Born translated memories: Transcultural memorial forms, domestication and foreignisation

Area of Science:

• Literary Studies
• Cultural Studies
• Memory Studies

Background:

• Transnational memory studies often overlook the role of translation.
• Transcultural memorial forms shape how collective memories are received and understood.
• Sofi Oksanen's novel 'Purge' offers a case study for analyzing memory translation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose translation as a novel model for conceptualizing the transnational travel of memories.
• To analyze the domesticating and foreignising effects of 'born translated' memories.
• To examine how transcultural memorial forms, such as war rape, facilitate memory translation and reception.

Main Methods:

• Drawing on theories from translation studies, world literature, and reception studies.
• Analyzing Sofi Oksanen's novel 'Purge' as a literary example.
• Investigating the concept of memories being 'born translated'.

Main Results:

• Translation offers a framework for understanding memory's transnational movement.
• Memories exhibit both domesticating (assimilating) and foreignising (othering) effects during their transmission.
• War rape as a memorial form in 'Purge' highlights the foreignising impact of translated Soviet-era trauma.

Conclusions:

• Conceptualizing memory travel through translation enriches transnational memory studies.
• The study demonstrates how specific memorial forms can translate and transform traumatic memories.
• Analyzing literary works provides insights into the complex reception of transculturally transmitted memories.