Svetlana Alexievich: a polyphonic writer in translation

Tomanek, Liudmila (2025) Svetlana Alexievich: a polyphonic writer in translation. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This thesis is an explorative study into polyphony and its transformation in translation. It aims to identify individual voices in Alexievich’s polyphonic writing in Russian and by analysing changes they undergo in the existing translations into English to compare how voices transition and polyphony is portrayed from the source texts to the target texts. In doing so, this work seeks to contribute to the discourse surrounding the translation of Alexievich’s works and provide future translators with a tool to reflect the multivocal nature of her narratives. To do so, it develops a new methodological framework for identifying and analysing individual voices which offers a systematic approach to translating polyphonic texts.

First, this thesis to understand the specific nature of polyphony in Alexievich’s writing and explores a range of attitudes towards that polyphony in the source-text culture(-s) and society(-ies), where her writing challenged a well-established representation of historical events as well as of the places where those events unfolded. To devise an appropriate research methodology, this thesis looks at Alexievich’s polyphonic texts through the prism of the Bakhtinian polyphonic approach supplemented with a range of theoretical scholarship to shape a conceptual understanding of the written polyphonic voice. The methodology establishes four dimensions of voice which are applied to the two-stage comparative textual analysis.

The analysis identifies polyphonic voices in the Russian-language source texts then explores their transformation in translation into English. The source-text analysis confirms the presence of polyphonic voices distinguishable at a textual level. They come across as diverse, unique and different from each other. The subsequent analysis of the voices in the existing translations has identified shifts and alterations that lead to changes of those in various ways, as well as the presence of the voice of an individual translator. The outcome of this research is that some characteristics of individual voices could be preserved in translation if the dimensions of voice devised in the research methodology are applied during pre-translation analysis.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Subjects: P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics; P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN0080 Criticism
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Modern Languages and Cultures > Comparative Literature
• Supervisor's Name: Raan, Dr. James and Bassnett, Professor Susan
• Date of Award: 2025
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2025-85154
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 07 May 2025 10:03
• Last Modified: 07 May 2025 10:06
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.85154
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/85154