7 Systems theories

Key concepts

• Even-Zohar's polysystem theory (1970s) sees translated literature as part of the cultural, literary and historical system of the TL

• Toury (1995) puts forward a methodology for descriptive translation studies (DTS) as a non-prescriptive means of understanding the 'norms' at work in the translation process and of discovering the general 'laws' of translation.

• In DTS, equivalence is functional-historical and related to the continuum of 'acceptability' and 'adequacy'.

• Other systems approaches include the Manipulation School.

Key texts

Chesterman, A. (1997) Memes of Translation, Amsterdam and Philadelphia, PA: John

Benjamins, chapter 3. Even-Zohar, I. (1978/2000) 'The position of translated literature within the literary

polysystem', in LVenuti (ed.) (2000), pp. 192-7. Gentzler, E. (1993) Contemporary Translation Theories, London and New York: Routledge,

chapter 5. Hermans, T. (ed.) (1985a) The Manipulation of Literature, Beckenham: Croom Helm. Hermans, T. (1999) Translation in Systems, Manchester: St Jerome, chapters 6 to 8. Toury, G. (1978/2000) 'The nature and role of norms in literary translation', in L. Venuti

(ed.) (2000), pp. 198-211. Toury, G. (1995) Descriptive Translation Studies - And Beyond, Amsterdam and Philadelphia,

PA:John Benjamins.

7.0 Introduction

In chapters 5 and 6 we saw how linguistics broadened out from static models in the 1960s to an approach which incorporates first skopos theory and then register and discourse analysis, relating language to its sociocultural function. In the 1970s, another reaction to the static prescriptive models was poly-system theory (see section 7.1), which saw translated literature as a system operating in the larger social, literary and historical systems of the target culture. This was an important move, since translated literature had up to

that point mostly been dismissed as a derivative, second-rate form. Polysys­tem theory fed into developments in descriptive translation studies (see section 7.2), a branch of translation studies that has been crucial in the last twenty years and which aims at identifying norms and laws of translation. Developments in the study of norms are discussed in section 7.3 (work by Chesterman), and work by systems theorists of the related Manipulation School is described in section 7.4.

7. / Polysystem theory

Polysystem theory was developed in the 1970s by the Israeli scholar Itamar Even-Zohar borrowing ideas from the Russian Formalists of the 1920s, who had worked on literary historiography (see further reading section). A liter­ary work is here not studied in isolation but as part of a literary system, which itself is defined as 'a system of functions of the literary order which are in continual interrelationship with other orders' (Tynjanov 1927/71: 72). Literature is thus part of the social, cultural, literary and historical frame­work and the key concept is that of the system, in which there is an ongoing dynamic of 'mutation' and struggle for the primary position in the literary canon.

Although building on work by the Formalists, Even-Zohar reacts against 'the fallacies of the traditional aesthetic approach' (Even-Zohar 1978: 119), which had focused on 'high' literature and had disregarded as unimportant literary systems or genres such as children's literature, thrillers and the whole system of translated literature. Even-Zohar (p. 118) emphasizes that translated literature operates as a system:

1. in the way the TL selects works for translation;

2. in the way translation norms, behaviour and policies are influenced by other co-systems.

Even-Zohar focuses on the relations between all these systems in the over­arching concept to which he gives a new term, the polysystem, which is defined by Shuttleworth and Cowie (1997: 176) as follows:

The polysystem is conceived as a heterogeneous, hierarchized conglomerate (or system) of systems which interact to bring about an ongoing, dynamic process of evolution within the polysystem as a whole.

The hierarchy referred to is the positioning and interaction at a given histor­ical moment of the different strata of the polysystem. If the highest position is occupied by an innovative literary type, then the lower strata are likely to be occupied by increasingly conservative types. On the other hand, if the conservative forms are at the top, innovation and renewal are likely to come from the lower strata. Otherwise a period of stagnation occurs (Even-Zohar 1978: 120). This 'dynamic process of evolution' is vital to the polysystem, indicating that the relations between innovatory and conservative systems