UNIVERSITATEA DIN PITEṢTI

FACULTATEA DE TEOLOGIE, LITERE, ISTORIE ṢI ARTE

DEPARTAMENTUL LIMBᾸ SI LITERATURᾸ, ISTORIE ȘI ARTE
SPECIALIZAREA MASTER TRADUCTOLOGIE LIMBA ENGLEZᾸ

LUCRARE DE DISERTAŢIE

COORDONATOR ṢTIINṬIFIC,
Lect.Univ.Dr.Cristina Miron

CANDIDAT:
Nica Maria Alexandra

Piteṣti
2017
 UNIVERSITATEA DIN PITEṢTI
FACULTATEA DE TEOLOGIE, LITERE, ISTORIE ṢI ARTE
DEPARTAMENTUL LIMBᾸ SI LITERATURᾸ,
ISTORIE ȘI ARTE
SPECIALIZAREA MASTER TRADUCTOLOGIE
LIMBA ENGLEZᾸ

LUCRARE DE DISERTAŢIE
TRANSLATION CONSIDERATIONS
UPON EDGAR ALLAN POE’S “THE
BLACK CAT”

COORDONATOR ṢTIINŢIFIC,
Lect.Univ.Dr.Cristina Miron
CANDIDAT,
Nica Maria Alexandra

PiteṢti
2017

Contents:
INTRODUCTION 5
I. PRELIMINARY ASPECTS UPON TRANSLATION 6
I.1. DEFINING TRANSLATION AND A GENERAL VIEW 6
I.2. TRANSLATING LITERATURE (PROSE) – GENERAL VIEW 11
I.3. KEY MOMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF TRANSLATION 14
II. EDGAR ALLAN POE - BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL ELEMENTS 17
II.1. BIOGRAPHY 17
II.2. CRITICAL CONSIDERATIONS 21
II.3. POE AND GOTHICISM 23
II.4. THE BLACK CAT – PLOT AND CRITICAL CONSIDERATIONS 26
III. TRANSLATION RECONSIDERATIONS UPON EDGAR ALLAN POE’S THE BLACK CAT
29
CONCLUSIONS 46
BIBLIOGRAPHY 47
 INTRODUCTION

Edgar Allan Poe has always played a great role in universal literature and his works were
translated worldwide. Thus, Romanian culture could not stand by and not be familiarised to the
great American writer.
Being a figure that charmed through the darkness and melancholy of its writings, Poe was
seen as a writer that needed exploring for the thrills that come from his vivid images, but also for
the deep psychological elements which makes many ponder upon life and death.
The present paper attempts to make a short, but serious analysis of the 1979 version of the
Romanian translation of Poe’s The Black Cat, upon which we shall make our reconsiderations.

But this will make the subject of the third chapter, the practical one, this chapter being part
of a structure that includes a brief survey upon the general term of “translation”, this being in
present in chapter 1, a biographical and critical point of view upon Edgar Allan Poe, in chapter 2,
and a few conclusions that need to be drawn from the analysis.
Thus, the reader shall have a theoretical part
and a applicative part, both being of highly importance in acknowledging Poe’s work and the work
of those that approached his writings.
With the hope that this paper will serve its purpose, the reader is invited to
step forward into the work Edgar Allan Poe and its Romanian version.

5
 I. PRELIMINARY ASPECTS UPON TRANSLATION

I.1. Defining translation and a general view

Before making any applied considerations upon a translation, a minimum amount of

awareness regarding the field of translation is, of course, required. This chapter concentrates on
giving a brief introduction in the field of translation, starting with the way it has been defined and
continuing with a more targeted approach on literary translation (with focus on prose). The final
part of the chapter is attributed to the key moments that marked this humanistic activity throughout
history.
Thus, from earliest times, translation has played a major role in human history. Evidence
of this activity can be found in the clay tablets of the ancient Near East. From these ancient times
to the present, translation has been alongside historical events, trade, migration etc., transforming
texts, traditions and societies (see Bermann & Porter, 2014: 1).
This activity has increased its visibility in the Twentieth and Twenty-first centuries and
manages to mark – all over the word – daily conversations, arts and entertainment, news and
information technologies, business, trade, finances, law, government, education, military and
scientific research (see Bermann & Porter, 2014: 1) As Bella Brodzki starkly puts it, translation
today is seen to “underwrite all cultural transactions, from the most benign to the most venal” (see
Brodzki 2007, 2 apud Bermann & Porter, 2014: 1).
A hundred years ago, the texts which were translated were, in their majority, religious,
literary, scientific and philosophical and the readers were mainly from the educated élite from each
country, with the exception of the religious texts from the Protestant areas. In our times, translation
has gained much more power, as the subjects are being extended to the entire range of knowledge,
emphasizing on technology, politics and commercial relation, but also literature (Newmark, 1991:
16). Translation becomes also linked with “an awareness of
democratic potential” (Ibidem: 42), thus “is a weapon against obscurantism, the realisation that the

6
material, social and cultural inequalities often associated with ethnic and linguisitic groups as well
as with gender, race or class, are not God-given or natural, that they have to be at least drastically
reduced” (Ibidem).
Newmark also considers five purposes of translation, which will be sketchily presented
below:
- the contribution to “understanding and peace between nations, groups and individuals”
(Ibidem: 43);
- the transmission of knowledge “in plain, appropriate and accessible language, in particular
in relation to technology transfer” (Ibidem);
- mediation between cultures “on the basis of a common humanity, respecting their strengths,
implicitly exposing their weaknesses” (Ibidem: 44);
- to translate the world’s great books, “the universal works in which the human spirit is
enshrined and lives: poetry, drama, fiction, religion, philosophy, history, the seminal works
of psychology, sociology and politics, of individual and social behaviour” (Ibidem).

Referring to translation as a profession, it must be stated that it has been transformed since
the foundation of FIT (International Federation of Translators) in 1953, the promulgation of the
Translator’s Charter at Dubrovnik (1963) and the Unesco Recommendations of 1976 in Nairobi.
The translator has passed from amateur status to professional, “from private or local to national;
from an invisible and anonymous position to a visible and responsible presence; from a person
untrained or semi-trained at an institute to one educated at an university” (Ibidem: 45)
As it is stated in the Translator’s Charter, translation must be
recognised nowadays as a distinct and autonomous profession. It should also be noted that
interpreting is considered a separate profession (see Ibidem).
Peter Newmark also discusses about professionalism in the field of translation. Thus, in his
pinion, a translator “must be a member of an autonomous and nationally accepted professional
body consisting only of a translator not language teachers, interpreters or Sprachmittler, i.e. people
working partly in translation or other language activities”. Also, the translator should not be pressed
with unreasonable deadlines and remuneration and the work conditions must be according to the
requirements of the professional body (Ibidem: 46).

7
 Another thing that Newmark points out is that the translator is responsible for the text that
takes the TL form. He must be “faithful” to the original text “only as far as it does not conflict with
the material and the moral facts as known. If a defective text is likely to mislead the readership (not
otherwise) the translator has to correct it or express dissent, within or outside the translator as
appropriate” (Ibidem).
Four are the situations in which the translator is permitted to modify content if there are
failures in the original text:
“1. Slips, misprints, miscopying (say anatomie for autonomie) because the typist misread or
misheard. (Any text.)
2. Errors of scientific or material fact.
3. Bad writing, i.e. illogical structure, poor syntax, ambiguity, redundancy, clichés, jargon. (Mainly
in informative texts.)
4. Statements infringing accepted human rights” (Ibidem).
Translation is integrated within the larger field of semiotics, which is “the science that
studies sign systems or structures, sign processes and sign functions” (Hawkes, 1997 in Miron,
2009: 7). Starting from this point, we can acknowledge that language is placed at the basis of the
other systems and, therefore, is the most important sign system, being superior to all the other sign
systems due to its property of symbolising. Through symbolising, we understand the representation
of reality through signs which will be understood as a representation of reality (Miron, 2009: 7-8).
Ferdinand de Saussure sees languages as systems of sign
expressing ideas, as the principles of combination differ from language to language. Thus, the
process named “translation” can be defined as the conversion of a language’s sign system into
another language’s sign system (Miron, 2009: 7).
But let us acknowledge some of the ways translation was defined. Webster’s Encyclopedic
Dictionary of the English Language defines translation as: “1. The rendering of something into
another language; 2. A version in a different language: a French translation of Hamlet” (Miron,
2009: 9-10), while Oxford Dictionary states that to translate means: “to express the sense of (words
and text) in another language” (Miron, 2009: 10).
According to Leon Leviţchi, translation is about
“paraphrasing”: “To translate means to paraphrase, to say in other words, from a source language
into a target language” (Leviţchi, 1993: 6) apud Miron, 2009: 10); while Susan Bassnett (1988: 2

8
apud Miron, 2009: 10) states that “What is generally understood as translation involves the
rendering of a source language (SL) text into the target language (TL) so as to ensure that the
surface meaning of the two will be preserved as closely as possible, but not so closely that the TL
structures will be seriously distorted”. We
should mention that translation also deals with a socio-cultural reality, which should be taken into
consideration in the process: “If something is said in response to a situation, and it has to be
translated into another language, the translation should also be such as will be appropriate to the
situation. Thus, translation is not a simple two-term relation between two languages or two texts
but a three-term relation, in which the situation of use becomes one of the terms” (Chao, 1968:
148-159 apud Miron, 2009: 9). Newmark considers a somewhat different perspective
upon what should be transferred: “If I define the act of translating as transferring the meaning of a
stretch or a unit of language, the whole or a part of a text, from one language to another, I am
possibly putting the problem where it belongs […]
By meaning, I am not referring to the whole meaning […]. We are […] talking about
functionally relevant meaning being transferred, leaving all the superfluous features of meaning
that can also be found in the text” (Newmark, 1991: 27-28).
He further sets a typology, considering three types of meaning (Newmark, 1991: 28):
- cognitive (which confirms that what has been stated is true);
- communicative (when the writer or speaker demands the reader or listener’s assent or mere
attention);
- associative (when “the writer or speaker in on familiar or fairly ‘symmetrical’ terms with the
reader or listener”).
Furthermore, other subcategories of these were added by the same researcher. So, cognitive
meaning includes:
- linguistic meaning: “ that is the proposition within the text say ‘Il était obsédé par l'idée de vendre
son journal’, ‘He was obsessed by the idea of selling his paper’”1;
- referential meaning: “JJSS was obsessed by the idea of selling ‘France-Soir’ (in Paris in 1970)”;

1
The original explanations and examples were maintained in the case of all of the following subcategories,
in order to better convey the idea set by the researcher.

9
- implicit meaning: “the tone of a passage determines the implicit meaning of a sentence. Thus
‘Vous avez cent fois raison may’ mean 'You're quite right' or 'You're quite wrong', or 'You may be
making a mistake' or 'No comment’”;
- thematic meaning: “showing normally the old information as the theme at the beginning of a
sentence, and the new information (rheme) at the end of the sentence, with the highest degree of
Communicative Dynamism (Firbas, 1972) on the last word (rheme
proper). Thematic meaning ensures the maximum ‘reasonable’ formal equivalence between source
and target language text” (Newmark, 1991: 29). The
subcategories of communicative meaning (the first one, to be exact) are exemplified by Newmark
in relation to sentence ‘Qu'est-ce que c'est, le succès d'un journal?’ and include:
- illocutionary meaning, requiring a response to the question;
- performative meaning, “e.g. in the sentence ‘Double faute!’ for tennis, signifying the loss of
points”;
- inferential meaning, “e.g. the sentence ‘Je regrete mon argent’ implies ‘I regret the expense, I
wish I had my money back’, whilst ‘He shot the policeman’ may mean ‘Il a tué or Il a tiré sur
l'agent de police’;
- prognostic meaning, “‘Il se fait tard may’ mean 'It's time to go' and ‘Il y a un taureau dans ce
champ’ may mean ‘Let's get away’”. The last
category, associative meaning, may include the writer’s background, situation, sound-effects
conveyed by the SL, dealing especially with pragmatic meaning and with the effect that a text may
have on the reader (Newmark, 1991: 29).

I.2. Translating literature (prose) – general view

Before referring to literature translation, let us take a look at how equivalence has been
classified throughout the years. Popović (apud Bassnett, 1988: 26 apud Miron, 2009: 12)
distinguishes four type of equivalence in translation:
1. Linguistic equivalence – word for word translation;
2. Paradigmatic equivalence - grammatical elements;
3. Stylistic (translational) equivalence;

10
 4. Textual (syntagmatic) equivalence – equivalence of form and shape.
Considering this typology, literary translation represents a synthesis of stylistic and textual
equivalence.
Eugen Nida (apud Bassnett, 1988: 26 apud Miron, 2009: 13) offers only two types of
equivalence:
“1. Formal equivalence, where attention is focused on the message itself, in both form and
content. In such a translation, one is concerned with correspondences such as poetry to poetry,
sentence to sentence, and concept to concept;
2. Dynamic equivalence, based on the principle of equivalent effect, i.e. that the relationship
between receiver and message should aim at being the same as that between the original receivers
and the SL message”.
Literary prose differs from literary creativity, it depending on an object that needs to be
translated, but drawing a line of separation between the translation of prose and the entire creative
literature. Thus, “in some examples, a work may not be a translation in the common sense, but it
may not be possible to express it possibly to express it absolutely as a work of literary art”
(http://www.translationdirectory.com/articles/article2360.php, accessed on April 24 2017).
According to Bassnett (1998: 77 apud Miron, 2009: 15), “a literary text is made up of a complex
set of systems existing in a dialectal relationship with other sets outside its boundaries”.

In Nida’s view (Bassnett, 1998: 77-78 apud Miron, 2009: 15), the translator “is first a reader
who decodes / analyses the message in the SL, and then a writer who re-codes / restructures it in
the TL. The reader of a text may have four essential positions regarding the text, according to
Lotman:
1. the reader who focuses on the content as matter, i.e. picks out the prose argument or
poetic paraphrase,
2. the reader who grasps the complexity of the structure of a work and the way in which
the various elements interact,
3. the reader who deliberately extrapolates one level of the work for a specific purpose,
4. the reader who discovers elements not basic to the genesis of the text and uses the text
for his one purposes”.

11
 In the twentieth century, according to Barthes, the reader becomes a producer of a text,
diminishing its literature consumer role. He manages to decode the text using different sets of
systems, dissolving the idea of one “correct” reading (Miron, 2009: 16). Broadly
speaking, a literary translator may come across three problems in the process (according to
http://www.certifiedtranslationservices.co.uk/blog/2015/11/3-difficulties-of-translating-
literature/, accessed in April 23 2017).
One of them is the translation of names, events and things, where “the translator can face
the difficulty of maintaining the relevance, context and accuracy of the content. Names that have
been carefully picked keeping in mind a particular culture and place will hardly make any sense in
another culture”.
The second problem is wordplay, which can give serious problems to the translator in
finding an equivalent, while metaphors, the third one, have to be handled using the same procedure,
being culturally bound.
In all of these cases, a wise decision may be to explain in a footnote the relevance of the
respective word in the SL. When it comes to wordplay and metaphor, as it was mentioned above,
an equivalent in the TL may be the best solution.
Hilaire Belloc (apud Clonţea, Mărăşescu & Nicolae, 2004: 23), states six rules of translating
prose texts:
“1. The translator should consider the work as an integral unit and translate in sections,
asking himself before each section what is the whole sense he has to render;

2. The translator should render idiom by idiom and idioms demand translation into another
form than that of the original;
3. The translator must render ‘intention by intention’, intention being the weight a given
expression may have in a particular context in the source language, that would be
disproportionate if translated literally into the target language;
4. The translator should be careful with false friends;
5. The translator is advised to ‘transmute boldly’;
6. The translator should never embellish”.
Most of the theorists consider that a literal translation is impossible and bring out three
reasons why this could never occur:

12
 - a word in a language often has meanings which involve several words from another
language;
- grammatical particles are not available in every language;
- idioms in one language can sound very strange to the speakers of another language and
culture (http://www.translationdirectory.com/articles/article2360.php).
It is also important that attention should be drawn towards the reaction the speaker may have
towards the translated text, or, to be more specific, to modality, which has three levels:
- intellective (belief, conviction, doubt);
- emotional (admiration, love, desire, hate);
- volitional (order, necessity).
Modality may be expressed phonologically, lexically, grammatically and stylistically (Miron,
2009: 17).
Another important aspect is connotation. It is easy for the translator to observe the objective
connotations (the hidden meaning of a word acknowledged by a large social group). But for
subjective connotations (the same hidden meaning of a word, but known by only one person), the
translator needs to be have an amount of subtlety, imagination and knowledge of the SL author’s
biographical and cultural background (Ibidem: 17-18).
After these proceeding, the text should be analysed for coherence, “that is detecting the
grammatical and logical links among sentences” (Ibidem: 18). Coherence may be:
- explicit (established between the topic sentence of a paragraph and the particularizing
sentences);
- implicit (when it is not obvious in the paragraph’s structure).
If a text in the SL is incoherent, then its translation should also be incoherent, respecting the
symmetry which is proper to a translation (Ibidem: 18).
As a summary of what has been stated above, an important characteristic of a SL text that
should be rendered in the TL is style, defined by Leon Leviţchi as ‘the specific way in which the
author organized his message in point of coherence and expression in his desire to value it at the
utmost in the conscience of the potential reader’” (Leviţchi, 1993: 98 apud Miron, 2009: 18).
Therefore, the translator should take into consideration three things:
- the logical organisation of the text (coherence);

13
 - the expression used for valuing the message (denotation, connotation, accentuation and
modality;
- the specific way of organizing this message.

I.3. Key moments in the history of translation

The following chronological presentation can be found at www.altalang.com

(https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/2016/05/12/6-major-moments-translation-
interpretation-history/):
382 - Pope Damascus I authorizes Jerome – a biblical scholar and ascetic priest – to produce
a revised Latin Bible. Today, Saint Jerome is considered the patron saint of translators and scholars.
1372 - On a trip to
Italy, Geoffrey Chaucer discovers the works of Francesco Petrarch and Giovanni Boccaccio.
Though the author of the Canterbury Tales was not practically a translator, many of his great classic
works were adaptations from the writings of his Italian contemporaries, as a tradition of borrowing
and adaptations was set.
1519 - La Malinche begins interpreting for Hernán Cortés during the Spanish conquest of
Mexico. The young Aztec woman who would become translator and guide for the Spaniards
learned a number of native languages after being sold into slavery following the death of her father.
Her nearly decade-long role as an interpreter is referenced bitterly in popular culture, where she is
commonly portrayed as a traitor with a lust for sex and riches. This enduring reputation underscores
the complex nature of working as a liaison between opposing groups with conflicting goals.
1535 - William Tyndale is arrested and jailed for one year prior to being executed for
heresy. Tyndale was a key figure in the Protestant Reformation, and it was precisely his English
translation of the Bible that led to his untimely end. The English scholar’s work, however, provides
much of the backbone for the King James Bible, and is widely regarded as the first instance of
biblical translation in English that draws directly from Hebrew and Greek texts.

14
 1680 - Ovid’s Epistles, an English translation of a number of the Roman poet’s verses, is
published with a forward by John Dryden. In it, Dryden popularizes the approach in translation
theory to distinguish between three types of translation: metaphrase (following the text literally),
paraphrase (adhering to meaning rather than exact wording), and imitation (reconstructing the text
with creative license). It was the ancient Greeks who first discussed these modes of translation, but
it was Dryden who ushered them into modern translation theory.
1945 - The Nuremberg Trials mark the beginning of simultaneous interpretation as the
standard for diplomatic conferences. With the exception of the 1927 International Labour
Conference in Geneva, interpreters had worked consecutively, listening to a speech and
reproducing it in the target language in manageable chunks. After World War II, however, time
was of the essence, and the goal of conducting “fair and expeditious trials” led to interpreters using
headsets and microphones to work almost in real-time. Thus, having attempted an
introduction to this broad field of translation, the context is settled for a brief biographical journey,
as Edgar Allan Poe needs to be understood also through his troubled and short life.

15
 II. EDGAR ALLAN POE - BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL ELEMENTS

II.1. Biography

Before attempting to reflect on Poe’s style of writing and any genre considerations, an
emphasis needs to be made on his biography, one that deeply explains the manner of writing and
how he managed to become one of the most controversial and gloomy poets of all times.
Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19 1809, having David and Elizabeth Poe as his
parents. His father was born in Baltimore, on July 18 1784, while his mother, Elizabeth Arnold,
arrived in the U.S. from England in 1796, marrying David Poe after the death of her first husband,
in 1805, having three children: Henry, Edgar and Rosalie (http://poestories.com/biography.php,
accessed on March 18 2017).
Edgar was 2 years old when his mother died, in 1811. When she and her husband were
separated the three children were taken with her. After her death, Henry went to stay with his
grandparents, Edgar was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. John Allan, while Rosalie was taken in by
another family (Ibidem). Being a
successful merchant, John Allan manages to send Edgar to England, where he studies Latin,
French, math and history for five years, afterwards continuing his studies in America, joining the
University of Virginia in 1826, at the age of 17. But Edgar started having problems, as he soon
started drinking and having debts, quitting school in less than a year (Ibidem).
Returning to Richmond, he finds his lover, Elmira
Royster, engaged and heads to Boston, publishing Tamerlane, and other poems in 1827. With
poverty still on his trail, Poe joined the army under the name of Edgar A. Perry, but, after his foster
mother’s death, John Allan managed to get him into West Point U.S. Military Academy.
(https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edgar-Allan-Poe, accessed on March 19 2017). Waiting
to enter the Academy (of which he became a cadet in 1830), Poe lived with his grandmother and
Mrs. Clemm, his aunt, along with his brother Henry and Virginia, the younger cousin. But his foster

16
father refused helping Edgar financially, so he deliberately broke the rules in order to be kicked
out of the Academy (http://poestories.com/biography.php).
But Poe even wrote emotional letters to his foster father, asking him for reconciliation and
asking forgiveness for the trouble he has caused him:

“Baltimore. Octo: 16th (sic!) 1831

Dear Sir,
It is a long time since I have written to you unless with an application for money or assistance. I
am sorry that it is so seldom that I hear from you or even of you — for all communication seems
to be at an end; and when I think of the long twenty one years that I have called you father, and
you have called me son, I could cry like a child to think that it should all end in this. You know me
too well to think me interested — if so: why have I rejected your thousand offers of love and
kindness? It is true that when I have been in great extremity, I have always applied to you — for I
had no other friend, but it is only at such a time as the present when I can write to you with the
consciousness of making no application for assistance, that I dare to open my heart, or speak one
word of old affection. When I look back upon the past and think of every thing — of how much
you tried to do for me — of your forbearance and your generosity, in spite of the most flagrant
ingratitude on my part, I can not help thinking you myself the greatest fool in [page 2] existence,
— I am ready to curse the day when I was born.

But I am fully — truly conscious that all these better feelings have come too late — I am not the
damned villain even to ask you to restore me to the twentieth part of those affections which I have
so deservedly lost, and I am resigned to whatever fate is alotted me.

I write merely because I am by myself and have been thinking over old times, and my only
frie[n]ds, until m[y] heart is full — At such a time the conversation of new acquaintance is like ice,
and I prefer [w]riting to you altho' I know that you care nothing about me, and perhaps will not
even read my letter.
I have nothing more to say — and this time, no favour to ask — Altho I am wretchedly poor, I have
managed to get clear of the difficulty I spoke of in my last, and am out of debt, and am out of debt,
at any rate.

17
May God bless you —
E.A.P.
Will you not write a word to me?”
(http://knowingpoe.thinkport.org/library/letters_foster.asp, accessed on April 29 2017).
Returning to Poe’s writings, it should be mentioned that before entering West Point, a new
volume was published in Baltimore Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems (1829). Leaving West
Point, he went to New York, where the volume Poems appeared, bearing the influence of Coleridge,
Shelley and Keats, and afterwards Poe began writing short-stories, his MS. Found in a Bottle being
awarded 50$ in a Baltimore weekly in 1833. The year 1835 finds him in Richmond, as editor of
the “Southern Literary Messenger”, writing critical reviews, and married to his cousin, Virginia
(https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edgar-Allan-Poe).
But Poe’s drinking problems were far from being over, as he managed to lose his job
because of them, moving to New York City. Being seen drunk in public, the mistaken idea that he
was a drug addict soon rose within the society, but according to medical testimony he suffered
from a brain lesion (Ibidem). In New York, Poe published
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym in 1838, while in 1839 he managed to become co-editor of
“Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine” in Philadelphia. This is also the place where the contract with
a monthly magazine encouraged him to write William Wilson and The Fall of the House of Usher.
Also in 1839, Tales of the Grotesque and the Arabesque appears as dated 1840. Around June 1840,
Poe leaves “Burton’s Gentlemen’s Magazine”, returning in 1841 to edit the successor publication,
“Graham’s Lady’s and Gentleman’s Magazine” and in its pages The Murders in the Rue Morgue
(the first detective story) was printed (Ibidem). The following years were
successful. In 1843, The Gold Bug won a 100 $ prize given by “Dollars Newspaper” in Philadelphia
and in 1844 Poe was to return in New York, becoming subeditor of the “New York Mirror” and
writing The Balloon Hoax for the “Sun”. On January 29 1845, in the “New York Mirror”, his most
famous The Raven was published, bringing national fame. Also in 1845, Poe was to become editor
of a weekly newspaper, “Broadway Journal”, and most of his short-stories were republished within
its pages. That same year, The Raven and Other Poems and a selection of Tales were published. In
1846, he moved to Fordham (now a part of New York), where he lived in a cottage, writing The
Literati of New York City – several gossipy sketches of contemporary personalities – for “Godey’s

18
Lady’s Book” (May-October 1846) (Ibidem). Tragedy stroke Poe in 1847, as
Virginia dies of consumption. The following year, he heads to Providence, Rhode Island, and gets
briefly engaged to poet Sarah Helen Whitman. He also has platonic relations with Annie Richmond
and Sarah Anna Lewis and writes poetic tributes to all of these feminine presences in his life. The
lecture Eureka is also published in 1848, regarding which critics had split opinions. One year later,
he went back to Richmond finally getting engaged to Elmira Royster, which by this time became
widowed Mrs. Shelton (Ibidem). On September
27 1849, Poe left Richmond, stayed at a friend in Philadelphia for three days and supposedly took
the wrong train, wanting to head to New York, but arriving in Baltimore instead. He was found at
Gunner’s Hall (http://poestories.com/biography.php), outside of the pub and wearing clothes that
were not his (http://redeyetohavredegrace.tumblr.com/post/29944421990/map-of-baltimore-1-
gunners-hall-here-is-where, accesed on April 14 2017). Taken to the hospital, he was not able to
clearly explain his situation, as he alternated states of consciousness and unconsciousness. Poe died
in the institution on September 7. The mystery of his death still remains, as no one seems to know
what happened to him in his last days (http://poestories.com/biography.php).

II.2. Critical considerations

Poe is considered the main forerunner of the “art for art’s sake” movement that took place
in the 19th century European literature, drawing his attention towards style and construction of his
works, demonstrating a mastery of technique and command over language, besides his brilliant
imagination (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/edgar-allan-poe,
accessed on April 15 2017). He is also considered the poet and prose writer that greatly influenced
the French Symbolists who emerged in the late 19th century (Ibidem).
Regarding this aspect, Charles Baudelaire considered that Poe “had made profound
discoveries about the human heart and had explored the potentialities of art to express them”, while

19
Stephane Mallarmé viewed him as “the archetypal poet, the man whose mission it was to redeem
and refine the common language” (Brooks, Lewis, Warren, 1973: 353 apud Miron, 2004: 27).
It is widely considered that Poe’s contribution to world literature comes from his analytical
method, which was practised on his works, but also on his contemporaries’ works, as a critic. Thus,
“His self-declared intention was to formulate strictly artistic ideals in a milieu that he thought
overly concerned with the utilitarian value of literature, a tendency he termed the ‘heresy of the
Didactic’” (https://www.poetryfoundation. org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/edgar-allan-poe).
He pointed out the way se saw poetry in various articles as The Poetic Principle, The
Philosophy of Composition and Letter to B_ and contradicted those who used to say that a poet
cannot be a good poetry critic: “a poet, who is indeed a poet, could not, I think, fail of making a
just critique” (Bradley, Beatty, 1978: 867 apud Miron, 2004: 27).
Edgar Allan Poe lived in time when Romanticism was very reaching its peak in England
and Americans were also exploring the genre, some of them being attracted towards the Gothic
subgenre. A good example in this case would be Charles Brockden Brown. Poe was well acquainted
with the English Romantics and with their American followers. Still, Poe’s Romanticism was to
become a specific one, proper to his own personality (Miron, 2009: 26). It has been often
interpreted that “the circumstances of Poe’s life may well account for the depth and intensity of his
Romanticism” (Brooks, Lewis, Warren, 1973: 356 apud Miron, 2009: 26).

In his time, Poe was mostly a controversial figure. For many, he was a mad man, some even
trying to clinically demonstrate his disorder (“A Mad Man of Letters,” “Scribner’s Monthly 10”,
October 1875: 690–699 apud Hayes, 2004: 1). Still, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote in an objective
way about him, criticising his personal image, but being respectful and even in admiration of his
works: “I cannot find it in my heart to like
either his portrait or his character; and though it is possible that we see him more or less refracted
through the strange medium of his works, yet I do fancy that we can detect, alike in these, in his
portrait, and in the facts of his life . . . a certain jarring note, a taint of something that we do not
care to dwell upon or find a name for” (Robert Louis Stevenson, “Literature,” review of The Works
of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. John H. Ingram, “Academy” 7, 2 January 1875: 1 apud Hayes: 2004: 1-2).
But Poe had also many critics which truly admired his
work. Among these was his greatest British admirer, John H. Ingram, which began defending Poe

20
in 1874 and published a multi-volume collected edition of his works in the same year. The first two
volumes issued in 1974, while three and four were ready to be read in 1875. (Hayes, 2004: 2). So,
three were the attitudes to Poe that were proper to the twentieth century and maintain themselves
in the present: popular acclaim, measured scepticism and ardent enthusiasm. Poe is read and taught
in United States schools and most are left with a good impression afterwards, many choosing to
continue with their readings even after high school (Ibidem).
Thus, we can acknowledge the fact that Edgar Allan Poe was and remains a controversial
figure, as his writings are not easily understood and appreciated if there is a lack of empathy and
openness towards a darker part of existence.

II.3. Poe and Gothicism

Although many see Poe as the founder of gothic fiction, it is of most importance that we
clarify the fact that Gothicism was a subgenre which emerged long before Poe entered the literary
world. It is very clear that Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764), William Beckford’s
Vathek (1786), W.H. Ireland’s The abbess (1798) or Sir Walter Scott’s The Bride of Lammermoor
(1819) inspired Poe and have echoes in his writings (Fisher in Hayes (editor), 2004: 72).
The first writer to apply the word “Gothic” was Horace Walpole in his already mentioned
The Castle of Otranto (1764), which he subtitles “A Gothic Story”. Using the term, this meant
“barbarous”, as proper to the Middle Ages (John Mullan in https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-
victorians/articles/the-origins-of-the-gothic, accessed on April 28 2017.
In fact, Gothicism, as an architectural style, derives
from the historical Germanic people, the Goths, which were considered barbarous and uncivilised.
The ruins of the tall buildings abandoned in the times of Henry VIII were considered gloomy and
received the name “gothic”, as “In addition to the symbolism in the ruined architecture, the British
mind came to associate a downright immorality with some of the thinking and practices in Roman

21
Catholicism” (Fisher in Hayes (editor), 2004: 73-74). Thus, “once
Henry’s decrees for creating the Anglican Church became operable, ties between Roman
Catholicism and Continental European political class structures seemed dangerous. Moreover,
celibate clergy, especially monks and nuns, eventually came to be anathema in British eyes. The
clergy contributed in another way to Gothic tradition. The hooded, flowing robes worn by many
members of ecclesiastical orders dovetailed precisely with stereotypical conceptions of ghosts in
bedsheets, and, amidst the strange visionary responses otherwise created by Gothic architecture’s
combination of vastness and obscurities, they offered plausible models for supernatural beings.
Another off-center assumption about Catholic practices concerned live burial as punishment for
clerical recalcitrance. Since paranoias about actual premature burials persisted well into the early
years of the twentieth century, here was a motif with compelling outreach to many readers”
(Ibidem: 74).
In a very interesting manner, American writers tented to transport the settings and
atmosphere of European architecture into their own grounds “as material for intriguing hauntings”
(Ibidem: 77). Fisher gives as examples Dunlap and Charles Brockden Brown, considered to be the
founders of American literary Gothicism (Ibidem). Returning to Poe, the same researcher
emphasizes de idea that “He realized at the outset of his career that Gothicism was eminently
compatible with psychological plausibility in literature, and he worked out such designs in
combination repeatedly throughout his literary career” (Ibidem: 78).
It is also worth mentioning that, being financially insecure, (as seen
above), Poe was interested in the commercial value of his short-stories. And these kinds of writings
were very likely to sell well. Still, Poe also took into consideration the weak points of gothic fiction.
Thus, “like other American writers, he quickly fledged his wings as a fiction writer by attempting
a book that, had it appeared, would doubtless have inspired a far different image of Poe than that
which for so long stood: a drunken, drug-ridden, debauching necrophiliac creature whose own
morality, or lack thereof, filtered into his writings” (Ibidem: 79).
In general, what makes Poe’s work gothic are themes such as death and decay, madness, or
other internal chaos, supernatural elements, gloomy locations. Among these, death seems to be
most repetitive. As Nicole Smith sees is, “In nearly every one of his tales, one of the characters has
died or is being mourned and this sets the quintessential dark tone found in Poe’s works”
(http://www.articlemyriad.com/gothic-qualities-works-poe/, accessed on April 28, 2017).

22
 Madness is another recurrent theme, as only a few titles need to be mentioned to understand
its wide presence: The Black Cat, The Cask of Amontillado, The Fall of the House of Usher. Still,
in Ligeia, as Nicole Smith observes, the heroine’s passions are implied as resembling insanity.
Also, Rowena’s mental problems only come to paint the whole picture, while the attitude of the
story-teller at the end needs to be seriously analysed (Ibidem).
Besides the supernatural (often suggested that it appears only at a psychological level), Poe
also used remote, gloomy locations that often merge with the other two themes mentioned above.
A worthy example is The Fall of the House of Usher, where death, madness and the gloomy
location manage to create together a complete gothic atmosphere (Ibidem).
Most of his readers are aware of the Gothicism in his prose, but his poems are also full of
elements belonging to this subgenre, a few worthy examples being: Tamerlane, The Lake – To –,
Lenore, The One in Paradise, Dream-Land, The Raven, Ulalume, Annabell Lee, The Haunted
Palace, The City in the Sea (Fischer: 78-79).
In fact, The Raven, the poem that brought Poe world fame, in a true masterpiece of
Gothicism – suggested from the start, through the title – following an individual’s existential
torments in seeking transcendence.
But, as we have seen above, Poe’s Gothicism is used once again at a psychological level,
as he clearly explains in The Philosophy of Composition: “A raven, having learned by rote the
single word ‘Nevermore,’ and having escaped from the custody of its owner, is driven at midnight,
through the violence of a storm, to seek admission at a window from which a light still gleams—
the chamber-window of a student, occupied half in poring over a volume, half in dreaming of a
beloved mistress deceased.” (apud Sova, 2007: 156).
To conclude, we need to focus on all the elements that compose Edgar Allan Poe’s work,
to find the fascination and mystery that lies at the surface, but also to discover the depths that
contain far more mysterious surrounding, the depth of the human soul and mind.
Poe’s Gothicism remains the thing that generally attracts readers, but once you really
discover him and him work, you find that fascination comes from the thrills of the human soul, a
much more horrific and bleak ground than the exterior.

23
II.4. The Black Cat – plot and critical considerations

The short-story was first published on August 19 1843 in “The Saturday Evening Post” and
relates the mental breakdown of an individual. At its first appearance, the public reacted
favourably.
Critics considered that it was inspired by a passage from Sir Walter Scott’s Letters on
Demonology (1830), in which a man is claimed to have been plagued by a cat: “I found myself…
embarrassed by the presence of a large cat, which came and disappeared I could not exactly know
how: … I was compelled to regard it… [as having] no existence save my deranged visual organs,
or depraved imagination” (apud Sova, 2007: 33).
The first-person narrator tells his own story, the story of a confided man, sentenced to death
and expecting its execution. He recalls that he was always fond of animals and has a mutual
friendship with his large, beautiful cat named Pluto.
The situation changes when the narrator starts having alcohol problems. One night, he
returns home drunk and mutilates Pluto with a pen-knife, drawing one of his eyes out of his socket
for not giving him the attention he wanted. Naturally, from that incident, the cat avoids his master,
the narrator having strong regrets. But regret soon turn to hate and one morning he hangs the cat
from a tree in the garden. That night, their house is burnt in a fire and the narrator, together with
his wife and servant, run for their lives.
Returning the next day, the narrator returns to the ruins and finds the imprint of a giant cat
with a noose around its neck on the single wall that survived the fire. The narrator is deeply
disturbed, but manages to find a local explanation as times passes by. He starts to miss the cat,
struck by a sentiment of guilt and accidentally finds a similar cat outside a tavern. The cat not only
resembles Pluto, it has also one eye missing, having only one difference – a large white patch on
the chest.

24
 The cat is taken home, but the narrator soon starts detesting and even fearing the animal.
The white mark on its chest starts to take the form of the gallows and this is when the narrators is
practically terrified, avoiding the animal as much as possible.
One day, the narrator and his wife are in the cellar, the cat nearly makes his master fall as
it gets under his feet down the stairs. Furious, the narrator grabs an axe and tries to hit the animal,
but he accidentally kills his wife. He removes bricks from the wall and conceals her body within.
When the police arrive investigating the murder, they couldn’t find anything. But the cat is
also missing. Still, the narrator is not concerned.
The police returns and heads towards the cellar accompanied by the narrator, which raps
the wall built after the insertion of the body. A sound which was not human enters the room and
the police tear down the wall, because it was coming from that part of the building. They find the
body, but also the black cat, as the narrator walled it in with his wife’s corpse.
Poe was praised for his disturbed protagonist. He used as motifs the superstitions regarding
cats and their sacred status within some cultures, as well as medieval beliefs regarding Satan’s
incarnation as a feline (Sova, 2007: 33). The author’s
irony in the short-story works as “a basic discrepancy between what is expected or apparent and
what is actually the case” (Thompson apud Sova, 2007: 34), Poe also being satirical. “The
juxtaposition of the horror of the narrator’s actions with his matter-of-fact relation of these actions
reveals Poe’s satiric attitude toward the narrator and his crimes. As Thompson states, ‘When the
satirist makes use of irony, he pretends to take his opponents seriously, accepting their premise and
values and methods of reasoning in order to eventually expose their absurdity’” (Sova, 2007: 34;
Thompson apud Sova, 2007: 34).
According to Sova, the end of the story emphasizes the idea that “The black cat becomes a
symbol of the narrator’s guilt, self-hatred, and need for punishment, all of which are exposed when
he bangs on the wall, causing the black cat to howl and revealing his wife’s corpse behind the wall”
(Sova, 2007: 35).
Handling specific mental states has often been praised by critics, Buranelli even suggesting
that Poe has managed to create a multitude of psychological states “consulting his own psychology”
(Buranelli apud Sova, 2007: 43), and The Black Cat remains one of Poe’s most fascinating works.
But not only because of the well description of a disturbed individual, but also through the thrilling
gothic atmosphere that makes it accessible to every person that enjoys this kind of literature.

25
 Thus, an attempt on briefly portraying Edgar Allan Poe’s life and work has been made, as
parts of his life and work have been displayed in preparation for the next attempt, a critical survey
upon the translation of The Black Cat into Romanian.

26
 III. TRANSLATION RECONSIDERATIONS UPON EDGAR ALLAN POE’S THE
BLACK CAT

The Romanian translation of Edgar Allan Poe’s short-story I have chosen for my paper is
the 1979 version, having Ion Vinea, Mihu Dragomir and Constantin Vonghizas as the authors. As
it shall be observed in the analysis below, this version of translation has various problems regarding
almost all language and textual categories: syntactical, morphological, stylistic etc.
The structure of the analysis is simple.
In chronological order, the text – both in the source language and target language – is transcribed
in short paragraphs in which the reconsidered parts of the text are put into italics for differentiation.
Under the excerpts in both languages, there is a short comment upon the translation, which
will explain why the certain part of the text needs to be reconsidered. These comments are not
thoroughly analytical, as in widely explaining the mistake we think the translator had made, but
mostly observatory and briefly pointing out what we think should be different.
Sometimes longer paragraphs have been
chosen in order to better introduce the context to the reader and not because all of the paragraph’s
content is due to reconsideration. Still, it must be said that although it may not have been pointed
out, some part could clearly be changed into better translations, but our subjectivity has played a
high role and we did not consider it to be ill.
Commented reconsiderations:
English – SL text Romanian – TL text
For the most wild yet most homely narrative Pentru această neobişnuită şi, totuşi, foarte
which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor simplă poveste pe care-ncep s-o depăn pe
solicit belief. Mad indeed would I be to hârtie, nu aştept şi nici nu cer cuiva crezare.
expect it, in a case where my senses reject Nebun aş fi s-o fac, într-adevăr, în
their own evidence. împrejurări când până şi simţirea se-
ndoieşte de ea însăşi.

Commentary:

27
 The suitable word for “wild” would be “nebunească”; also, “homely” seems more
translatable through “comună”; “I am about to” should be translated through “sunt pe care să”.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

Yet – mad I am not – and very surely do I Şi, totuşi – nu-s nebun şi sigur sunt că nici
not dream. But tomorrow I die, and today I nu am visat. Dar mâine voi sfârşi cu viaţa,
would unburden my soul. iar azi vreau să-mi uşurez sufletul.
Commentary:
As it can be observed, the tense is altered and the author intended the present tense in this
situation.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

My immediate purpose is to place before the Şi tot ce mai doresc e să-nfăţişez deschis, pe
world, plainly succinctly, and without scurt şi fără comentarii, un şir de întâmplări
comment, a series of mere house hold obişnuite.
events.
Commentary:
Naturally, a more suitable equivalent would have been “scopul meu urgent”.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

In their consequence, these events have Obişnuite, da, dar prin urmările lor m-au
terrified – have tortured – destroyed me. Yet îngrozit – m-au torturat – m-au nimicit. Nu
I will not attempt to expound them. To me, voi încerca să le explic. Căci pentru mine –
they have presented little but horror – after, au însemnat doar groază – chiar dacă alţii le
perhaps, some intellect may be found which vor socoti ciudăţenii şi nu întâmplări
will reduce my phantasm to the teribile. Şi poate că se va găsi un creier care-
commonplace – some intellect more calm, ar putea să desprindă – din nălucirea mea –
more logical, and far less excitable that my întâmplarea obişnuită, un creier mult mai

28
 own, which will perceive, in the calm, mai logic, şi mai puţin înfierbântat
circumstances I detail with awe, nothing decât al meu, şi care, pătrunzând în faptele
more than an ordinary succession of very cu-atâta spaimă de mine povestire, să vadă
natural causes and effects. doar înlănţuiri fireşti de cauze şi de efecte.

Commentary:
The translator adds repetition to the translation, but manages to make an emphasis the
author may not have wanted. Moreover, the TT does
not include the adverbial “Yet”, which slightly alters the meaning of the text.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

From my infancy I was noted for the docility De mic copil m-am deosebit de ceilalţi copii
and humanity of my disposition. My prin firea mea blajină şi cuminte. Era atât de
tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous cunoscută bunătatea mea încât, ades, colegii
as to make me the jest of my companions. I mei mă batjocoreau. Ţineam nespus la
was especially fond of animals, and was animale şi bunii mei părinţi mă răsfăţau,
indulged by my parents with a great variety dându-mi mereu astfel de prieteni.
of pets.

Commentary:
The suitable equivalent would be: “De mic copil eram recunoscut pentru […]”.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

With these I spent most of my time and Cu ei îmi plăcea să-mi petrec tot timpul, şi
never was so happy as when feeding and nu eram mai fericit decât atunci când îi
caressing them. This peculiarity of character hrăneam şi-i mângâiam. Această slăbiciune
grew with my growth, and, in my manhood, s-a accentuat cu vârsta şi, ajungând un om în
toată firea, găseam în ea prilej de mulţumire.

29
 I derived from it one of my principal sources
of pleasure.

Commentary:
Here, “majoritatea” should have been chosen, not “tot”. Moreover, “peculiarity” is
translated through “slăbiciune”, which is not exactly proper, as “peculiarity” should be translated
as “particularitate”, “originalitate” etc.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

But this feeling soon gave way to irritation. Cu vremea, însă, supărarea s-a transformat
And then came, as if to my final and în mânie nestăpânită. Şi-atunci, ca să mă
irrevocable overthrow, the spirit of pierd cu totul şi fără nădejde de revenire,
PERVERSENESS. Of this spirit philosophy mă-nvălui suflarea rece a
takes no account. PERVERSITĂŢII. E o noţiune de care
filozofia noastră nu ţine seamă deloc.

Commentary:
We believe it is a long way from “irritation” to “anger”, as the translator suggests. Another
aspect that needs mentioning is represented by the adding of “noastră” to the TT, which does not
appear in the ST.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives, Şi, totuşi – de asta sunt mai încredinţat decât
than I am that perverseness is one of the de existenţa mea – unul din impulsurile
primitive impulses of the human heart – one primare ale inimii omeneşti este pervesitatea
of the indivisible primary faculties, or – acea facultate sau simţământ primar de
sentiments, which give direction to the nepătruns ce poate da un sens fiinţei
character of Man. Omului.

30
Commentary: The
author specifically stated “give”; thus, “poate” is not suitable in this situation. Moreover,
“indivisible” is very far from “de nepătruns”.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

The words ‘strange!’, ‘singular!’ and other Am auzit parcă rostindu-se vorbele
similar expressions, excited my curiosity. I <<bizar>>, <<ciudat>>, şi altele-
approached and saw, as if graven in bas- asemănătoare”. Apropiindu-mă, am văzut,
relief upon the white surface, the figure of a parcă sculptat în basorelief pe suprafaţa
gigantic cat. The impression was given with albă, conturul unei gigantice pisici.
an accuracy truly marvellous. There was a Imaginea era uluitor de clară. Iar în jurul
rope about the animal’s neck. gâtului avea un ştreang.

Commentary: The
author is very clear about what his character heard and the adverb “parcă” alters the meaning of
the ST. Another addition which alters
the TT is the addition of “iar”, which here has a kinking value, but does not appear in the ST, thus
stylistically damaging the text.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

I continued my caresses, and when I Am mângâiat-o şi, când m-a văzut că plec,
prepared to go home, the animal evinced a s-a luat după mine. M-a însoţit tot drumul.
disposition to accompany me. I permitted it
to do so.

Commentary: Though
it is clear the translator tried to state the effect of the character’s permission to walk him home (the
fact that the animal walked him all the way home), this phrase should not be equalised in this

31
manner, because the ST should be respected in its form. Thus a suitable translation should be: “I-
am permis să mă însoţească”.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

For my own part, I soon found I dislike to it Eu în schimb m-am trezit că o duşmănesc.
arising in me.

Commentary: One
again, the translator does not maintain the intensity of the verbs used, as “dislike” is rather long
way from “hate”.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

This was just the reserve of what I had Simţămintele mele erau cu totul altele decât
anticipated; but – I know not how or why it mă aşteptam şi – n-aş putea spune de ce şi
was – its evident fondness for myself rather cum – iubirea ei vădită pentru mine ma
disgusted and annoyed me. dezgusta, mă plictisea.

Commentary:
In the TT, “to annoy” becomes an equivalent of “to bore”, which is of course a mistake.
Moreover, the anverb “rather” does not find an equivalent in the TT.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

I avoided the creature; a certain sense of O ocoleam poate dintr-un fel de ruşine, şi
shame, and the remembrance of my former amintirea cruzimii mele mă-mpiedica să-i
deed of cruelty preventing me from fac vreun rău.
physically abusing it.

Commentary: As seen
above, the translator adds an adverb that alters the ST. Moreover this adverb is liked to the

32
statement made by the character, in which he ascertains that shame and remembrance prevented
him from harming the animal, badly altering the meaning of the TT.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

I did not, for some weeks, strike, or O vreme m-am mulţumit doar s-o ocolesc,
otherwise violently ill use it; but gradually – dar treptat – o, foarte-ncet! – am început s-
very gradually – I came to look upon it with o privesc cu o ură nespusă şi să mă-
unutterable loathing, and to flee silently ndepărtez din calea ei, ferindu-mă de un
from its odious presence, as from breath of suflu al spurcăciunii.
a pestilence.

Commentary:

As it can be acknowledged, the TT version of the phrase does not make any reference to
the period of time in which the animal was spared of cruelty, nor of the violence inflicted upon the
beast. Moreover, the translator adds the
interjection “o” to the TT, making an emphasis which is not present in the ST.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

What added, no doubt, to my hatred of the Ca să spun drept, începusem s-o urăsc din
beast, was the discovery, on the morning prima dimineaţă, când am descoperit că nu
after I brought it home, that, like Pluto, it avea un ochi, asemenea pisicii mele Pluto.
also had been deprived of one of its eyes.

Commentary:

The ST specifically includes the verb “added”, but the TT does not make any reference to
the progressive feeling of hate presented by the author.

33
 English – SL text Romanian – TL text

This circumstance, however, only endeared Or, tocmai asta o făcea pe soţia mea s-o
it to my wife, who, as I have already said, iubească şi mai tare, căci, cum v-am mai
possessed, in a high degree, the humanity of spus, avea un suflet tare bun, cum avusesem
feeling which had once been my odată şi eu, însuşire care însemnase pentru
distinguishing trait, and the source of my mine izvorul multor bucurii curate şi simple.
simplest and purest pleasures.

Commentary:

The TT is altered through the presence of the adverbial “tocmai”, which add a sense of
singularity to the reason why the animal was loved by the narrator’s wife.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

At such times, although I longed to destroy Simţeam pornirea s-o ucid dintr-o lovitură,
it with a blow, I was yet withheld from so dar mă oprea amintirea vechii mele
doing, partly by a memory of my former nelegiuiri şi – trebuie s-o spun – o teamă
crime, but chiefly – let me confess it at once îngrozitoare.
– by absolute dread of the beast.

Commentary:

The adverbs “partly” and “chiefly”, which define the sense of proportion in the ST are not
present in the translation, thus altering the meaning of the text.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

I am almost ashamed to own – yes, even in Mi-e aproape ruşine să mărturisesc – da, mi-
this felon’s cell, I am almost ashamed to e ruşine chiar aici, în celula de ucigaş în care

34
 own – that the terror and horror with which mă aflu – că groaza şi teroarea ce mi le
the animal inspired me, had been possible to inspira au fost aduse la paroxism de cea mai
conceive. bine plăsmuită dintre năluciri.

Commentary:

As it can be acknowledged, the translator adds information that does not appear in the ST.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

It was now the representation of an object Era imaginea unui lucru pe care mă-nfior
that I shudder to name – and for this, above chiar să-l rostesc – şi-aici se află pricina urii
all, I loathed, and dreaded, and would have şi fricii mele, ca şi a dorinţei de a scăpa (de-
rid myself of the monster had I dared – it aş fi îndrăznit!) de acest monstru. Era
was now, I say, the image of a hideous – of imaginea, spuneam, a unui lucru hidos,
a ghastly thing – of the GALLOWS! – oh, îngrozitor – imaginea unei
mournful and terrible engine of Horror and SPÂNZURĂTORI. O, ce lugubru şi teribil
of Crime – of Agony and of Death! instrument de groază şi de crimă – de agonie
şi moarte!

Commentary:

As acknowledged, the TT is split into three clauses that diminish the dynamics and drama
intended by the author. Moreover, the “I say”
that appears in the ST is translated through “spuneam”, but it has an emphatic purpose, which the
translator fails to maintain.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

35
 One day she accompanied me, upon some Şi iată că a venit ziua când am intrat
household errand, into the cellar of the old împreună cu soţia mea în beciul locuinţei
building which our poverty compelled us to dărăpănate unde ne-mpinsese sărăcia.
inhabit.

Commentary:

The translator anticipates the event from the cellar, an anticipation which the author does
not intend to make, as seen in the ST, where he merely mentioned the descent into the specific part
of the house.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

The cat followed me down the steep stairs, Pisica mă urma în timp ce coboram pe scară;
and, nearly throwing me headlong, mă-mpiedicam de ea, mai-mai să cad, şi mă
exasperated me to madness. Uplifting an scotea din minţi. Furia m-a făcut să uit de
exe, and forgetting in my wrath the childish copilăreasca teamă ce mă-nlănţuia – şi
dread which had hitherto stayed my hand, I atunci am ridicat toporul şi-am repezit o
aimed a blow at the animal, which, of lovitură ce-ar fi ucis-o, fireşte, de-ar fi
course, would have proved instantly fatal nimerit unde ţintisem.
had it descended as I wished.

Commentary:

The translator suggests a repeated action, but the ST offers no such information. Moreover,
the furious impulse of the author is triggered by the fact that he nearly fell due to a singular contact
with the animal.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

36
 Goaded by the interference into a rage more Cuprins de-o furie diavolească, mi-am
than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from smuls mâna din strânsoare şi-am izbit cu
her grasp and buried the axe in her brain. toporul drept în creştetul soţiei mele.

Commetary:

The translator does not respect the author’s intention of emphasizing his rage by making it
superior through “more than”, thus stylistically altering the text.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

I knew that I could not remove it from the Ştiam că nu-l puteam scoate din casă, nici
house, either by day or by night, without the ziua şi nici noaptea, fără primejdia de-a fi
risk of being observed by the neighbours. văzut de cineva.

Commentary:

The translator fails to respect the ST, as “neighbours” is replaced with the pronoun
“cineva”.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

[…] Moreover, in one of the walls was a Unul dintre ziduri avea o ieşitură, semănând
projection, caused by a false chimney, or cu un fel de vatră, zidită la fel ca şi restul
fireplace, that had been filled up and made pivniţei.
to resemble the rest of the cellar.

Commentary:

37
 The first problem of this sentence is that the adverb „Moreover” does not appear in the
translation, thus not completely following the narrator’s descriptive attempt. The
second reconsideration refers to the phrase “semănând cu un fel de vatră”, which fails to convey
the image of a false chimney.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

It is impossible to describe or to imagine the O, nu e cu putinţă să descriu sau să-şi

deep, the blissful sense of relief which the închipuie cineva ce uşurare profundă, totală
absence of the detested creature occasioned îmi aducea absenţa nesuferitei creature!.
in my bosom.

Commentary:

The TT is given an emphatic tone through the interjection and the exclamation mark, but
the ST does not seem to have this intent.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

Even a search had been instituted – but of S-a hotărât atunci o percheziţie – dar m-am
course nothing was to be discovered. I încredinţat că nu vor găsi nimic. Viitorul îmi
looked upon my future felicity as secured. apărea liniştit.

Commentary:

The translator fails to reflect the complexity of the situation, by leaving out the conjunction
“even”.

38
 English – SL text Romanian – TL text

Upon the fourth day of the assassination, a În cea de-a patra zi, câţiva poliţişti au intrat
party of the police came, very unexpectedly, pe neaşteptate-n casă şi au început să
into the house, and proceeded again to make cerceteze cu de-amănuntul fiecare colţişor.
rigorous investigation of the premises. Încrezător în taina-mi de nepătruns, nu mă
Secure, however, in the inscrutability of my simţeam defel neliniştit. Nici un singur
place of concealment, I felt no colţişor nu a scăpat necercetat. La urmă,
embarrassment whatever. The officers bade pentru a treia sau a patra oară, am coborât cu
me accompany them in their search. They toţii în beci. Poliţiştii mi-au cerut să-i
left no nook or corner unexplored. At length, însoţesc. Nici a treia sau a patra oară. Şi nici
for the fourth time, they descended into the un muşchi nu-mi tresărea, şi inima-mi bătea
cellar. I quivered not in a muscle. My heart ca unui prunc ce doarme un somn nevinovat.
beat calmly as that of one who slumbers in
innocence.

Commentary:

We believe that the conjunction and adverb “şi”, which does not appear in the ST, does not
bring a worthy equivalent of the stillness intended by the author.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

The police were thoroughly satisfied and Şi poliţiştii, în sfârşit, se pregăteau să plece.
prepared to depart.

Commentary:

There is no need for the presence of the adverbial “Şi” at the beginning of the sentence.
Moreover, the incidental “în sfârşit” is used without having an equivalent in the ST.

39
 English – SL text Romanian – TL text

‘Gentlemen’, I said at last, as the party Îmi pare bine, am spus într-un sfârşit, când
ascended the steps, ‘I delight to have allayed poliţiştii începuseră să urce scara, îmi pare
your suspicions. I wish you all the health bine, domnilor, că bănuielile s-au risipit. Vă
and a little more courtesy. By the bye, doresc sănătate şi, poate, mai multă politeţe.
gentlemen, this – this is a very well- În treacăt fie zis, priviţi – priviţi cât de bine
constructed house,’ (in the rabid desire go e construită casa. (În oarba-mi dorinţă de a
say something easily, I scarcely knew what vorbi cât mai firesc, abia de-mi mai dădeam
I uttered at all), - ‘I may say an excellently singur seama ce spuneam). Aş zice, chiar,
well-constructed house. These walls – are că e o casă admirabil construită. Iată nişte
you going, gentlemen? – these walls are ziduri – o, dar nu plecaţi! – nişte ziduri într-
solidly put together’; and here, through the adevăr solide! Şi-atunci, în frenezia mea de
mere frenzy of bravado, I rapped heavily a-i înfrunta, am izbit tare cu bastonul chiar
with a cane which I held in my hand, upon în locul unde ascunsesem cadavrul
that very portion of the brick-work behind nefericitei mele soaţe.
which stood the corpse of the wife of my
bosom.

Commentary:

The first that needs to be mentioned here is the translator’s choice to not begin the paragraph
with the ST’s “Gentlemen”. Respecting the ST, the translation would have become more natural
and equivalence would have been increased. The second
observation would be the narrator’s thoughts at the moment of writing, which are expressed
between brackets that are between two sentences, thus stylistically damaging the text.
The third problem is represented by the phrase “o, dar
nu plecaţi!”, which is clearly different from what appears in the ST.
The final observation concerns the adjective “nefericitei”, which does not
appear in the ST.

40
 English – SL text Romanian – TL text

“But may God shield and deliver me from “O, doar Domnul mă poate apăra, sau chiar
the fangs of the Arch-Find! No sooner had scăpa din ghearele acelui care comandă
the reverberation of my blows sunk into oştile drăceşti! Nici nu s-a potolit ecoul
silence, than I was answered by a voice from loviturii, când din acea criptă i-a răspuns un
within the tomb! – by a cry, at first muffled glas! – da, un glas, întâi înăbuşit şi-ntretăiat,
and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and ca scâncetul unui copil, crescând apoi
then quickly swelling into one long, loud, grăbit, un ţipăt lung, puternic, prelung,
and continuous scream, utterly anomalous necunoscut, neomenesc – un urlet – un
and inhuman – a howl – a wailing shriek, răcnet de teroare şi triumf, cum doar în iad
half of horror and half of triumph, such as se poate auzi, de s-ar uni răcnetele celor
might have arisen only out of hell, osândiţi şi chinuiţi cu răcnetul de bucurie al
conjointly from the throats of the damned in demonilor”.
their agony and of the demons that exult in
the damnation”.

Commentary:
The situation which needs to be mentioned here regards the exclamation at the beginning
of the paragraph, which the translator does not integrate in the sequence of events, as the author
intended, but rather places it at the moment of writing.

English – SL text Romanian – TL text

“Of my own thoughts it is folly to speak. “O nebunie ar fi să mai spun la ce gândeam.

Swooning, I staggered to the opposite wall. Aproape leşinat, m-am rezemat nesigur de
For one instant the party on the stairs perete. O clipă, poliţiştii au stat încremeniţi,
remained motionless, through extremity of înspăimântaţi, înnebuniţi. Apoi, o mulţime
terror and awe. In the next a dozen stout de mâini s-au năpustit peste zid. Şi dintr-o
arms were toiling at the wall. It fell bodily. dată zidul a căzut. În faţa noastră se afla,
The corpse, already greatly decayed and ţeapăn, cadavrul, plin de sânge închegat şi

41
 clotted with gore, stood erect before the eyes aproape putrezit. Iar lângă capul soţiei mele
of the spectators. Upon its head, with red omorâte rânjea, cu gura roşie larg deschisă,
extended mouth and solitary eye of fire, sat hidosul animal ce m-a împins, viclean, la
the hideous beast whose craft had seduced crimă şi-al cărui glas denunţător m-a dat pe
me into murder, and whose informing voice mâinile călăului. Zidisem şi pisica în
had consigned me to the hangman. I had mormânt!”.
walled the monster up within the tomb”.

Commentary:
The first aspect that needs to be pointed out here is the enumeration made by the translator, which
leaves aside the ST’s “through”, which is important to the meaning of the text.
Secondly, “toiling” is very far
from “năpustit”, which is used in the TT, and fails to convey an accurate image of the event, as
equivalent to the ST. The final reconsideration refers to the final
sentence of the short-story, in which “monster” is replaces with “pisica”, stylistically damaging the
image of horror that the author intended for the ending of his work.

With this statement, the journey into Edgar Allan Poe’s The Black Cat translational
reconsiderations ends here. Throughout the pages of the present chapter, it has been shown how
that a translation can always be reconsidered and subjectivity clearly plays an important role in this
attempt. We must also state that although no
translation is perfect, there surely are classifications that make their way into the public’s
perception. The translation that we have just studied, although famous in its time, proves to be
rather poor and sometimes emphatic.
The conclusions regarding our endeavour will be shown below, in order for
the reader to better convey his imagine of what he has read throughout the chapter.

42
 CONCLUSIONS

Having completed our analytical attempt, we are in need of briefing upon the aspects that
were discovered throughout the analysis. Although it
many of these aspect are, as expected, negative, there are still some good parts that need to be
pointed out. Thus, we have acknowledged
that even from the start the translators have not maintained the long, elaborated sentences that Poe
puts in the expressiveness of his translator. This is not necessarily a weak point, because the TT
could seem unnatural when respecting the ST syntax too much.
But we have to admit that sometimes the expressive value of the txt in
weakened because of this practice.
Another issue that needs to be pointed out is the replacement of some morphological
elements in the TT. Thus, pronouns are sometimes replaced with nous. This, however, is a weak
point of the translation, because the meaning and the stylistic value of the ST is altered.
The third and most important issue of
the translation seems to be the adding of emphasis and of words that are not present in the ST. Of
course, this cannot bring a value to the text, because a translation needs to have the same
expressiveness as the original text.

43
 Bibliography

Bermann, Sandra; Poerter, Cathrine – A companion to translation studies, Wiley & Sons
Publishing Company, 2014
Newmark, Peter – About translation, Multilingual Matters, 1991
Miron, Cristina – E. A. Poes’s poetry in Romanian. A critical translation study, University
of Piteşti Publishing Company, 2009
Clonţea, Procopie; Mărăşescu, Amalia; Nicolae, Cristina – The advanced student’s book of
bilingual literary translation, University of Piteşti Publishing Company, 2004
Hayes, Kvevin J. (ed.) – The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe, Cambridge
University Press, 2004
Sova, Dawn B. – Edgar Allan Poe. A literary reference to his life and work, Infobase
Publishing, 2007
Poe, Edgar Allan – The complete stories, David Campbell Publishers, 1992
Poe, Edgar Allan – Scrieri alese, Univers Publishing Company, 1979

Webography:

http://www.translationdirectory.com/articles/article2360.php
http://www.certifiedtranslationservices.co.uk/blog/2015/11/3-difficulties-of-translating-
literature/
https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/2016/05/12/6-major-moments-translation-
interpretation-history/
http://poestories.com/biography.php
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edgar-Allan-Poe
http://knowingpoe.thinkport.org/library/letters_foster.asp
http://redeyetohavredegrace.tumblr.com/post/29944421990/map-of-baltimore-1-gunners-
hall-here-is-where

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https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/edgar-allan-poe
https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-origins-of-the-gothic
http://www.articlemyriad.com/gothic-qualities-works-poe/

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 Abstract

Edgar Allan Poe has always played a great role in universal literature and his works were
translated worldwide. Thus, Romanian culture could not stand by and not be familiarised to the
great American writer.
Being a figure that charmed through the darkness and melancholy of its writings, Poe was
seen as a writer that needed exploring for the thrills that come from his vivid images, but also for
the deep psychological elements .
The present paper attempts to make a short, but serious analysis of the 1979 version of the
Romanian translation of Poe’s The Black Cat, upon which we shall make our reconsiderations.

Edgar Allan Poe a toujours joué un rôle important dans la littérature universelle et ses
œuvres ont été traduites dans le monde entier. Ainsi, la culture roumaine ne pouvait pas passer sous
silance et ne pas être familiarisée avec le grand écrivain américain.
Étant une figure qui a fasciné par l'obscurité et la mélancolie de ses écrits, Poe a été perçu
comme un écrivain qui avait besoin d'explorer les sensations qui proviennent de ses images vives,
mais aussi pour les éléments psychologiques profonds.
Le présent article tente de faire une analyse courte mais sérieuse de la version de 1979 de la
traduction roumaine de Poe's The Black Cat, sur laquelle nous ferons notre reconsidération.

46