This master’s thesis explores Zazie dans le metro (1959) by Raymond Queneau and its two English translations by Éric Kahane (1959) and Barbara Wright (1960). The research focuses on the translators’ strategies in rendering the author’s idiosyncratic style and culture-specific items into the target language, as well as on the influence of the translators’ choices on the target text. The empirical part of the thesis consists of a textual analysis of selected aspects of Queneau’s style as well as of some culture-specific elements and their translated counterparts. The analysis shows that Queneau’s idiosyncratic style was mostly recreated in the two translations, often by using different translation strategies. Culture-specific items have mostly been retained in the target texts as well. However, a higher degree of domestication was observed in Kahane’s compared to Wright’s translation. Some differences in tone and characterization were observed between original and the two translations due to the translators’ choices, which was most evident in Kahane’s version. Overall, a more accessible and direct style was observed in Éric Kahane’s translation, creating a more readable and fluent text, while Barbara Wright’s translation is somewhat closer in style to the original, sacrificing readability for greater accuracy in both form and content.
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