The time factor in two Slovak editions of the novel El río oscuro by Alfredo Varela

Abstract

The aim of this study is to compare of two Slovak editions of the novel El río oscuro by the Argentinian writer Alfredo Varela. This novel was first published in Slovak in 1951 as a translation by Vladimír Oleríny and in 1968 was republished in a new edition with significant changes to the translation. Since we are dealing with two different editions of the same translation published in the span of 17 years, it is interesting to examine the influence of the time factor on the translation itself, the edition, revision and re-edition of this literary work. Following a comparative analysis of the two texts, we came to the conclusion that the edition from 1951 bears all hallmarks of a novice translator’s idiolect, however it also reflects the short tradition of translating from Spanish into Slovak. In the 1968 edition there is a marked change in the translator’s perspective, concerning, above all, the relation of ‘the foreign’ to ‘the domestic’. There also is a clearer and pronounced translation strategy, reflecting the abilities of an experienced translator, the development of the target language and the development of the Slovak theory of translation. It seems to us that the influence of the time factor is visible in both editions examined and, it would with no doubt manifest in a possible third edition of Oleríny’s translation, or, as the case may be, in another translation of Valera’s El río oscuro.