FACTA UNIVERSITATIS

Series: Linguistics and Literature Vol. 19, No 1, 2021, pp. 39-49

https://doi.org/10.22190/FULL210706007T
Review Paper

THE TRADITION OF LITERARY TRANSLATION

AT THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
UDC 821.111'255.2:378(497.11Niš)

Nataša Tučev, Dušica Ljubinković

University of Niš, Faculty of Philosophy, English Department, Niš, Serbia

Abstract. This paper provides a comprehensive list of all the literary texts translated by
the members of the English Department at the Faculty of Philosophy, and then proceeds
to discuss some of these translations in detail. Some of the circumstances related to the
translators’ choice of literary works, their stylistic features and the methods used in
translating are presented. It is demonstrated that a significant tradition of literary
translation has been established at the department, which has resulted in publishing some
seminal works of Anglophone literature in the Serbian language.
Key words: English Department, literary translation, Anglophone literature in the Serbian
language, English literature, American literature, Canadian literature.

1. INTRODUCTION
A great number of literary works, ranging from short fiction, individual poems and essays
to novels, have been translated by the members of the English Department at the Faculty
of Philosophy. Inspired by their love of Anglophone literature, and drawing on their
comprehensive scholarly knowledge in this area, the professors at the English Department have
produced translations of some seminal works, introducing new Anglophone authors to the
Serbian readers and thus contributing significantly to the strengthening of cultural ties.
In Table 1 below, all of the published literary translations by the members of the English
Department are listed, with the names of the translators appearing in alphabetical order. It is
important to point out that this list contains only literary translations. In many cases, the same
authors have also translated works in the field of journalism, arts, cultural studies, philosophy
or psychology, but they are not included in this overview. In the following sections, some of
the notable literary translations are singled out and discussed in detail, with a view to
illustrating the prolific and diverse output of the translators at the English Department.

Submitted July 6, 2021; Accepted July 28, 2021

Corresponding author: Nataša Tučev
University of Niš, Faculty of Philosophy
E-mail: [email protected]

© 2021 by University of Niš, Serbia | Creative Commons Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

40 N. TUČEV, D. LJUBINKOVIĆ

Table 1 The list of published literary translations by the members of the English Department
Mihailo Antović
Jerotić, Vladeta. 2010. Drawing Closer to God. Belgrade: Ars Libri: Zadužbina Vladete Jerotića:
Besjeda.
Jerotić, Vladeta. 2011. Wisdom of Solomon. Belgrade: Ars Libri: Partenon: Zadužbina Vladete
Jerotića.
Ljiljana Bogoeva Sedlar
Dorfman, Arijel. 2012. “Pablo Pikaso ima nešto da saopšti Kolinu Pauelu sa one strane groba”. Lipar:
list za književnost, umetnost i kulturu 49, br. 2: 284–287.
Levins Morales, Aurora. 2016. “Kanibali”. Lipar: list za književnost, umetnost i kulturu 59: 361–
364.
Marti, Hose. 2016. “Naša Amerika”. Lipar: list za književnost, umetnost i kulturu 59: 369–372.
Sezer, Eme. 2012. “O stanju nacije”. Lipar: list za književnost, umetnost i kulturu 49, br. 2: 227–
231.
Tešić, Nađa. 2019. “Posle revolucije”. Međaj: časopis za književnost, umetnost i kulturu br. 108: 9–46.
Vongar, B. 2010. “Hajka”. Koraci: časopis za književnost, umetnost i kulturu 44, br. 9/10: 72–84.
Mladen Jovanović
Beret, Sid. 1998. Syd Barrett: otac britanske psihodelije. Niš: Gradina.
Sontag, Susan. 1985. “Ja, i tako dalje”. Niš: Gradina.
Vladimir Ž. Jovanović
Maksimović, Desanka. 1995. “Serbia is a Great Secret”. U S. Hadži-Tančić, (ed.) Osvit:
književnost, umetnost, kultura. Leskovac: Naša reč.
Vesna Lopičić
Atvud, Margaret. 1995. “Lice pobune; Prljava igra; U prethodnom životu: slepi miš; Anđeo”.
Sveske: časopis za književnost, umetnost i kulturu 25: 134–141.
Atvud, Margaret. 1993. Dobre kosti. Toronto: Coardi House Press.
Berk, Nensi. 2003. “Ogledala sećanja”. Književne novine: organ Saveza književnika Jugoslavije
1084–1085/ 1086–1087: 26.
Devajn, Majkl. 2007. “Sirano XXI. 1”. Sveske: časopis za književnost, umetnost i kulturu 18, br.
85: 33–50.
Devajn, Majkl. 2007. “Sirano XXI. 22”. Sveske: časopis za književnost, umetnost i kulturu 18, br.
86: 18–30.
Eliot, Tomas Sterns. 1995. Ka definiciji kulture. Niš: Prosveta.
Kostaš, Mirna. 2004. Ukleti mladoženja. Niš: Studentski kulturni centar.
Morison, Šajen. 2009. “Manija za ostrvima”. Polja: mesečnik za umetnost i kulturu 54, br. 456:
81–86.
Ravin, Norman. 2007. Lola noću.. Beograd: Filip Višnjić.
Saderland, Frejžer. 2001. “Dva srodna naslova”. Stvaranje: časopis za književnost i kulturu 56,
br. 1/3: 150–159.
Dragana Mašović
Barouz, Vilijam. 1986. Goli ručak. Beograd: Prosveta.
Bond, Edvard. 1992. “Pripovetke”. Gradina: časopis za književnost, umetnost i društvena pitanja
27, br. 1/2: 81–101.
Clark, Torston. 2009. “U potrazi za Krusoom”. Polja: mesečnik za umetnost i kulturu 54, br. 456:
52–80.
Keruak, Džek. 1998. Zemlja železnice. Niš: Gradina.
 The Tradition of Literary Translation at the English Department 41

Keruak, Jack. 2016. “Shvatanje i tehnika za modernu prozu”. Gradac: časopis za književnost,
umetnost i društvena pitanja 43, br. 201/202: 41.
Mašović Dragana. 2003. Gosti našeg naroda: antologija irske priče. Beograd: Srpska književna
zadruga.
Miler, Henri. 2016. “Predgovor Keruakovom romanu Podzemljaši”. Gradac: časopis za
književnost, umetnost i društvena pitanja 43, br. 201/202: 75–76.
Morison, Džim. 1989. Američka molitva : poezija i tekstovi . Niš: Gradina.
Morison, Van. 1995. “Vrata nevinosti”. Gradina: časopis za književnost, umetnost i društvena
pitanja 30, br. 1/2: 80–100.
Nil, Tom. 2009. “Skitačka groznica na suncu”. Polja: mesečnik za umetnost i kulturu 54, br. 456:
37–51.
Stajnbek, Džon. 1994. “Amerikanci i svet”. Gradina: časopis za književnost, umetnost i društvena
pitanja 29, br. 5/6: 167–173.
Dejan Ognjanović (period 1999-2009)

Barouz, Vilijam. 2009/2010. “Kim: iz romana Mesto slepih puteva”. Gradac: časopis za
književnost, umetnost i društvena pitanja 37, br. 173/174: 52–57.
Barouz, Vilijam. 2009/2010. “Vetar umre vi umrete mi umremo”. Gradac: časopis za književnost,
umetnost i društvena pitanja 37, br. 173/174: 15–19.
Lena Petrović
Deren, Maja. 1986. “Božanski konjanici”.Gradina: časopis za književnost, umetnost i društvena
pitanja 21, br. 3: 79–107.
Kuci, Dž. 2005. Mladost. Beograd: Paideia.
Kuci, Dž. 1999. Zemlje sumraka. Niš: Prosveta.
Violeta Stojičić
Lavkraft, H. 2008. “U zidinama Eriksa”. U D. Ognjanović (ed.) Nekronomikon. Beograd: Everest
Media.
Uelbek, Mišel. 2009. “H. P. Lavkraft: Protiv sveta, protiv života”. Gradac 171–172.
Nataša Tučev
Bajron, Džordž Gordon. 2004. Čajld Harold. Beograd: Zavod za udžbenike i nastavna sredstva.
Berlin, Isaija. 2006. Koreni romantizma: Melonova predavanja u Nacionalnoj umetničkoj
galeriji. Beograd: Službeni glasnik. (prevod stihova u knjizi)
Goldsvorti, Vesna. 2017. Gospodin Ka. Beograd: Geopoetika.
Hamaršeld, Dag. 2010. “Putokazi”. Naše stvaranje: časopis za društveno-politička pitanja, nauku
i književnost 57, br. 1–2: 70–85.
Hamaršeld, Dag. 2010. Putokazi. Beograd: Altera.
Hini, Šejmas. 1995. Darovi kiše. Beograd: Studentski kulturni centar.
Hini, Šejmas. 1996. Izabrane pesme/ Šejmas Hini. Gornji Milanovac: Dečje novine. (with Srba
Mitrović)
Jejts, Vilijam Batler. 2010. “Grofica Ketlin”. Naše stvaranje: časopis za društveno-politička
pitanja, nauku i književnost 57, br. 3–4: 111–152.
Kolridž, Semjuel Tejlor. 1994. Balada o starom mornaru. Valjevo: Intelekta.
Lou, Dajana. 2007. 365 molitvi za porodicu. Beograd: Esotheria.
Po, Edgar Alan. 1991. “Anabel Li”. Mostovi: časopis književnih prevodilaca Srbije 22, br. 85–
86: 43–46.
Milica Živković
Vongar, B. 2012. Valg: roman o Australiji. Beograd: Jasen.
Vongar, B. 2014. “Cvet u pustinji”. U Ratomir Ristić (ed.) Mitsko putovanje kroz istoriju i politiku
Sretena Božića Vongara. Niš: Prosveta.
42 N. TUČEV, D. LJUBINKOVIĆ

2. LENA PETROVIĆ’S TRANSLATION OF DUSKLANDS

In the course of her extensive research into the oeuvre of the South African Nobel
laureate J. M. Coetzee, Lena Petrović has published two book-length studies about Coetzee’s
writings and translated two of his novels, Dusklands (1974) and Youth (2002). Her translation
of Dusklands was first published by Prosveta, a publishing house in Niš, in 1999, and then
published again in 2005, as a part of Paideia’s edition of Coetzee’s collected works – on which
occasion Paideia also published Petrović’s translation of Coetzee’s Youth.
Even though Dusklands was Coetzee’s first novel, its complexity and the intricacies of the
author’s writing style make it perhaps one of his most difficult works to translate. It is generally
considered that Dusklands introduced a new postmodernist strain in South African fiction,
making it clear from the beginning that one of Coetzee’s major preoccupations was going to be
with textuality and with various narrative modes. In Dusklands in particular, this refers to two
imperialist discourses – one related to the US aggression on Vietnam, and the other to the
colonization of South Africa – both of which Coetzee’s novel seeks to parody and deconstruct.
A translator also has to bear in mind the complexity of linguistic means which Coetzee employs
when presenting the gradual progress into insanity of his two protagonists, Eugene Dawn and
Jacobus Coetzee, which is taking place under the surface of their pseudo-rational narration
(Head 2009: 38). The following passage, showing both Jacobus Coetzee’s sharp intellect and
the solipsism, megalomania and destructiveness which would eventually lead him to madness,
may serve well to demonstrate Petrović’s translating skills:
Nothing is hidden from the eyes. As the other senses grow numb or dumb my eyes flex and
extend themselves. I become a spherical reflecting eye moving through the wilderness and
ingesting it. Destroyer of the wilderness, I move through the land cutting a devouring path
from horizon to horizon. There is nothing from which my eye turns, I am all that I see. Such
loneliness! Not a stone, not a bush, not a wretched provident ant that is not comprehended in
this travelling sphere. What is there that is not me? I am a transparent sac with a black core
full of images and a gun... The gun stands for the hope that there exists that which is other
than oneself. The gun is our last defence against isolation within the travelling sphere. The
gun is our mediator with the world and therefore our saviour. The tidings of the gun: such-
and-such is outside, have no fear. The gun saves us from the fear that all life is within us. It
does so by laying at our feet all the evidence we need of a dying and therefore a living world.
I move through the wilderness with my gun at the shoulder of my eye and slay elephants,
hippopotami, rhinoceroses, buffalo...; I leave behind me a mountain of skin, bones, inedible
gristle, and excrement. All this is my dispersed pyramid to life. It is my life’s work, my
incessant proclamation of the otherness of the dead and therefore the otherness of life
(Coetzee 1982, 76).
Ništa nije skriveno od očiju. Dok ostala čula utrnu ili otupe, očne jabučice mi se stežu i
šire. Sav se pretvaram u sferično, misleće oko što se kreće kroz divljinu i guta je. Ja sam
uništitelj divljine, krstarim ovom zemljom usecajući proždiruću stazu od horizonta do
horizonta. Nema te stvari sa koje sklanjam pogled, sve što vidim, to sam ja. Kakva
usamljenost! Nema kamena, ni žbuna, ni kukavnog, vrednog mrava, a da nisu obuhvaćeni
tom putujućom kuglom. Ima li ičega što nisam ja? Ja sam providna opna sa crnim jezgrom
punim slika, i puškom... Puška predstavlja nadu da postoji nešto što nisam ja. Puška je
naša poslednja odbrana od usamljenosti unutar one putujuće kugle. Puška je naš posrednik
u opštenju sa svetom i stoga naš spasilac. Puška poručuje: to i to je napolju, ne boj se.
 The Tradition of Literary Translation at the English Department 43

Puška nas spasava od bojazni da je sav život u nama. Ona to čini stavljajući nam pred
noge dokaze o umirućem, pa prema tome i o živom svetu. Krećem se kroz divljinu s okom
na nišanu puške i ubijam slonove, nilske konje, nosoroge, divlje bivole...; za sobom
ostavljam brda koža, kostiju, nejestive hrskavice i izmeta. Rasuti na sve strane, ti su ostaci
moja piramida u slavu životu. Oni su smisao mog života, kroz njih ja neumorno
obznanjujem nesvodivu razliku koja odvaja smrt od života (Kuci 2005, 73–74).

3. DRAGANA MAŠOVIĆ’S TRANSLATION OF NAKED LUNCH

As a distinguished scholar of American Literature and American Studies, Dragana
Mašović has translated a number of literary and critical texts in this field, many of them
published in the literary journal Gradina, whose editorial board member she was for many
years. In her other important area of research, that of Irish Studies, she has also produced
some notable translations – including an anthology of Irish short stories, both translated
and edited by Mašović, titled Gosti našeg naroda and published in 2003.
Mašović’s translation of William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch represents an extremely
important contribution to the body of Anglophone literary translations. Burroughs’ seminal
novel was first published in 1959, whereas Mašović’s translation first appeared in 1986.
(Titled Goli ručak in Serbian, it was first published by Prosveta, and then published again
by Algoritam in 2005.) This experimental work – whose author was closely connected to
the representatives of the Beat Generation (Ginsberg, Kerouac, Cassady), but still retained
a distinct style and theoretical attitudes which set him somewhat apart from them – is also
considered a successor of earlier experiments in modernist prose carried out by Joyce, Stein
and Proust. As Mašović points out in her “Afterword”, Burroughs’ prose style is characterized
by scathing, radical satire prompted by the author’s sense of shock and disgust with the modern
world. Mašović compares it with the works of Johnatan Swift, but also points to its extensive
inclusion of the obscene and the ribald (Mašović 2005: 210). She also draws attention to
Burroughs’ theory of Factualist prose, expressing his conviction that a modern writer should
discard rational, linear discourse and resort to a kind of storyline where the facts are presented
without authorial comment. As Mašović explains, Burroughs urges the writer to use irrational
forms of communication, dadaist collages in which the words would lose their fixed meanings:
“For Burroughs, logical sentences are like bridges that the enemy (mass-media, technocracy,
political parties) would use to occupy our territory, which is why they should all be demolished,
replacing the realm of words with the realm of silence” (ibid., 213).
All of the above characteristics of Burroughs’ prose make it extremely challenging for
a translator, which makes Mašović’s accomplishment even more admirable. Her translation
is both true to the demands of Burroughs’ poetics and consistent in conveying to the
Serbian reader the author’s extremely provocative message and satirized depiction of the
modern world. The following passage, describing a marketplace in one of the imaginary
dystopian states presented in the novel, is a good illustration of the complexity of task
undertaken by the translator:
In the City Market is the Meet Café. Followers of obsolete, unthinkable trades doodling in
Etruscan, addicts of drugs not yet synthesized, pushers of souped-up harmine, junk reduced
to pure habit offering precarious vegetable serenity, liquids to induce Latah, Tithonian
longevity serums, black marketeers of World War III, excusers of telepathic sensitivity,
osteopaths of the spirit, investigators of infractions denounced by bland paranoid chess
44 N. TUČEV, D. LJUBINKOVIĆ

players, servers of fragmentary warrants taken down in hebephrenic shorthand charging

unspeakable mutilations of the spirit, bureaucrats of spectral departments, officials of
unconstituted police states, a Lesbian dwarf who has perfected operation Bang-utot, the
lung erection that strangles a sleeping enemy, sellers of orgone tanks and relaxing
machines, brokers of exquisite dreams and memories tested on the sensitized cells of junk
sickness and bartered for raw materials of the will... A place where the unknown past and
the emergent future meet in a vibrating soundless hum (Burroughs 1966, 108).
Na Gradskoj Pijaci je kafić “Susret”. Tu žagore na etrurskom poslenici drevnih, neshvatljivih
zanata, narkosi navučeni na još nesintetizovane droge, dileri pojačanog “Škodilina”, jedne
nepouzdane droge koja je ovde čista navika, i ona narkosu pruža opasnu tupost i spokojstvo,
pa tečnosti za mamljenje Lataha, titonskih seruma za besmrtnost, crnoberzijanci trećeg
svetskog rata, iznuđivači telepatske osetljivosti, osteopati duha, ispitivači prekršaja
iscinkarenih od strane blago paranoičnih šahista, policijski pomoćnici sa delimičnim
ovlašćenjima napisanim stenografijom mladalačkog ludila, odgovorni za neizreciva
sakaćenja duha; birokrate sablasnih odseka, zvaničnici još nekonstituisanih policijskih
država; patuljasta lezbejka koja je usavršila operaciju Beng-utot – erekciju pluća od koje se
neprijatelj guši u snu; prodavci orgnoskih rezervoara i mašina za opuštanje; senzali
izvanrednih snova i uspomena ispitanih na preosetljivim ćelijama narkosa, bolesnog bez
droge, i trampljenih za sirovine volje... Mesto gde se nepoznata prošlost i započeta budućnost
susreću u drhtavom nemom zujanju (Barouz 2005, 102).

4. VESNA LOPIČIĆ’S TRANSLATION OF GOOD BONES

Some notable literary translations were authored by Vesna Lopičić. As an eminent
scholar in the field of Canadian literature, who has taught courses in Canadian Studies and
Canadian Short Story for many years, Lopičić has also translated literary works by
numerous Canadian authors writing in different genres. Among them, Margaret Atwood
stands out as one of the most prominent. Atwood’s novels and books of poetry have won a
number of literary awards, including two Booker Prizes as well as the Franz Kafka Prize.
She includes a variety of themes in her writing, such as gender, religion, myth and
environmental activism. She has also postulated theories about the Canadian identity and
Canadian literature as its expression by saying that both are founded on the symbol of
survival, which she explores both in her fictional and non-fictional works.
The translation of Atwood’s short story collection Good Bones was a joint effort of Vesna
Lopičić and Velimir Kostov, which was published in 1993 by Coadi House Press. The
collection was translated and published only a year after its original publication in English.
Moreover, it was one of the first translations of Margaret Atwood’s work into Serbian.
Since Good Bones is a collection of short stories, the sentences are generally short, with
simple syntactic structure, which facilitates the translation process. Even though some of
the culture-specific vocabulary items may lack exact equivalents in the Serbian language,
the translators have dealt with them admirably. Some of them may be noticed, for instance,
in Atwood’s retelling of the popular English fable about a little red hen, titled “The Little
Red Hen Tells All” (translated to Serbian as “Mala crvena koka priča svoju priču”):
 The Tradition of Literary Translation at the English Department 45

You know my story. Probably you had it told to you as a shining example of how you
yourself ought to behave. Sobriety and elbow-grease. Do it yourself. Then invest your
capital. Then collect. I’m supposed to be an illustration of that? Don’t make me laugh.
I found the grain of wheat, true. So what? There are lots of grains of wheat lying
around. Keep your eyes to the grindstone and you could find a grain of wheat, too. I saw
one and picked it up. Nothing wrong with that. Finders keepers. A grain of wheat saved is
a grain of wheat earned. Opportunity is bald behind.
Who will help me plant this grain of wheat? I said. Who? Who? I felt like a goddamn
owl (Atwood 1992, 9).
In this excerpt, we notice certain collocations such as “elbow-grease” and sayings such
as that “opportunity is bald behind”, which may have been problematic to translate and
which Lopičić and Kostov resolved in the following manner:
Moju priču već poznajete. Mora da su vam je pričali kao sjajan primer kako vi sami
treba da se ponašate. Bistra glava i laktašenje. U se i u svoje kljuse. Zatim obrni kapital.
Pa uberi profit. Smatraju me ilustracijom toga? Ne zasmejavajte me!
Našla sam zrno žita – to je tačno. Pa šta? Ima tušta i tma zrnevlja koje je razbacano
unaokolo. Imajte konstantno biznis na umu pa ćete i vi pronaći zrno žita. Dakle, spazila
sam to zrno i pokupila ga. Šta tu ima loše? Ko prvi devojci... Para na paru... U pravi čas...
Ko će mi pomoći da zasejem ovo zrno žita? Zapitala sam. Ko? Ko? Osećala sam se kao
prokleta kvočka (Atvud 1993, 5).
The translators have used certain Serbian proverbs which might not be the exact
translations, but which convey a similar meaning while making the story, which a Serbian
reader is not familiar with, easier to understand. It may also be noticed that they have used
shortened versions of the proverbs which are usually encountered in spoken Serbian.
Additionally, they have dealt with the onomatopoeic sounds such as who (hoot) by finding
their equivalents in the Serbian language. A similar appropriation can be noticed in the
story “Stump Hunting” (“Lov na panjeve”) in which they find the equivalent to “barbeque
sauce” in Serbian “začin C”, in order to make the story more relatable to Serbian readers.

5. MILICA ŽIVKOVIĆ’S TRANSLATION OF WALG

Milica Živković is credited with the translation of B. Wongar’s novel Walg (1983) as
well as with the translation of several stories from his short story collection Flower in the
Desert (translated as Cvet u pustinji). B. Wongar (Sreten Božić) is an author who stands
out among the translated Australian authors, not only in terms of the number of translated
works, but also in terms of their outstanding critical reception. The period between 2005
and 2016 was marked by a considerable academic and critical interest in this author and
his work in Serbia. Before the publication of Živković’s translations, the only available
Serbian translations of Wongar’s works were those of The Track to Bralgu (1978) and
Babaru (1982). The translations of Walg and The Flower in the Desert have therefore
contributed significantly to making this author known to the Serbian audience. The short
stories were translated at the initiative of Ratomir Ristić, with whom Živković collaborated
on the Australian Studies course at the Faculty of Philosophy. Within this course, the
oeuvre of B. Wongar, a prominent Australian author, was especially significant. What
makes Wongar’s art important is that, apart from being an author who has dedicated the
46 N. TUČEV, D. LJUBINKOVIĆ

majority of his writings to the Australian Aborigines and their plight, he is also an
immigrant who has been subjected to numerous controversies in Australia.
On the other hand, the novel Walg was translated by Živković at the initiative of
Aleksandar Petrović after a series of lectures dedicated to Sreten Božić organized by the
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts at the University of Kragujevac. These lectures
yielded two valuable outcomes. One was an anthology titled The Anthropology of Truth:
The Second Life and Opus Primum of B. Wongar (Antropologija istine: Drugi život i OPUS
PRIMUM B. Vongara). The other was the translation and publication of his most significant
writings by Jasen Publishing House. Another scholar who has greatly contributed to Wongar’s
renown in Serbia is Ljiljana Bogoeva Sedlar, who lectured and wrote about him and
supervised several doctoral dissertations about his work.
According to Živković, the translation of Wongar’s works was not particularly
demanding, since the author’s syntax is quite clear and simple despite the presence of
various genres in his work. His writings combine myths, Aboriginal folk tradition, Serbian
epic tradition, realism and surrealist fantasy, among other things. The greatest challenge
was to translate the vocabulary items from the ethnic lexicon of the Aboriginal culture. It
was impossible to translate such lexemes since there were no appropriate equivalents in the
Serbian language. Živković solved this issue by transcribing the ethnic vocabulary items
from the original text whenever possible in order to preserve their local connotations.
Further explanation of these terms was provided either in the footnotes or in the glossary
at the end of the book. In the cases where the local connotation of a word was not of great
importance, she would try to find the closest semantic equivalent in the Serbian language.
We can notice this if we compare the original:
The sun is about to rise; it has already lit up the treetops. I’d better hide dugaruru; the whites
could be around soon. A rod skirts the camp, passing along the long embankment and over a
bridge across the ravine; it heads toward town, farther away. From up there you can see even
a single footprint in the dusty ground. Whenever they are about, the whites like to stand on the
embankment and stare down here. Wagudi thinks the balandas are counting how many of us
are left. I have to go later and see Wagudi; the elder might tell me if mother is still about. He
might chant and sound his didjeridu to beg her to visit us again; the spirits can easily be
persuaded to come if you only know the right way (Wongar 1983, 7).
and the translation:
Sunce samo što nije izašlo; već je ogrejalo vrhove drveća. Biće bolje da sakrijem dugaruru.
Belci se mogu pojaviti svakog trenutka. Put ide čitavom dužinom oko logora; prolazi preko
dugačkog nasipa i preko mosta iznad jaruge, pa nastavlja sve do grada koji je daleko
odavde. Odozgo, sa nasipa, može se videti čak i otisak stopala u prašnjavoj zemlji. Kad
god se nađu ovde, belci vole da stoje na nasipu i da otuda zure u nas. Vagudi misli da belci
– balande – svaki put broje koliko nas je prestalo. Moram kasnije da odem da posetim
Vagudija; možda će mi starac reći da li je majka još uvek ovde. A možda će zapevati i
zasvirati diđeridu, da bi je zamolio da nas ponovo poseti. Duhovi se mogu lako nagovoriti
da dođu, ukoliko znate pravi način da ih dozovete (Vongar 2012, 25).
We can notice that the translator has chosen to keep the italicized vocabulary items the
same as they appear in the original, only transcribing them according to the transcription
rules of the Serbian language. Only for the term balandas does she provide a one word
definition within the text, while the explanations for the others can be found in the glossary.
 The Tradition of Literary Translation at the English Department 47

6. NATAŠA TUČEV'S TRANSLATION OF CHILDE HAROLD’S PILGRIMAGE

Nataša Tučev’s most notable literary translation is that of George Gordon Byron’s
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, originally published between 1812 and 1818. Regarded as
one of the most influential works of English and European Romanticism, this long narrative
poem made Byron widely famous and established the cult of the wandering, melancholic
Byronic hero as one of the staples of the Romantic poetics. The only translation of Childe
Harold which existed in former Yugoslavia was by the Croatian poet Luko Paljetak,
published in 1978. Tučev’s translation, which appeared in 2004, was the first one in the
Serbian language.
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage is written in Spenserian stanzas, which consist of eight
iambic pentameter lines and one alexandrine, while the rhyme pattern is ababbcbcc.
Occasionally, different kinds of stanzas are introduced in the poem – such as the well-
known section in which Harold bids farewell to England, which consists of eight and six
syllable iambic lines and has the rhyme pattern ababcdcd. The poem is challenging for a
translator not only because of its complex rhymes, but also because of Byron’s frequent
and deliberate use of archaisms. This stylistic feature is to some degree also a homage to
Spenser, but it is primarily used by Byron in an attempt to create a distance between the
fictional hero and the author, because of the anxiety that the autobiographical elements in
the poem were causing him. In addition, a translator has to take into account numerous
toponyms and historical and mythical references which appear as the poem’s protagonist
reflects on the past during his travels through various European countries – such as Spain,
Greece, Switzerland or Italy. These features have not only made the rhyming in translation
more difficult, but also called for the inclusion of a great number of footnotes in the
translation, clarifying the context of Byron’s lines to the Serbian reader.
In Tučev’s translation, each line of the poem is extended by two syllables, a method
justified by the fact that polysyllabic words are much more frequent in the Serbian language
than in English. Although this changed the original metric pattern, it enabled the translator
to preserve most of the intricacies of Byron’s intended meaning. The rhyme pattern
ababbcbcc was preserved throughout the poem. During the period in which she was
translating the poem, Tučev extensively read the works of the Serbian Romantic poets and
applied some of their archaisms in the translation. The following stanzas, expressing the
author’s emotions during a stormy night in the Alps, may serve to illustrate both the
technical and linguistic features of Tučev’s translation:
Sky, mountain, river, winds, lake, lightnings! ye!
With night, and clouds, and thunder, and a soul
To make these felt and feeling, well may be
Things that have made me watchful; the far roll
Of your departing voices, is the knoll
Of what in me is sleepless – if I rest.
But where of ye, oh tempests! is the goal?
Are ye like those within the human breast?
Or do ye find, at length, like eagles, some high nest?
Could I embody and unbosom now
That which is most within me – could I wreak
My thoughts upon expression, and thus throw
48 N. TUČEV, D. LJUBINKOVIĆ

Soul, heart, mind, passions, feelings, strong or weak,

All that I would have sought, and all I seek,
Bear, know, feel, and yet breathe – into one word,
And that one word were Lightning, I would speak;
But as it is, I live and die unheard,
With a most voiceless thought, sheathing it as a sword.
(Canto III, stanzas 96–97)

Vi, neba, planine, vetrovi, jezera!

Sa oblakom, tminom, gromom što se čuje,
I dušom što oseća – sve to mene tera
Da ostanem budan kad svak drugi snuje;
I kad u daljini vaši glasi bruje,
U meni su odjeci koji od sna beže.
Al’ gde je vaš cilj, o silne oluje?
Dal’ ste kao ona što grud ljudsku žeže?
Il’ u gori s orlovima vaša gnezda leže?
Da nekako sada da iznedrim znam
Suštinu svog bića – kad bih mog’o da
Svim mislima svojim jedan izraz dam,
I da srce, dušu, strasti, čuvstva sva,
Sve za čime tragam, trpim, slutim, znam,
Izlijem iz sebe u jednu reč samu,
I ta reč da je Munja – zborio bih ja;
Al’ ovako trpim tišinu i čamu,
I bezglasnu misao krijem kao kamu.
(Treće pevanje, strofe 96–97)

7. CONCLUSION
In his study Literary Translation (2001), Clifford Landers points out that literary
translators, apart from being proficient in the language from which they are translating, and
familiar with the source language literature and culture, should also cultivate a poetic
sensitivity; by which he means “an appreciation for nuance, sonority, metaphor and simile;
the ability to read between and above the lines; flexibility; and ultimately, humility”
(Landers 2001, 99). All of these qualities may be found in the literary translations authored
by the members of the English Department at the Faculty of Philosophy. As the above
examples illustrate, they have translated, and continue to translate, important works of
Anglophone fiction. To the greatest possible extent, their literary translations convey to the
Serbian reader the aesthetic experience of the original works. Their academic knowledge
of the English language, literature and culture further contributes to the quality of these
texts. The new generations of scholars and researchers at the English Department will
hopefully be inspired by this established tradition and compelled to keep it alive by adding
their own contributions.
 The Tradition of Literary Translation at the English Department 49

REFERENCES
Atvud, Margaret. 1993. Dobre kosti. Preveli V. Kostov i V. Lopičić. Toronto: Coadi House Press.
Atwood, Margaret. 1992. Good Bones. Toronto: Coach House Books.
Bajron, Džordž Gordon. 2004. Čajld Harold. Prevela N. Tučev. Beograd: Zavod za udžbenike.
Barouz, Vilijem S. 2005. Goli ručak. Prevela D. Mašović. Beograd: Algoritam.
Burroughs, William S.1966. Naked Lunch. New York: Grove Press.
Byron, George Gordon. 2014. Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Toronto: Harper Collins.
Coetzee, J. M. 1982. Dusklands. New York: Penguin.
Head, Dominic. 2009. The Cambridge Introduction to J. M. Coetzee. Cambridge: CUP.
Kuci, Dž. M. 2005. Zemlje sumraka. Prevela L. Petrović. Beograd: Paideia.
Landers, Clifford. 2001. Literary Translation: A Practical Guide. Clevedon: Mulitlingual Matters Ltd.
Mašović, Dragana. 2005. “Pogovor”. U: V. S. Barouz, Goli ručak. Prevela D. Mašović, 209–214. Beograd:
Algoritam.
Vongar, B. 2012. Valg: roman o Australiji. Prevela M. Živković. Beograd: Jasen.
Wongar, B. 1983. Walg: A Novel of Australia. New York: George Braziller.

TRADICIJA KNJIŽEVNOG PREVOĐENJA

NA DEPARTMANU ZA ANGLISTIKU
Ovaj rad sadrži sveobuhvatnu listu književnih prevoda članova Departmana za anglistiku na
Filozofskom fakultetu u Nišu, kao i detaljne diskusije o pojedinim prevodima. U radu se takođe
razmatraju i razlozi zbog kojih su dati književni tekstovi odabrani za prevođenje, određene stilske
odlike prevoda, kao i metode korišćene u prevodilačkom postupku. Rad pokazuje kako je na
Departmanu za anglistiku ustanovljena značajna prevodilačka tradicija iz koje su proizašli prevodi
nekih od najuticajnijih dela anglofone književnosti na srpskom jeziku.
Ključne reči: Departman za anglistiku, književno prevođenje, anglofona književnost na srpskom
jeziku, engleska književnost, američka književnost, kanadska književnost