Basic literary translation - Елена Андреева

2.3 Hyperbole

Hyperbole (overstatement) is a trope aimed at deliberate exaggeration of dimensions or other attributes of the object. This device of expressiveness imparts emphatic character to the phrase. Hyperbole does not mean the actual state of objects or phenomena, but emotional evaluation of reality by a speaker. When characteristic features of an object or phenomenon are underrated, we deal with the opposite stylistic device – understatement (meiosis). The mechanism of its creation and functioning is identical with that of hyperbole. Hyperbole and meiosis can be expressed by various parts of speech; owing to this they can be similar to other stylistic devices (mostly epithets and metaphors).

Possible means of translation:

literal translation;

Acres of black and yellow smoke rolled steadily towards the sea [32].

Акры чёрного и рыжего дыма упрямо валили к морю [18].

contextual substitution;

Flower and fruit grew together on the same tree and everywhere was the scent of ripeness and the booming of a million bees at pasture [32].

Цветы и фрукты росли рядом, вперемешку, и вокруг стоял запах спелости и густое жужжание несметных пасущихся пчёл [18].

conversion (structural transformation);

Down here, almost on a level with the sea, you could follow with your eye the ceaseless , bulging passage of the deep sea waves [32].

Тут, чуть не вровень с водой, можно было следить глазами, как без конца взбухают и накатывают глубинные волны [18].

omission / addition (extension).

The beach between the palm terrace and the water was a thin bow-stave, endless apparently <…> [32].

Полоска песка между пальмовой террасой и морем убегала тонкой лукой неведомо куда <…> [18].

Exercises

1 . Find in the given text the words used in metaphorical sense and write out of a dictionary all their meanings. Compose your own sentences using every word in direct and figurative meaning.

“You must know,” said he, “I walked about all the forenoon, till I was as tired as an old donkey, without seeing a single grunter, not so much as a track of one; but, as I was determined not to return empty-handed, I resolved to go without my dinner and – “

“What!” exclaimed Jack, “did you REALLY resolve to do that?”

“Now, Jack, hold your tongue,” returned Peterkin; “I say that I resolved to forego my dinner and to push to the head of the small valley, where I felt pretty sure of discovering the hogs. I soon found that I was on the right scent, for I had scarcely walked half a mile in the direction of the small plum tree we found there the other day, when a squeak fell on my ear. ‘Ho, ho,’ said I, ‘there you go, my boys;’ and I hurried up the glen. I soon started them, and singling out a fat pig, ran tilt at him. In a few seconds I was up with him, and stuck my spear right through his dumpy body. Just as I did so, I saw that we were on the edge of a precipice, whether high or low I knew not, but I had been running at such a pace that I could not stop, so the pig and I gave a howl in concert and went plunging over together. I remembered nothing more after that, till I came to my senses and found you bathing my temples, and Ralph wringing his hands over me.”

From “The Coral Island”, by R.M. Ballantyne

2 . Find in the given texts hyperboles or understatements and define their forms, their function and appropriateness of their usage in the text.

Extract 1.

When we approached Cape Horn, at the southern extremity of America, the weather became very cold and stormy, and the sailors began to tell stories about the furious gales and the dangers of that terrible cape.

“Cape Horn,” said one, “is the most horrible headland I ever doubled. I’ve sailed round it twice already, and both times the ship was a’most blow’d out o’ the water.”

“An’ I’ve been round it once,” said another, “an’ that time the sails were split, and the ropes frozen in the blocks, so that they wouldn’t work, and we wos all but lost.”

“An’ I’ve been round it five times,” cried a third, “an’ every time wos wuss than another, the gales wos so tree-mendous!”

“And I’ve been round it no times at all,” cried Peterkin, with an impudent wink of his eye, “an’ THAT time I wos blow’d inside out!”

Extract 2.

Peterkin did as he was directed, and we both burst into uncontrollable laughter at the changes that instantly passed over his expressive countenance. No sooner had he put the nut to his mouth, and thrown back his head in order to catch what came out of it, than his eyes opened to twice their ordinary size with astonishment, while his throat moved vigorously in the act of swallowing. Then a smile and look of intense delight overspread his face, except, indeed, the mouth, which, being firmly fixed to the hole in the nut, could not take part in the expression; but he endeavoured to make up for this by winking at us excessively with his right eye. At length he stopped, and, drawing a long breath, exclaimed –

“Nectar! Perfect nectar! I say, Jack, you’re a Briton – the best fellow I ever met in my life. Only taste that!” said he, turning to me and holding the nut to my mouth.

Extract 3.

“Oh! don’t stop him from speaking, Jack,” said Peterkin, who, now that his fears for my safety were removed, busied himself in erecting a shelter of broken branches in order to protect me from the wind; which, however, was almost unnecessary, for the rock beside which I had been laid completely broke the force of the gale. “Let him speak, Jack; it’s a comfort to hear that he’s alive, after lying there stiff and white and sulky for a whole hour, just like an Egyptian mummy. Never saw such a fellow as you are, Ralph; always up to mischief. You’ve almost knocked out all my teeth and more than half choked me, and now you go shamming dead! It’s very wicked of you, indeed it is.”

From “The Coral Island”, by R.M. Ballantyne

3 . Compare the original and its translation. Define means of translation used by the translator.

From “Lord of the Flies”, by W. Golding

4 . Translate the following sentences paying attention to the hyperboles and understatements. Explain what means of translation you have used.

1. The water was warmer then his blood and he might have been swimming in a huge bath [32].

2. Clouds of birds rose from the tree-tops, and something squealed and ran in the undergrowth [32].

3. I bet you can hear that for miles [32].

4. Here, the roots and stems of creepers were in such tangles that the boys had to thread through them like pliant needles [32].

5. Round the castles was a complex of marks, tracks, walls, railway lines, that were of significance only if inspected with the eye at beach-level [32].

6. Like a myriad of tiny teeth in a saw, the transparencies came scavenging over the beach [32].

7. “There was lashings of blood”, said Jack, laughing and shuddering, “you should have seen it!” [32].

8. My daddy says there’s things, what d’you call ’em that make ink-squids – that are hundreds of yards long and eat whales whole [32].

9. Jack’s face went so white that the freckles showed as clear, brown flecks [32].

10. He was surrounded on all sides by chasms of empty air [32].

11. Soon, in a matter of centuries, the sea would make an island of the castle [32].

12. Now he saw the landsman’s view of the swell and it seemed like the breathing of some stupendous creature [32].

13. A steady current of heated air rose all day from the mountain and was thrust to ten thousand feet; revolving masses of gas piled up the static until the air was ready to explode [32].

14. There was only one other rock up there that they might conceivably move; but that was half as big as a cottage, big as a car, a tank [32].

15. Perhaps he can hear my heart over the noises of the fire [32].

16. Peterkin immediately put them on, but they were so large that, as Jack said, they would have done for boots, trousers, and vest too [28].

5 . Translate the following sentences paying attention to the hyperboles and understatements. Explain what means of translation you have used.

1. А съевши один апельсин, я должен было сознаться, что хороших апельсинов до этой минуты никогда не ел [26].

2. Улицы так длины, что конца нет: версты две и более [26].

3. Вероятно, эти деревья ровесники местечку, а оно старше почти всех других в колонии <…> [26].

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