The power of voice in translated fiction

This paper focuses on the discussion of the pertinence and operativity of a classification for the analysis of translational shifts affecting the power expressed by voice in narrator-character-narratee relationships in translated fiction. Such a classification follows Rosa (2003, 2006, 2007, 2009), and it is developed within the framework of Descriptive Translation Studies (Toury 2012; van Leuven-Zwart 1989, 1990), importing from Narrative Theory (Leech and Short 1981; Chatman 1978; Marnette 1998) Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough 1995) and Appraisal Theory (White 2001; Martin and White 2005). The classification presented and discussed in this paper is devised in order to develop a methodology for a semi-automatic quantitative analysis of electronic source and target texts organized in a parallel corpus. Moreover, following Short (1988), this classification may to some extent (and considering some variation in semantic value) be applicable to analyzing the translation of quoter-quotee-addressee relations in other text types resorting to discourse representation, which is here identified as a means of expressing interpersonal meaning and negotiating the power of voice.