‘Ziezo zusje, nu wordt er gewerkt of ik mep je dood!’ The Idiolect of Etty Hillesum in English and Swedish Translation

Abstract

This master thesis sets out to uncover the intricacies of translating a diary, by studying the idiolect in the diary of Etty Hillesum (1914-1943) and in two of its translations, to determine whether Hillesum’s persona is portrayed differently in the translations. For this thesis two translations are used: the English one, translated by Arnold J. Pomerans (1983) and the Swedish one, by Brita Dahlman (1983). Chapter one provides a short introduction of Hillesum’s life. Chapter two contextualizes this thesis by placing it in two fields of discourse, beside translation studies, namely life writing and Holocaust literature. This chapter will focus on the history and functions of diary writing and the role of the diary of Anne Frank in the aforementioned fields of discourse. In chapter three, a distinction is made between Hillesum’s persona in the source culture and target cultures, based on the reception of the diary in said cultures. This chapter will be divided into three parts: first, the publication history of the diary will be discussed. Second, a study of the reception in the source culture will help to form an image of Hillesum’s ‘original’ persona. Third, a study of the reception in the target culture will show how Hillesum’s work is read in American and Swedish culture. This will help to establish Hillesum’s persona in the two cultures and suggests approaches the translators might have taken, based on their target culture. Chapter four is concerned with the stylistic theory that will function as the framework for the analysis. In this chapter, theory on ‘idiolect’ and ‘register’ will be presented. Furthermore, several possible translation problems that might arise based on Hillesum’s linguistic habits, are discussed. Chapter five will be the practical part of the thesis, where the theory presented in chapter four will be applied to the source text and its translations. The analysis will be sub-divided into several speech elements, namely 1) inner dialogue; particularly Hillesum’s use of diminutives, imperatives and expletives, 2) graphological deviation; particularly Hillesum’s implementation of emphasis by using accents and her use of punctuation to interrupt the flow of writing and 3) different terms of endearment that Hillesum addresses herself with. In every category, the function of Hillesum’s linguistic habits will be explained, followed by examples, translations and an analysis of said examples. Chapter six will offer conclusions, based on the analysis and the main question will be answered. This chapter will show how the translation choices made by the translators, have affected Hillesum’s persona. Chapter seven will contain some final notes on the phenomena discussed in this thesis, such as the elusiveness of idiolect, how a translator can approach this and the difficulties of studying a personal document. Finally, ideas for further research will be suggested.