The Gun Seller: A Parody of the Superhuman Spy

Abstract

This essay concentrates on the translation of The Gun Seller – chapter eighteen will serve as the source for illustrations – with particular attention to translation problems that arise. The translator has to consider many elements of the book in this process. Not only do story, characters, tone and the humour have to be transferred to another language, but genre and the function of individual elements within the book and of the book as a whole, are also of importance during translation, and ultimately for the target text. The predominant problem of translating the parody of the book constitutes most of the theoretic framework. The humour that is integrated into every inch of the book, the all too familiar story line, Thomas Lang as the main character of the story, Thomas Lang as the narrator of the story: these individual elements make up the parody of this novel, and influence the translation process. The central question is: what problems is the translator faced with when translating the parodic book The Gun Seller?