THE DANISH TRANSLATION OF 'PENELOPE' IN JAMES JOYCE'S ULYSSES

Ida Klitgård

Abstract

The subject of this article is the problem of translating Hiberno-English dialect, sociolect, idiolect and neologisms in 'Penelope', the famous concluding episode of James Joyce's UIysses (1922). Taking my starting-point in Joyce's own characterisation of the 'clou' of the episode, I investigate in which ways the three Danish translations by the same translator in 1949,1970 and 1980 treat these features in the stream of Molly Bloom's free direct thought. One of my main tasks is to challenge the world-famous Danish linguist Otto Jespersen's apprehension of female language as it is discussed by critic Katie Wales in her stylistic analysis of 'Penelope'. It is my contention that even though Molly's mind-style is formed by parataxis, so characteristic of female language according to Jespersen, her vocabulary carries multiple layers of linguistically and culturally hybrid meaning. The Danish male translator, on the other hand, has not found adequate strategies to render such creativity.