“The Caucasus in Translation”. On the Imaging of Third-Culture Realia in English Versions of a Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov

Abstract

The main aim of the article is to extract and to compare the strategies and techniques applied in rendition of the Caucasian realia in both English versions of A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov. In choosing the target texts two factors were taken into consideration. Firstly, it was linguistic and cultural distance dividing Russian and English texts. Secondly, the time disparity between translations that affects language norms and conventions was considered. The theoretical framework for the analysis is Peter Newmark’s typology of culture-bound items, such as: ecology, culture and social life, customs and gestures. The comparative analysis reveals that the most frequent translation procedures is a substitution. It not only destroys the local colour, but also creates a false image of The Caucasus.