 2 translations of Parables (1916, 1927)
- 2 translations of The Star-Child (1920; 1945)
- 1 translation of De Profundis (the date is not mentioned)
- 1 translation of Intentions (1972)
- 1 translation of Theatre(1967)
- 1 translation of Birthday of the Infanta (1920)
The translations of these 20 titles are the result of the work of 28 translators, the
greatest part of whom are writers themselves: Dimitrie Anghel, Eugen Boureanu, Al.T.
Stamatiad, Igena Floru, Ticu Arhip, Zaharia Bîrsan, Emil Budaru, L. Ardeleanu, Victor Ion
Popa, D.Mazilu, Nicolae Davidescu, Nicolae Porsenna, Sonia, Tilia Holda, Daria Luca,
Viorica Hangic, Pericle Martinescu, Stefanovici-Svensk, Adriana Bantaş, Crişan Toescu,
Alexandru Alcalay, Sima Zamfir, Zoe I. Gheţu, Dim Pavalache, Ion Muşat.
A number of 23 publishing houses brought their contribution. Among them, the
most important and well-known were: Casa Şcoalelor, Cugetarea, Cartea Românească,
Dimineaţa, Omnia (all before 1944), Minerva (before and after 1944) and Editura
Tineretului, Editura Pentru Literatură şi Artă, Univers (after 1944).
The volume of poems published in 1881 was received with much enthusiasm in
England. It was not translated entirely into Romanian until 1989. The only poem translated
was The Ballad of the Reading Goal (Nicolae Davidescu – a poet himself- offered the first
translation to us in 1916). What is worth mentioning is the fact that the translation of the
ballad was made in prose. The Romanian version is a beautiful one, in a correct and
understandable language. The sentences are long enough and come one after another as
easy as the verses of the original form. An attentive reading and analysis of this translation
reveals the translator’s efforts of preserving the harmony and the perspective transmitted
by the author, in spite of the ideas expressed by Fraser 1 : “The difficulty of translating
poetry into prose is different in its degree, according to the nature of species of the poem.
To attempt…a translation of lyric poem into prose is the most absurd of all
undertakings…none but a poet can translate a poet.”
The next translation was made in 1936 2 and was followed by those appeared in
1937, 1942 and in 1944, respectively (Nicolae Porsenna’s).
Al. T. Stamatiadi observed neither the length of the English verse, nor the inner
rhyme of the poem. Although written in verse, it resembled a translation in prose, too. The
translator sacrificed the form for the sake of content and its beauty. At the same time, he
followed strictly the English original.
Offering to us the translation of the poem in 1944, Porsenna feels the need to
explain the method of his work in the Preface of the book. He mentions the fact that he
tried to observe the number of verses and their rhyme – a thing that he did successfully. He
also mentions the feeling of freedom he experienced while trying to observe the original
written in verses of fourteen syllables, each of them divided into two hemistiches of seven
syllables, thus obtaining just six hemistiches but only three rhymes.
The novel The Picture of Dorian Gray was translated for the first time in Romanian
by Sonia (a name mentioned by Octav Păduraru in his Anglo-Romanian and Romanian-
English Bibliography, 1946), that seems to be a pet-name (the translator’s real name was
never identified), under the title of Crimă şi conştiinţă, in 1920.
Then, it was translated in 1942 by Viorica Hangic and Pericle Martinescu (our
investigations regarding these persons in terms of their personality and literary activity
were not successful). The next translations belonged to Tilia Holda and Daria Luca (1946)
and Dan Mazilu (1967 - the second edition was published in 1969).
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