Original Metaphors and Their Translation

The preservation of original metaphors in imaginative prose is obligatory as they belong to the main features of a writer’s individual style. If for some linguistic reason (different valency, different semantic structure, etc.) the original metaphor cannot be preserved, resort is taken to stylistic replacements or compensation either by substituting another image or by using another stylistic device, e.g.

And Might by limping Sway disabled. (Shakespeare Sonnet 66)

И мощь в плену у немощи беззубой. (пер. С.Маршака)

The metaphoric epithets “limping” and беззубый are formally not identical semantic units but as they have a common seme denoting a physical defect, stylistically they may be regarded as equivalents.

The sun would pour through the shutters, tiger-striping the table and floor…

(G. Durrell)

Солнце светило сквозь ставни и столик и пол были похожи на тигровую шкуру.

The metaphor is rendered by a simile.

An original metaphor has sometimes to be substituted for grammatical reasons, for instance, the category of gender may be a case in point.

Can’t think how he married that glass of sour milk. (W.Deeping).

Не могу себе представить, как он мог жениться на этой чашке кислого молока.

The Russian noun стакан is masculine and must in this case be substituted by a feminine noun чашка.

A trite metaphor is sometimes revived by adding to it a new image expressed by one or more words.

He was a rich vein of information, and I mined him assiduously. (G.Durrell).

Он был неиссякаемым источником информации, и я без устали черпал из него.

Sometimes the difficulty of rendering metaphors in translation is due to the fact that the metaphor is based on some phraseological unit which has no equivalent in Russian.

Never before had Lucy met that negative silence in its full perfection, in its full cruelty. Her own edges began to curl up sympathy. (J. Tey).

Никогда еще Люси не сталкивалась с таким абсолютным молчанием, столь характерным для англичан и столь беспощадным; и в ней самой начало закипать негодование.

The metaphor in this example “her own edges began to curl up in sympathy” is linked up with two phraseological unities:

1. to be on edge – to be excited or irritable; 2. to set person’s teeth on edge – jar his nerves, affect him with repulsion (The Concise Oxford Dictionary). The semes in this case are reshuffled, the referential meaning of the word “edge” is revived, and the meaning of the two phraseological unities (to be irritable, to have one’s nerves jarred) is present. This interaction of two meanings is perceived as deliberate interplay.

Original Metonymies and their Translation

The rendering of metonymy is not always easy because of differences in usage.

So the pink sprigged muslin and the champagne voile ran downstairs in a hurry. (C. Dane).

The metonymies «розовый муслин в цветочках и палевая кисея сбежали по лестнице» are hardly possible in Russian. The following is an acceptable rendering:

Подруги, одна в розовом муслине с цветочками и другая в палевой кисее, быстро сбежали по лестнице.

The addition of a concrete word – подруги – is prompted by the macro context, but the stylistic effect is certainly lost in translation. What is permissible and possible in our language is impossible in another. Still there are cases when the norms of the Russian language permit the use of original metonymies.

There were only four other people in the bar. I knew them all, or knew what they did for a living: timber, flour, textiles, insurance. Timber and Flower were standing at the counter discussing the cost of labour; Textiles at a table on the opposite side of the room was complaining about his garage bills. Insurance was listening patiently. (J.Braine).

В баре было только еще четыре человека. Я знал их всех, вернее знал, чем они занимаются: строевой лес, мука, текстиль, страхование. Строевой лес и Мука стояли у стойки, обсуждая стоимость рабочей силы; Текстиль, сидя у столика в другом конце бара, жаловался на большие счета за гараж. Страхование терпеливо его слушал.