Theories of children's literature and of translating for children

In this posting, I return to the topic of the translation into French of the Harry Potter novels by J.K. Rowling.

In previous postings, I've discussed numerous examples of how the translator rendered this series of novels into French, describing, and suggesting reasons for, his target language style, individual creation of French 'equivalents' for various colorfully named characters, and so on.

But in this posting, I would like to continue explaining the background to my research on the translation into French of J.K. Rowling's fiction. I will thus begin with a presentation of the main themes of the Potter novels, together with an examination of their impact within literary polysystems. I consider the reasons why they have enjoyed outstanding success, and ponder how best they might be categorized. I shall next talk about some of the academic literature on translating for children. The central consideration of this posting is, however, a discussion of translational norms.

There is probably little need to provide extensive background information on the ‘Harry Potter’ novels, so great is their renown. The basic premise of the series is that the eponymous hero is orphaned as a baby, and brought up by his aunt and uncle, the Dursleys, who indulge their own son while mistreating the unfortunate Harry Potter. They have told him that his parents were killed in a car crash, but Harry discovers the truth on his eleventh birthday, that his parents were wizards, murdered by the evil wizard Voldemort, who failed in his attempt to kill the infant Harry. This attack has left Harry with a permanent scar on his forehead and has reduced Voldemort to a semi-human fragment of his former self. Harry’s discovery of his true origins is his means of escape from his horrendous existence, as he is summoned to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a boarding school for apprentice sorcerers. At this school, he becomes embroiled in dramatic adventures, as he is under threat from repeated attempts on his life by Voldemort. Harry discovers that he is the only wizard who can kill Voldemort, and thus save the world from the reign of terror which this Dark Lord wishes to unleash. Ultimately, Harry and his nemesis are destined to do battle in a fight to the death which only one of them can survive, a duel programmed to take place in the final novel.


Complexity and Progression

An original aspect of this series is that the central character matures over the course of the novels, in tandem with those readers who began their acquaintance with Harry Potter when they themselves were children. This feature differentiates Rowling’s writings from the works of a writer such as Enid Blyton, whose characters remained ageless over their years of formulaic crime-solving. Furthermore, as the hero grows from childhood into young adulthood, the novels become progressively longer, more complex, challenging, serious, and darker. J.K. Rowling is unflinching in her presentation of such darker themes as danger and death. These themes, together with the complexity of her plots, their symbolism, hidden layers of meaning, high literary values and challenging language, mean that these books do not conform to what is conventionally understood as ‘children’s literature’. Nor do they have clear resolutions or happy endings.

Adolescent readers are helped, through their imaginative accompaniment of Harry Potter, to negotiate the transitional journey to adulthood. This transition is also negotiated within each individual novel: Rowling’s novels generally begin in the familiar territory of conventional children’s literature, but the reader is gradually transported to a darker terrain. Rowling’s works are ‘hybrid’ and ‘transitional’, as their protagonists and some younger readers are on a bridge between childhood and adulthood.

Cross-Generational Appeal and Varied Genres

The novels thus offer a variety of genres and moods, making them appeal to a broad cross-section of the public. I have detected, in these works, elements of the traditional fantasy story, juxtaposed with a component of mystery and suspense, as well as a variety of tones and moods ranging from light comedy to horror. Therefore, Rowling’s works may require adult guidance in the case of some younger readers.

Canonicity

Rowling’s works occupy a canonical position within the literary polysystem of their Anglophone SC, and are equally esteemed in their many TCs. This contention is borne out by positive critical and academic reaction, as revealed, for example, by an examination of review articles. Let us briefly consider what some British reviewers, quoted on some of the book covers, have said: the Times Literary Supplement stated that ‘Hogwarts is a creation of genius’. The Herald appears to recognise the power of these novels to appeal to adult readers, when it describes their ‘imaginative power, emotional intensity and entrancing complexity’, parameters according to which only literature for adult readers is normally evaluated. The publication Scotland on Sunday described the second Potter novel as ‘an intricately woven, highly imaginative tale…cleverly textured, sophisticated fiction.’ As for critical reaction in France, reviews have been equally positive: the literary periodical Je Bouquine approves the third novel’s emotional range: ‘On rit toujours autant, on frissonne beaucoup plus, on pleure parfois…un bonheur absolu!’ A similarly favourable reception is accorded by Libération: ‘A ce niveau-là, ce n’est plus un succès d’édition, mais un envoûtement universel.’

As regards academic evaluation, an article dated December 10th, 2004, on a University of Kansas website, describes how a professor of English at that institution ‘turned her enjoyment of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books into an academic exercise.’ Giselle Anatol perceived the multiple layers of meaning and symbolism in Rowling’s texts, and began to critically analyse them. She published a series of conference papers under the title Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays (Contributions to Popular Culture), which contained essays examining the novels from a variety of scholarly perspectives, with such titles as Reading Harry Potter through Theories of Child Development, and Harry Potter’s Schooldays: J.K. Rowling and the British Boarding School Novel. Thus, academics view the Harry Potter series as being more than simplistic literature, and refute the belief that so-called children’s literature is unworthy of serious consideration. It is recognized by such scholars that these texts have moral lessons which can influence how children interact with others. Brown (2005, p.14) notes that, while initial U.S. critical reaction tended to assess these novels according to criteria usually reserved for so-called ‘children’s literature’, their subsequent permeation of the adult literary market resulted in their being re-evaluated as serious literature (in this quotation, Brown is referring specifically to the first novel in the series):

The way in which Harrison {a literary critic} imbues the novel with “emotional essence”, “mythic vision” and “deeper emotions that underlay the best parts of the book” shows a stark difference from its reception early on, when it was mistakenly relegated to simply being a very good children’s book.
(Brown, 2005, p.14.)

Characteristics Typical of Children’s Literature

To explain the appeal of this series, as well as its literary merit, it is helpful to consider, firstly, those features which enable it to be categorized as ‘children’s literature’, and secondly, to consider those elements which have lent these works their classification as ‘adult literature’. On the one hand, the Potter novels have certain features in common with ‘young persons’ literature: the central characters are a group of children who frequently find themselves in positions of danger, and who succeed in outwitting wrongdoers and earning respect from the adult world. Furthermore, Rowling’s works are tales of fantasy, like other famous works for children, such as Arabian Nights, The Hobbit or Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Brown (2005, p. 16) thus points out, in reference to Rowling’s work, that
…we are placed in a world where children have the ability to act with as much authority and importance as adults, to the point that adults here are often marginalized to minor character roles…This glorification of child authority is often seen as a defining characteristic of children’s literature.
(Brown, 2004, p.16)
Let us now contrast the above features with the characteristics more typical of adult literature.

Characteristics Typical of Adult Literature

Firstly, the quality of Rowling’s writing is far from the type of simplified language usually associated with texts for younger readers. Her style is linguistically challenging, with a formal register and advanced vocabulary. Adults have enthusiastically approved their children’s reading of Rowling’s novels, because of their high literary values, seen as educationally beneficial.
Secondly, one must acknowledge the complexity of the plots and the sweeping cast of characters. There are thus increasingly convoluted mysteries, and progressively more serious issues are dealt with, ranging from grief to adolescent anxieties. Furthermore, the ambivalent meanings and the symbolism of the novels are elements which make these texts appeal to adult readers. For example, the deadly enmity between Harry and Voldemort is symbolic of the battle between good and evil, yet these novels have a strong moral core, in that good is seen to triumph. Another example of symbolism is the suggestion of racial discrimination in the attitudes of certain wizards, who regard as inferior so-called ‘half-blood’ wizards, that is, those whose ancestry is partly non-magical. The ‘Dark Forces’ of the magical community plan to take over the world and to enslave those who are not pure-blood wizards – such a theme has symbolic connotations, bringing to mind the horrors of the Nazi regime. Such symbolism encourages readers to reflect deeply on these texts, and to interpret them figuratively, rather than on a purely literal level.

Thirdly, readers are encouraged to show empathy when they feel the emotions engendered in the young hero – such feelings include the fear of death and the pain of loneliness, cruelty, bullying (at home and at school), abuse, and bereavement. Rowling does not shy away from exposing younger readers to the harsher realities of life, yet her moral stance is reassuring.

Fourthly, in an article in the French literary magazine, Lire, the philosopher Isabelle Smadja, who has published a study of the Potter novels entitled Harry Potter, les raisons d’un succès, (Harry Potter: the secret of its success, my translation) outlines her views on the morality of Rowling’s work:

La magie noire, quant à elle, est dénoncée comme maléfique et malfaisante. Les valeurs transmises sont l’apprentissage, la diffusion du savoir. La magie sert à faire passer un message très moral sans que cela prenne l’apparence d’une morale. (As for black magic, it is denounced as being evil and harmful. The values transmitted are those of learning and the dissemination of knowledge. Magic is used to convey a very moral message, without seeming to assume the appearance of transmitting morals [my translation]).
(Dresse, 2002, p.1)

A further adult feature, which adds realism, is the level of detail deployed in describing the wizarding world. Rowling offers in-depth descriptions of the boarding school surroundings of Harry Potter - in fact, she creates a whole ancient culture for this world of sorcery, adding to its authenticity. Brown (2004, p. 17) refers to ‘this detailed fantastic world that engrosses the reader’, which, he says, is ‘more characteristic of the immersive worlds created by adult best-selling authors like John Irving and John Steinbeck.’ I feel that Rowling’s intricately fashioned magical world is equally reminiscent of Tolkein’s complex world in his Lord of the Rings series. There is also the idea that the non-magical community exists in tandem with a secret, magical parallel world: the ways in which these co-existing universes occasionally overlap is fascinating. Harry Potter thus becomes additionally exciting, in that he is one of those rare wizards who straddle these parallel communities. In this sense, he bears a type of ‘hybrid’ identity, just as the novels themselves represent a hybrid literary genre, and just as the hero and many of his readers are ‘in-between’ childhood and adulthood.

Categorization

Rowling’s works are difficult to classify. They do not slot neatly into any pre-established literary category, and they call into question the concept of ‘children’s literature’ as a lesser-quality genre. I suggest that Rowling’s cross-generational appeal has forced the reading public to reconsider notions of rigidly defined boundaries between reading matter suitable for children as opposed to adults. Her novels prove that children are capable of appreciating more challenging literature, and that adults equally enjoy works which they might normally have dismissed as intended for younger readers, if the works are of sufficient quality. J.K. Rowling has stated that when she began writing the series, she did not intend it to be aimed only at children:
I didn’t know then that it was going to be a book for children – I just knew that I had this boy, Harry.
(Fraser, 2000, p.20.)

Translating Children’s Literature.

I would now like to review, briefly, some of the main theories associated with concepts of childhood, and theories of the translation of children’s literature. One of the contemporary scholars operating in the domain of translation of texts for young people is O’Connell. She supports the notion that the translation of so-called children’s literature deserves to be researched in greater detail. She feels that two particularly worthwhile areas of research are:
…studies of current translation practice and specific problems encountered by translations…[and] studies [of] the reception and influence of translations in the target language…
(O’Connell, 2000, p.100.)
The present research attempts to investigate both of these suggested areas.

Defining Childhood

O’Connell feels that the terms ‘children’ and ‘childhood’ refer to a diverse group of readers with differing tastes. Rowling appeals to the varying expectations of a heterogeneous segment of reading children, through the originality of her writings. I find that the French translator, Jean-François Ménard, has met the challenge of transferring the creativeness of the STs into the TC, through close translational equivalence – as O’Connell points out:
This idea [the heterogeneity of children] is clearly of relevance to translators of texts for children who, if they endeavour to retain as much of the range and diversity of the original, will create translations better able to satisfy the wide-ranging needs and expectations of a heterogeneous audience of children…
(O’Connell, 2000, p.105.)


Shifting Values

O’Connell notes that cultural beliefs about what constitutes appropriate reading material for children have changed over time and across cultures. She refers to the differing translations of the Grimm brothers’ folk tale Little Red Riding Hood – different translators rendered this tale variously, according to the cultural demands of their time, some TTs being more simplified and devoid of darker elements than others. I would similarly argue that the differences between the Blyton books, with their uniform, simple themes, and the darker worlds created by writers such as Rowling and Snicket, point to a significantly altered concept of childhood reading material between the 1950s and the present.

Common Features of Children’s Literature

O’Connell notes that the concept of ‘children’s literature’ embraces a range of genres, from novels and plays to nursery rhymes and fairytales, to name but a few. It is therefore difficult to capture the scope of the concept in a concise definition. However, O’Connell isolates distinctive features of this genre. She refers to its dual audience of older and younger readers, the latter being the primary readership, as well as to the ‘ambivalent content’ (O’Connell, 2000, p.107) of many of these works – Rowling’s novels display the latter feature:

…while it is true that many works of children’s literature and other texts for children appeal essentially much more to the primary audience, others are… ‘ambivalent texts’…Such texts operate on a number of different levels of meaning and sophistication, and thus can be understood by a child in terms of their conventional, literal meaning or interpreted by an adult on a more sophisticated or satirical level as well.
(O’Connell, 2000, p. 104.)

Complex texts are sometimes simplified in translation: ‘…many ambivalent STs are much more univalent in translation’. (O’Connell, 2000, p.108.) For instance, some of Pérrault's Tales of Mother Goose were expurgated and bowdlerized of their more violent aspects in some English versions for children, e.g. in the Ladybird book versions. But this bowdlerization does not apply to the French translations of Harry Potter: I find that the French TTs of Rowling’s novels retain the multi-layered meanings of the STs, preserving all of their ambivalence and darkness.

O’Connell also notes (2000, p.109) that, as most children’s authors are adults, they can sometimes be patronizing in their choice of content or language – however, this accusation could not be levelled at Rowling. This failure to be truly in touch with the abilities of younger readers can also apply to translators. However, Ménard appears to be one of that ‘small number of translators who specialise…in works for children’ (O’Connell, 2000, p. 110), so that his capacity to respect the intelligence of his young readers is reflected in the quality of his TTs. In addition, the fact that he is also a successful writer of original French-language fiction for children ensures that he has ‘a satisfactory awareness of the full range of entertainment, didactic, linguistic and other issues involved.’ (O’Connell, 2000, p.110.) Both the STs and French TTs of the Potter novels fulfil many of the functions expected of children’s literature, namely:
…entertainment, development of linguistic skills, socialisation and the acquisition of world knowledge… (O’Connell, 2000, p.110.)

I propose that an important norm applying to the Potter French TTs was the expectation, on the part of critics, readers and publishers, that these translations would mirror the complexity and pedagogic value of the STs, and would thus be ‘adequate’ renderings. This has meant that they have not been banished to the periphery of the TC polysystem. Most such polysystems, prior to the advent of Rowling’s novels, did exclude the bulk of children’s literature to their outer edges:
…the conventional literary system, reflecting the values implicit in the traditional hierarchical family system, tends to undervalue women’s writing, while children’s literature fares even worse as it concerns children primarily and is seen…as the domain of women – whether mothers or teachers…
(O’Connell, 2000, p.112.)

A further characteristic of this genre is ‘the recurrent similarities in terms of structure, characters and language…’ (O’Connell, 2000, p. 113.) This has caused scholars to view the genre as secondary. These predictable features do not apply to the works of Rowling. Nor do they apply to many so-called 'children's writers' (in a deprecatory labelling) over the centuries. What we really need to be doing is, I suggest, to continually question our concepts of the child reader, and her often under-estimated moral strength and intellectual prowess.

Furthermore, traditional fairy tales have been accused of being stereotypical, yet they share the symbolism and ambivalence of Rowling’s novels. Thus, in considering the scholarly denigration of such texts, I agree with O’Connell that ‘perhaps it is the means of interpretation that actually fail’. (2000, p. 113.)

Conventional versus Innovative Translation

O’Connell has noted that:
…translators of contemporary children’s literature tend, in general, to conform to the norms and conventions of the target language and culture, at the expense of what would traditionally be considered a faithful translation…[because]…adults’ perception is that children are unable to tolerate ‘as much strangeness and foreignness as adult readers and…the peripheral position of translated children’s literature in most…literary polysystems causes the translator to opt for the conventional rather than the innovative.
(O’Connell, 2000, p.122.)

This tendency to translate conventionally, producing a domesticating TT, does not apply to the French Potter TTs. Ménard follows Rowling’s lead in assuming that children can tolerate challenging and foreignizing literature, and thus opts for fidelity and adequacy. The innovative nature of Ménard’s TTs is also explained by the non-peripheral position of the Potter TTs in the French literary system: the Harry Potter novels have created such anticipation in TCs that TT readers have come to expect ST loyalty and faithful reproduction, in order to fully perceive and enjoy the original content of these novels, insofar as translation can fulfil this requirement – indeed, perhaps their foreignization and newness are part of the very attraction of the Potter series in non-Anglophone cultures.

Having examined, thus far in this posting, some of the theoretical aspects of translating literature, I now want to talk a little about Gideon Toury and his model of Descriptive-Explanatory Translation Studies (DTS).


Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS)

Toury is the theorist primarily associated with DTS, and it is his model which has been used for my translation research into Verne and Rowling renderings. Toury has created a systematic methodology for describing translations. His point of departure is that there is a connection between the process of translation (i.e. the strategies adopted by the translator), the form of the translation product (and therefore, by extension, the relationships between the TT and ST) and the position and objectives of translated texts within a TC. I would suggest that the Potter TTs occupy a central position in the French literary system, because of the worldwide excitement generated by them – this canonical position of the TTs therefore dictated that they be translated faithfully, so that TT readers could appreciate the ST plots and language use, as closely as the medium of translation can permit.
Toury is therefore interested in describing
…the regularities which mark the relationships assumed to obtain between function, product and process.
(Toury, 1995, p. 24 )
He regards translations as being, primarily, products of the receptor culture in which they are formulated:
In an attempt to pursue this [descriptive] goal, translations have been regarded as facts of the culture which hosts them…whatever their function and identity, they are constituted within that same culture and reflect its own constellation… this approach to the study of translations and translating in their immediate contexts earned the nickname of ‘target-oriented’.
(Toury, 1995, p.24 )

Toury’s concern with target-orientedness means that he wishes to describe TTs as they actually are, both as products of their TC (and thus as independent TC texts in their own right and not merely as dependent forms derived from some other culture) and as texts inspired by a ST. He strives for objective description of TTs, moving away from the ‘extreme source-orientedness’ (Toury, 1995, p.24) of Translation Studies in the 1970s, a period during which
The preoccupation was mainly with the source text and the proclaimed protection of its ‘legitimate rights’. Target constraints, while never totally ignored, often counted as subsidiary…Many factors which govern real-life translational behaviour, and the fact that these factors resulted in a variety of very different translation traditions, were resented or…relegated to the realm of ‘mere’ history.
(Toury, 1995, p. 24 )

Toury’s objective in describing translations is to suggest possible universal laws of translational behaviour, as well as to describe the values attached to translation activity by the TC in question:

…my own endeavours have always been geared primarily toward the descriptive-explanatory goal of supplying exhaustive accounts of whatever has been regarded as translational within a TC, on the way to the formulation of some theoretical laws.
(Toury, 1995, p. 25 )

He describes the difference between translational prescriptivism and his concept of DTS:
Under such observation [i.e. translation description], there is no pretence that the nature of translation is given or fixed in any way…What is addressed…is not even what translation is in general, but what it proves to be in reality, and hence what it may be expected to be under various specifiable conditions. (Toury, 1995, p.32 )

In my analysis of the Potter corpus, I therefore assumed that equivalence of some kind existed, and sought to describe and account for that equivalence.

The Tripartite DTS Model

Munday (2001, p.112) lists the three steps of Toury’s descriptive methodology, which ‘incorporat(es) a description of the product and the wider role of the sociocultural system’ (Munday, 2001, p. 112):
1 Situate the text within the target culture system, looking at its significance or acceptability.
2 Compare the ST and the TT for shifts, identifying relationships between ‘coupled pairs’ of ST and TT segments, and attempting generalizations about the underlying concept of translation.
3 Draw implications for future decision-making in future translating.
(Munday, 2001, p. 112)
Toury recommends widening the scope of descriptive research to increasingly larger corpora, in order to further validate, and extend, findings on norms. In Chapter 4, I suggest further research topics which involve extending the present corpus. As Toury says,
…one assumed translation, or even one pair of texts, would not constitute a proper corpus for study, if the intention is indeed to expose the culturally determined interdependencies of function, process and product… Any aspiration to supply valid explanations would …involve an extension of the corpus according to some principle…[such as] text-type, translator, period…[etc.]…striving for higher-level generalization and explanation…
(Toury, 1995, p.38 )

Ad-hoc Selection of Segments

Toury admits that the choice of an appropriate extract for analysis is ‘ad-hoc’, usually based on intuition. Munday explains that this part of the DTS model is a bone of contention:
The decisions on which ST and TT segments to examine and what the relationships are between them is an apparatus which Toury…says should be supplied by translation theory. Yet…linguistic translation theory is far from reaching a consensus as to what that apparatus should be…The result is a flexible and non-prescriptive, if also less than rigorously systematic, means of comparing ST and TT.
(Munday, 2001, pp.112, 113.)

This points to a possible limitation of Toury’s model: as the selection of segments to analyze is inevitably ‘ad-hoc’, the choices are not based on any statistically rigorous sampling methods, so that the findings may be less than scientifically grounded. On the other hand, I had read the entire parallel corpus and discerned global translation orientations, before selecting an extract for finer analysis. Therefore, I contend that my findings are soundly based on the entire corpus.

The Translator as a Cultural Mediator in a System of Norms

Toury sees the translator as being more than some type of mechanical generator of linguistic equivalents. S/he is, rather, an active, norm-obeying cultural mediator:
Translation activities should rather be regarded as having cultural significance. Consequently, ‘translatorship’ amounts first and foremost to being able to play a social role, i.e. to fulfil a function allotted by a community – to the activity, its practitioners and/or their products – in a way which is deemed appropriate to its own terms of reference.
(Toury, 1995, p53. )

The 2003 edition of the Collins English Dictionary defines a norm, in the sociological sense, as ‘an established standard of behaviour shared by members of a social group to which each member is expected to conform.’ Norms are thus culturally determined guidelines as to expected patterns of behaviour – Munday explains that they are
…sociocultural constraints specific to a culture, society and time. An individual is said to acquire them from the general process of education and socialization.
(Munday, 2001, p.113.)

Toury sees translatorial behaviour as governed by norms which regulate appropriate strategies in specific translational situations. His own definition of norms is

…the translation of general values or ideas shared by a community – as to what is right or wrong, adequate or inadequate – into performance instructions appropriate for and applicable to particular situations.
(Toury, 1995, p.55)

Toury sees norms as being situated midway between ‘general, relatively absolute rules’ and ‘pure idiosyncracies’ – they are social and cultural prescriptions for acceptable behaviour, some of which are ‘stronger and rule-like’, while others are ‘almost idiosyncratic’. Ultimately, a translator who manifests excessive deviation from normatively prescribed standards, will find her/himself subject to the sanction of no longer being employed. Acquired norms are thus constraints on translatorial freedom, which play a ‘role in directing translation activity in socio-culturally relevant settings’. (Toury, 1995, p.55). Because they control behaviour, norms allow us to observe regularities in translation shifts. They can be more or less constraining, depending on their potency.

Norms are inductively reconstructed through analyses of the corpora themselves, as well as through studying metatexts and paratexts such as declarations of translators, publishers and reviewers. However, corpora themselves are the most objective sources of information on norms, as statements made about translations may be biased in favour of individual views.

Toury’s Categories of Norms

Toury lists various norms, which operate at different stages of the translation process. His initial norm refers to the question of whether a translator adheres to ST norms or to those of the TC and TL – the former strategy yields what Toury describes as the adequacy of a translation, whereas the latter leads to the acceptability of a TT. Therefore, an adequate translation
…will tend to subscribe to the norms of the source text, and through them also to the norms of the SL culture [which may] entail certain incompatibilities with target norms and practices, especially [non-linguistic] ones.
(Toury, 1995, p.56 )

In the Potter TTs, the findings illustrate that there is adequacy in Ménard’s loyalty to the ST message, and in the retention of many original proper names. But, as Toury points out:
If, on the other hand, the second stance is adopted, norm systems of the TC are triggered and set into motion. Shifts from the ST would be an almost inevitable price.
(Toury, 1995, p.56 )

There is a significant degree of acceptability in Ménard’s TTs, from the viewpoint of idiomatic TL usage and the alteration of some ST proper names to TC equivalents. As Toury points out:
…even the most adequacy-oriented translation involves shifts from the ST…the occurrence of shifts [is] a true universal of translation.
(Toury, 1995, p.57 )

Munday points out, therefore, that
…no translation is… totally adequate or totally acceptable.
(Munday, 2001, p.113 )

The Potter TTs thus manifest the influence of competing SC and TC norms, so that they are a ‘hybrid’ of adequacy and acceptability. This confirms Toury’s statement that
Actual translation decisions (the results of which the researcher would confront) will necessarily involve some … compromise between the extremes implied by the initial norm.
(Toury, 1995, p.57 )

Toury goes on to describe preliminary norms as consisting of two subordinate concepts, namely, translation policy and directness of translation. The former norm refers to the reasons governing the selection of particular texts for translation. The latter norm considers whether a TT is a direct translation or whether there is an intermediate language involved.

Toury next describes operational norms, which he sub-divides into matricial norms and textual-linguistic norms. The former norms consider such issues as whether the TT is a complete and unabridged rendering of its source (the Potter TTs are indeed complete); whether certain passages have been relocated or omitted, and whether the translator has used footnotes (there is no relocation and no use of footnotes in the Potter TTs, and hardly any omission). On the other hand, many translators (perhaps mainly of older texts) use footnotes and/or endnotes, often quite detailed, to explain and interpret/justify translation choices, talk about the original text and writer, etc. Perhaps future Potter translations, in decades/centuries to come, will be scholarly, annotated editions.

Textual-linguistic norms are the most time-consuming component of DTS research, as they are concerned with analysing individual items of the text. Toury describes these norms, saying that they
…govern the selection of material to formulate the target text in, or replace the original textual and linguistic material with…[they consist of] general norms of translation and particular norms which would apply to a particular text-type. Some of them may be identical to the norms governing non-translational text production, but such an identity should never be taken for granted…[this is why] no study of translation can or…should [assume that] the latter is representative of the target language.
(Toury, 1995, p.59 )

I have, therefore, in my findings, briefly compared Ménard’s TTs with comparable corpora of non-translational (original) French youth-oriented literature. As Toury says:
An interesting field of study is…comparative: the nature of translational norms as compared to those governing non-translational kinds of text production…this kind of study is vital, if translating and translations are to be appropriately contextualized.
(Toury, 1995, p.61 )

Individual translators may show varying degrees of compliance with norms:

[It is] not as if all translators are passive in the face of…changes [in norms]…Rather, many of them, through their very activity, help in shaping the process…Wittingly or unwittingly, they all try to interfere with the ‘natural’ course of events and to divert it according to their own preferences…Complying with social pressures to constantly adjust one’s behaviour to norms that keep changing is …far from simple, and most people…do so only up to a point.
(Toury, 1995, p.62 )

It could, therefore, be difficult to judge whether a particular instance of translational behaviour is normative, idiosyncratic, or even deviant. One must analyse a sufficient number of ST and TT coupled pairs to be confident of one’s hypotheses.

Toury sums up the intricacy of his model:

[there is a]…multiplicity and variation of norms…real-life situations tend to be complex…[one must] note this complexity to draw any justifiable conclusions…the only viable way out seems to be to contextualise every phenomenon, every item, every text, every act, on the way to allotting the different norms themselves their appropriate position and valence…
(Toury, 1995, p.63 )


Toury’s Norms as Providing a Methodology for my Research on Rowling translations

I began by studying the Potter TTs as independent entities, without reference to the STs, to guage their readability and acceptability. As Toury says:

…it is advisable to start by studying assumed translations, along with their constituents, in terms of their ACCEPTABILITY [Toury’s emphasis] in the system(s) of which they purportedly form part.
(Toury, 1995, p. 71 )

The essential activity in my DTS research was to analyse translation shifts, to discern how corresponding ST and TT segments were related, and to establish what this revealed about underlying normative influences:

…the study could proceed to facts which are observational in the ‘second order’, i.e. facts which need to be (re)constructed before they can be submitted to scrutiny, most notably the relationships which tie together the output and input of individual acts, the ultimate intention being to end up reconstructing the non-observables at their roots, particularly the processes whereby they came into being…it will normally be TT segments…which would be mapped onto segments of the ST. In the process of mapping, the status of the former as translational replacements would be established, along with what they may be said to have replaced, thus shedding light on problems as they may have presented themselves in the particular act which yielded the text under observation, and on their solutions. (my emphasis.)
(Toury, 1995, p.94 )

Individual pairs of replaced and replacing segments of the Potter corpus – ST segments and their corresponding TT segments – were thus analysed as to the likely norms which lay beneath them. Toury states that the ‘ultimate goal of studies into individual pairs of texts’ is to establish, for a corpus, the ‘norm of translation equivalence’ and the ‘underlying concept of translation’. (Toury, 1995, p.95).

Conclusion: Comparing and contrasting source texts and target texts, comparing source language usage with target language usage in (re)translations...

So, in what has been a very long posting, i've discussed, albeit in general terms, the theoretical background to DTS and to translating for younger readers, and the research methods which inform my ongoing Translation Studies research, in which I look at how works of literature have entered and re-entered other language communities and cultures, through translation and retranslation, over decades and centuries.