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E-Journal of the American Hungarian Educators Association
Journals / Vol 6 (2013) / 18
Translating Welsh Drama Into Hungarian Through English: A Contextual Introduction to Sêra Moore Williams’ Crash in Hungarian Translation
Abstract
This article offers a predominantly contextual introduction to my translation of a contemporary Welsh play by Sêra Moore Williams, Crash (2004), into Hungarian. Williams' three-person drama for young people was written originally in the author's native language, Welsh, and translated into English by the playwright herself. In my translation process of the play from English to Hungarian the intermediary role played by English raises ethical concerns from a postcolonial perspective, while in a pragmatic sense it is almost a necessity to rely on it when communicating Welsh-language cultural production to the broader international public, including to other minor languages. The article will place the drama in its generic context, introducing the play as a Theater in Education piece, as Williams' work has been inspirational in the development of tantermi színház [classroom theater] in Hungary since the early 2000s. As a specific case study within the case study, the additional discussion of the translation of Williams' polysemic title will provide an insight into the role such a significant paratext plays in uprooting a dramatic text from one culture to another.
Keywords: drama translation, Theater in Education, Sêra Moore Williams, Crash, minoritarian culture, translation between minor languages, Welsh drama in Hungarian, Welsh literature in Hungarian
Recommended Citation
Minier, Márta. "Translating Welsh Drama Into Hungarian Through English: A Contextual Introduction to Sêra Moore Williams’ Crash in Hungarian Translation." AHEA: E-Journal of the American Hungarian Educators Association, Volume 6 (2013): http://ahea.net/e-journal/volume-6-2013/17
Biography
Márta Minier is a Lecturer in Drama at the University of South Wales, UK. She holds a Ph.D. from the Centre for Performance Translation and Dramaturgy at the University of Hull, UK, where her Ph.D. thesis discussed the translation of Hamlet into Hungarian culture. Her main research interests include European drama with a special emphasis on Central and Eastern Europe; translation studies; adaptation studies; dramaturgy; stage and screen biography; children's culture; Hungarian studies; and Shakespeare studies with an emphasis on Shakespeare reception. She is Assistant Editor of the Journal of Adaptation in Film and Performance and one of the associate editors of the theater studies journal Symbolon.