[Review of the book Translating reality, by Rose Marie Caruana]

Abstract

Insightful and wide reaching, this book explores the difficulties in translating the realities of literary texts. Caruana merges the linguistic and cultural context to expose the diverse ways in which a translator tackles these difficulties. The publication is based on a study which examines, simultaneously, the dichotomies and parallels which two languages present when depicting reality originating from the same cultural context. It is useful to elaborate briefly on the context which is one of the strong points in Caruana’s study. The two texts analysed are Requiem for a Malta Fascist (or The Interrogation) and Requiem Ghal Siehbi Faxxista jew L-Interrogazzjoni (referred to as Requiem 1 and 2 respectively throughout the book). Requiem 1 is the ‘source text’ (original text written in English L1) and Requiem 2 is the ‘target text’ (translation in Maltese L2); both authors are Maltese, Francis Ebejer wrote Requiem 1 in English and Charles Briffa translated it into Maltese, Requiem 2. Caruana became fascinated, and rightly so, by the authenticity depicted in both texts as she explains in the preface, ‘two different languages were recounting the same thing yet producing different resonances’ (p. ix).