Drama translation as textual and cultural transformation

Abstract

The aimof this article is threefold: first, a brief history of drama translation as exchange of dramatic texts will be outlined. Throughout the history of theatre, texts have crossed boundaries and helped to establish new systems, or have given new blood to old systems. Second, a terminological clarification will be given in order to dispel the confusion which has sometimes surrounded terms such as “drama translation”, “dramatic text”, “theatre translation” and “theatre text”. These terms have often been used interchangeably, but “drama translation” is not synonymous with “theatre translation”, as “dramatic text” is not with “theatre text”. Dramatic texts and theatre texts, in fact, function as objects or elements in different systems and are governed by different systemic conventions. Third, a survey of themajor theoretical contributions will be presented. Interest in drama translation from a theoretical point of view started in the late 1970s, with contemporary translation scholars initially highly influenced by semiotics.More recently, however, they have turned their attention to new, and perhapsmore profitable,means of investigation. From a cultural perspective, they have categorised specific translation strategies and used themto study the ways in which the discourse of foreign source texts is integrated in translation into the discourse of the target society.