Perceptual images in camp prose
and its English translation

In the section Linguistics
Perceptual images in camp prose
and its English translation
Авторы (текстом)
E. G. Basalaeva, N. V. Nosenko
Новосибирский государственный педагогический университет, Новосибирск, Россия
Ключевые слова
vocabulary of perception, camp prose, E. Ginzburg, metaphor, translation
Abstract

The paper focuses on the key images of perception of the novel “Krutoy marshrut” by
E. Ginzburg and its English translation “Journey into the Whirlwind” by P. Stevenson and
M. Hayward. It is noted that one important way to describe the special atmosphere in the socalled “camp prose” is the perceptual vocabulary, a means of depicting impressions and related experiences. The leading channels of perception, actualized in the Ginzburg’s work, are
auditory and olfactory. Sounds and smells receive the additional semantic load in the text. They act as markers of the borderline of prison’s and “worldly” spaces, signals of changes in
the heroine’s physical or emotional state (they are often precursors of violence), a source of
important information (most often it is knocking), a means of updating the mode of memories
(the smells are mainly used for this purpose). The linguistic means of expressing perceptual
images is the hearing and smell vocabulary (loud and tiny sounds, knock, roar, clang,
screech, scream, ringing, silence, etc.; stink, smell, fragrance, etc.) and detailed metaphors
(zoomorphic, natural, musical), often based on the syncretism of perception (sound, smell, vision). The English translation analysis indicates a rather high degree of equivalence in the
perceptual imagery transmission, with replacement or transformation of the most important
images not excluded. The study showed interpreting and transmitting the author’s metaphors
and syncretic (audio-olfactory and visual-audio) images to be the most difficult for translation. The transformations used by the translators are necessary for the English-speaking reader’s understanding of the complex perceptual images of the confessional novel.

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Bibliographic reference
E. G. Basalaeva, N. V. Nosenko Perceptual images in camp prose
and its English translation
// Сибирский филологический журнал. 2020. № 4. Pp. 293–307. DOI: 10.17223/18137083/73/20.