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The Functioning and Features of Paratexts in Translated Satirical Novels: Focusing on Gulliver’s Travels and Animal Farm

한미선 1

1이화여자대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Satirical novels are generally characterized by clear intention and allegories employed within the texts. When working on satirical pieces, authors tend to assume that their expected audiences or readers should recognize allegorical objects used in the fictional world are directly associated with things of the real world. This is the very premise for satirical novels to be read properly. However, the assumption can apply only to the audiences of novels produced in the original culture who share the same spatial and temporal context with the authors. This study is based on the aforementioned unique characteristics of satirical novels. The authors of the original can not expect that the very assumptions required for a certain satire to be read properly can also apply to the audience in the target culture. That is because different time and space factors are at work between the authors and their audiences. Taking these disparities into account, this study attempts to demonstrate that various forms of paratexts in translation can make up for the inapplicability of the aforementioned premise caused by these differences, thus mediating between the author in the orignal culture and the reader in the target culture or the fictional world and the real world. To that end, this study examines how paratexts are utilized in translated satirical novels by analyzing their forms and characteristics in translated versions of two typical satirical novels: Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels and George Orwell's Animal Farm.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.