Norms and translatorial habitus in Angelos Vlahos’ greek translation of Hamlet

Abstract

This paper aspires at engaging in the dialogue concerning the search for a translatorial sociology and the employment of Bourdieu’s sociology in Translation Studies. Angelos Vlahos’ (1838-1920) translation of Hamlet (1904) into Greek is used as a case study. The claims made are: (a) that the methodological tool which can effectively account for the translator’s choices is not norms or even the translational habitus, but the translatorial habitus, i.e. the translator’s personal habitus, (b) that habitus can better account for deviant translational practices than norms, and (c) that a micro-level analysis can and should supplement research on particular translators, as it can shed more light on their translational practice than a general sociological approach. The first part of this paper presents some reservations concerning DTS and polysystems theories. The second part describes the literary, theatrical, and translation context within which the specific translation came into being. Furthermore, in this part Vlahos’ ideological, political, aesthetic, poetological, linguistic, and translation principles are described, as well as his views on Shakespeare. Finally, in the third and last part a micro-level analysis of the TT is made, in which specific translation choices are shown to have been influenced by Vlahos’ personal habitus, mostly in contrast with the norms of the time. Special interest is placed on the translator’s stance towards the language question, which has always had deep ideological and political roots in Greece. The issue of style is also of great importance here, encompassing facets such as versification, wordplay, and neologism.