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Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Class Discussion

We had an interesting discussion today. Various translators of a Lorca poem translated his line "Violador enfurecido" as

ravisher / ravager / violator

The question was whether you could translate it as rapist. For some, this was not "poetic" enough. For others, it was the correct translation. I had a hard time making up my mind.

2 comments:

Thomas said...

Isn't it the primary meaning of the word? Isn't "rapist" what a native speaker would read first (even if the "rape" turns out to be metaphorical)?

Jonathan said...

Yes, that's correct. But violation is not only rape, so I guess the word is weaker than in English.