Abstracts
Abstract
Historiographers, anthropologists and cultural studies experts have shown that discussions of identity in or about the Balkans have been traditionally linked to a sense of ‘deficiency.’ Given the history of conflict, the drive towards greater European integration and the effects of the current economic crisis in the region, there is an urgency to deconstruct such ideologies. This article shows how Herzfeld’s (2002; 2005) approach to Balkan marginality may be productively extended to cover cultural and translation critique. Thus his concept of cultural intimacy is applied to stories of migration. Two Greek works are examined: Gazmend Kapllani’s semi-autobiographic novel A Short Border Diary (2006), translated into English by Marie Stanton-Ife, and Filippos Tsitos’ film Plato’s Academy (2009), subtitled into English. Both works have set a precedent in terms of audience reception and as documents of a historical cycle, the migration of thousands of Albanians to Greece after the collapse of communism. Translation and subtitling into English respectively show that the written and the audiovisual medium present different opportunities for conveying Balkan otherness.
Keywords:
- Albanian,
- Greek,
- humour,
- minority,
- audiovisual translation
Résumé
Les historiographes, les anthropologues et les experts en études culturelles ont montré que les discussions concernant l’identité dans les Balkans ou à propos des Balkans ont été traditionnellement associées à un sens d’« insuffisance ». Étant donné l’histoire de conflits, l’effort concerté vers une plus grande intégration européenne et les retombées de la crise économique dans la région, il devient urgent de déconstruire de telles idéologies. Cet article montre comment l’approche de Herzfeld (2002 ; 2005) concernant la marginalité balkanique peut être étendue afin d’inclure la critique culturelle et la critique de traduction. J’applique son concept de l’intimité culturelle aux histoires des migrations. J’examine deux oeuvres grecques : A Short Border Diary (2006), roman à demi autobiographique de Gazmend Kapllani et traduit en anglais par Marie Stanton-Ife, et Plato’s Academy, un film réalisé par Filippos Tsitos (2009), sous-titré en anglais. Les deux oeuvres ont créé un précédent en ce qui concerne la réception par le public et en tant que documents d’un cycle historique, c’est-à-dire la migration de milliers d’Albanais vers la Grèce après la chute du communisme. La traduction et le sous-titrage en anglais montrent respectivement que le médium écrit et le médium audiovisuel offrent différentes possibilités de communiquer l’altérité balkanique.
Mots-clés :
- albanais,
- grec,
- humour,
- minorité,
- traduction audiovisuelle
Appendices
Bibliography
- Asimakoulas, Dimitris (2013): Migrant Bitter Wit: Translating a Coping Mechanism in Gazmend Kapllani’s Μικρό Ημερολόγιο Συνόρων. New Voices in Translation Studies. 10:1-20.
- Balaban, Adem and Çagağlayan, Bünyamin (2014): Common Cultural Turkish Words in Albanian and Greek. Journal of Educational and Social Research. 4(2):267-270.
- Calotychos, Vangelis (2013): The Balkan Prospect. Identity, Culture, and Politics in Greece after 1989. New York: Palgrave McMillan.
- Carbonell Cortés, Ovidi (2003): Semiotic Alteration in Translation. Othering, Stereotyping and Hybridization in Contemporary Translations from Arabic into Spanish and Catalan. Linguistica Anverpiensia. 2:145-159.
- Cheliotis, Leonidas (2013): Immigration Detention and State Denial in Greece. Open Democracy. Visited 28 July 2016, http://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/leonidas-kcheliotis/immigration-detention-and-state-denial-in-greece.
- Christopoulos, Dimitris (2009): Defining the Changing Boundaries of Greek Nationality. In: Dimitris tziovas, ed. Greek Diaspora and Migration since 1700. Society, Politics and Culture. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 111-123.
- Elsie, Robert, Destani, Bejtullah and Jasini, Rudina, eds. (2012): The Cham Albanians of Greece: A Documentary History. London: I. B. Tauris.
- Farinou-Malamatari, Georgia (2003): The Representation of the Balkans in Modern Greek Fiction of the 1990s. In: Dimitris tziovas, ed. Greece and the Balkans: Identities, Perceptions and Cultural Encounters since the Enlightenment. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 249-261.
- Gotsi, Georgia (2012): Beyond ‘Home Identity’: Immigrant Voices in Contemporary Greek Fiction. Journal of Modern Greek Studies. 30(2):155-189.
- Herzfeld, Michael (2002): The Absence Presence: Discourses of Crypto-Colonialism. The South Atlantic Quarterly. 101(4):899-926.
- Herzfeld, Michael (2005): Cultural Intimacy. Social Poetics in the Nation-State. 2nd ed. London/New York: Routledge.
- Jones, Francis R. (2004): Ethics, Aesthetics and Decision: Literary Translating in the Wars of the Yugoslav Succession. Meta. 49(4):711-728.
- Kapllani, Gazmend (2006): Μικρό Ημερολόγιο Συνόρων [Small Border Diary]. Athens: Livanes.
- Kapllani, Gazmend (2009): A Short Border Handbook (translated from the Greek by Anne-Marie Stanton-Ife). London: Portobello Books.
- Kasimis, Charalambos (2012): Greece: Illegal Immigration in the Midst of Crisis. Migration Policy Institute. Visited 28 July 2016, http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/greece-illegal-immigration-midst-crisis.
- Katsounake, Maria (2009): Με την ταυτότητα στο «περίπου» [An ‘almost’ identity]. Kathimerini. 15 October 2009. Visited 28 July 2016, http://www.kathimerini.gr/373063/article/politismos/arxeio-politismoy/me-thn-taytothta-sto-peripoy.
- King, Russel (1998): Post-Oil Crisis, Post-Communism: New Geographies of European Migration. In: David Pinder, ed. The New Europe: Economy, Society and Environment. Chichester, UK: Wiley, 281-304.
- Klonovsky, Michael (2010): 2000 Jahre Niedergang. Focus Magazin. 22 February 2010. Visited 28 July 2016, http://www.focus.de/finanzen/news/staatsverschuldung/wirtschaft-2000-jahre-niedergang_aid_482500.html.
- Kuhiwczak, Piotr (1999): Translation and Language Games in the Balkans. In: Gunilla Anderman and Margaret Rogers, eds. Word, Text, Translation. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 217-224.
- Longinović, Tomislav (2011): Vampire Nation. Violence as Cultural Imaginary. Durham/London: Duke University Press.
- Nitsiakos, Vassilis and Mantzos, Constantinos (2003): Negotiating Culture: Political Uses of Polyphonic Folk Songs in Greece and Albania. In: Dimitris Tziovas, ed. Greece and the Balkans: Identities, Perceptions and Cultural Encounters since the Enlightenment. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 192-207.
- Pappas, Giorgos (2014): Γέφυρα από την Αθήνα στο Βερολίνο [Bridge from Athens to Berlin]. Ta Nea. 14 June 2014. Visited 28 July 2016, http://www.tanea.gr/printed/tanea/article?premium=1&d=20140614&aid=25493963.
- Schwandner-Sievers, Stephanie (2003): Albanians, Albanianism and the Strategic Subversion of Stereotypes. In: Andrew Hammond, ed. The Balkans and the West. Constructing the European Other, 1945-2003. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 110-126.
- Stahuljak, Zrinka (2010): Translation, Conflict, and Postcolonial Critique. In: Moira Inghilleri and Sue-Ann Harding, eds. Translating Violent Conflict. Special issue. The Translator. 16(2): 255-274.
- Svensson, Anette (2010): A Translation of Worlds: Aspects of Cultural Translation and Australian Migration Literature. Umeå, Sweden: Umeå University, Department of Language Studies.
- Tahourdin, Adrian (2013): Translation Prizes. The Times Literary Supplement. 31 January 2013. Visited 28 July 2016, http://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/translation-prizes/.
- Todorova, Maria Nikolaeva (2009): Imagining the Balkans. Updated ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Tonkin, Boyd (2010): A Short Border Handbook by Gazmend Kapllani. The Independent. 21 May 2010. Visited 28 July 2016, http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/a-short-border-handbook-by-gazmend-kapllani-1978240.html.
- Tsianos, Vassilis and Karakayali, Serhat (2010): Transnational Migration and the Emergence of the European Border Regime: An Ethnographic Analysis. European Journal of Social Theory. 13(3): 373-387.
- Tsitos, Filippos (2009): Ακαδημία Πλάτωνος [Plato’s Academy]. DVD. Berlin/Athens: Twenty Twenty Vision and Pan Entertaintment.
- Tziovas, Dimitris (2003): Introduction. In: Dimitris Tziovas, ed. Greece and the Balkans: Identities, Perceptions and Cultural Encounters since the Enlightenment. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 1-15.
- Vasileiou, Yannis (2009): Κριτική Ταινίας. Ακαδημία Πλάτωνος. [Film Review. Plato’s Academy]. Cinema News. Visited 28 July 2016, http://www.cinemanews.gr/v5/movies.php?n=6757.
- Weissberg, Jay (2009): Review: ‘Plato’s Academy.’ Variety. 17 August 2009. Visited 28 July 2016, http://variety.com/2009/film/reviews/plato-s-academy-1200475622.
- Wright, Chantal (2010): Exophony and Literary Translation. Target. 22(1): 22-39.
- Zinovieff, Sofka (2009): Broken Biscuits. The Times Literary Supplement. 20 November 2009. Visited 28 July 2016, http://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/broken-biscuits/.
10.7202/009777ar