The Narcis Oller’s translation of «Un llibre trist»

Abstract

Abstract: During creative crisis at the end of 19th century, Narcís Oller dedicated himself to translation. One of the translated works is Un llibre trist, a collection of three texts of Leo Tolstoy. The comparative study of translation and reception of these works in Europe reveals that Oller used two intermediate sources for one of the texts, La mort d’Ivan Ilitx, and one source for the other two texts, Tres morts and La mort al camp de batalla. The comparison with the two intermediate sources also demonstrates the desire of Oller to do the translations well integrated into the Catalan linguistic and cultural system, to the point of causing the illusion that the texts are originals. This is mainly in the dialogues where the work of appropriation and rewriting can be clearly perceived. Orality incorporated by Oller in his dialogues approximates his translation to the original text of Tolstoy and distances it from intermediate French translations, which are stylistically much more neutral.

Key words: translation from Russian, translator Narcís Oller, Leo Tolstoy in Catalan, indirect translation.