On the translatability and untranslatability in the semi(o)feuilletons "Masaryk's shoes" of the Vladimír Macura
Abstract
Abstract: Subject of the study is the translatological analysis of certain challenges, related to the (un)translatability in the semi(o)feuilletons included in the anthology "Masaryk's shoes" of the Czech novelist, literary critic and historian Vladimír Macura. The study is based on the Bulgarian translation of the anthology published in 2021 under the title "Masaryk's boots and other semi(o)sketches" (in Bulgarian: "Obuvkite na Masarik i drugi semi(o)fejletoni") in a common volume, comprising also the semiotic essays "Happy Age: Symbols, Emblems and Myths 1948-1989" by the same author.
An opposition Translatability (as a subject of the theory of translation) vs. Translatable (depending on the type of text and the language instruments, i.e. the existing translation practice) is introduced and a thesis is proposed that in the Translatability field (as a theoretical term) can be identified various degrees of Translatable (as a concept, dealing with the specific translation decisions).
A conclusion is reached that there is a close correlation between the (un)Translatable and the (un)Translatability, and particularly that a prerequisite for successful individual translation decisions is the possibility for Translatability from the perspective of the target language's "semiotic world".