HOW TO WRITE A CRITICAL ESSAY (on translation)

ABILITIES TO BE EVALUATED

 The evaluation of a critical essay on the translation of a literary text is based on three main criteria:  1) the ability to critically analyze your own translation, using the methodological tools you have learned in your school and university career  2) the ability to organize your discourse in a format and a language that may correctly convey to the reader the ideas you want to express  3) critical autonomy and originality – how you manage to give an at least partially new perspective on a certain aspect of the theory or practice of translation, without repeating well-known interpretations

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ESSAY STRUCTURE

1) Introduction (topic, focus, methodology, aim)  2) Main body/development (ideas, quotations from the primary text – that is, both the original text and your translation – and their analysis, critical references)  3) Conclusion

GENERAL ISSUES

The basics translating) – Plot (features of the formal level of the text you are – Setting – Narration/point of view – Characterization – Versification – Symbol – Metaphor – Genre – Irony/ambiguity

Other key concepts

(referring to what is outside the text but influences it) – Historical context – Social, political, economic contexts – Ideology – Various critical orientations – Literary theory

WH-QUESTIONS

One way to better focus your argument is to ask the most elementary questions about what is really important in the text – the so-called wh-questions:  “what,” requesting a description (e.g., “what is the main theme of the text”?)       “who,” requesting the identification of a subject (e.g. “who is the main character”?) “whom,” requesting the identification of someone acted upon (e.g. “whom I am translating for”?) “where,” requesting a location (e.g. “where does the action take place”?) “when,” requesting a temporalization (e.g. “when does it take place”?) “how,” requesting the identification of a process or a modality [“how does the text manage to convey its main ideas”?) “why,” requesting an explanation (as regards cause, purpose, function, structure of the text)

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MODES OF ANALYSIS

observing and identifying the objects to be analyzed (specific problems of translation); describing the characteristic features of what is being enquired into; defining terms and concepts by naming them, referring to objects, classifying individuals into classes, and distinguishing between and comparing similar classes by means of ascribing characteristics to them (e.g. if you are dealing with the translation of metaphors, you must first define and list the various kinds of metaphors you will be working on); illustrating or exemplifying a general point in order to make its meaning or application clear; theorizing about and explaining how or why things are as they are (and why you translate in a certain way); conjecturing or speculating about possible explanations – how things might be or might have been; evaluating the adequacy of your observations, descriptions, definitions, explanations and theories in the light of criteria appropriate to each.

CLARIFY, SUBSTANTIATE, EXEMPLIFY

   Clarifying a statement: make the meaning of an idea or concept more precise. Common linking terms: viz., that is to say, namely. Common marginal criticisms: Define this, What does this mean?, Too vague.

Substantiating a generalization: refer to or quote specific evidence. Common linking terms: i.e., in particular, indeed. Common marginal criticisms: Be more precise, Give evidence, Substantiate.

Illustrating a general point in such a way as to make its meaning clear and its application concrete. Common linking terms: for example, for instance, as in the case of. Common marginal criticisms: Illustrate this, Give examples.

PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE

 S tatement – topic sentence  E vidence – quotation (focus)  A nalysis – explanation of quote and detailed comment  L ink – try to link back to the main idea

TOPIC SENTENCES

 Topic sentences are called this for two reasons:   • Firstly, they tie in with the topic of your essay.

• Secondly, they let the reader understand the topic of the paragraph.

 Using a topic sentence at the start of the paragraph

sets you off in the right direction.

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THE ITQEE STRUCURE

The ITQEE structure helps you to remember what should be in each paragraph.

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IT -

tells you to Introduce a Technique. In other words, mention something you can see the writer deliberately doing (and the way you try to translate it).

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Q

- tells you to give evidence by Quoting from the text/s (the original and the translation).

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EE

- tells you to Explain the Effect, to show what the writer is doing his/her readers, and what you do in order to produce the same effect.

 The IT part of this is also the topic sentence of the paragraph.

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QUOTATIONS

Quotations must be inside quotation

marks (“ “).

 If they are longer than three lines, they should be indented, set in from the edges of the page (without quotation marks).

 After the quotation, you must indicate the

source (in brackets: author/s, year of

publication and number/s of the page/s quoted).

THE “SO WHAT?” TEST

  Don’t include quotations or comments for their own sake. For each quotation used or point made ask yourself “so what?” If the quotation does not tell you anything about the problems of translation your are dealing with or the point does not add anything to your essay then it should be removed.

GRAMMAR STRUCTURE

THINGS TO REMEMBER:  The average English sentence structure is subject-verb-object    The subject is (almost) always connected to the verb: do not insert other words between them The English language does not love adverbs: use them wisely (this is an adverb…) When describing what happens in a literary work, use the present tense

LANGUAGE MISTAKES

 The five most common language mistakes you are likely to do:  Sentence boundary errors: comma splices, run-ons,  and fragments 3 Point of view errors: rd use of the 1 you may have some freedom) st or 2 nd person: in literary essays, you should (almost) always use the person (when writing about your own translation,  Wordiness: tendency to ramble on, using unnecessary words, redundancies, periphrases  Poor verb choice: overuse of the verbs to be, to do, to get, to have  Poor proofreading: lack of spell checking or of editing for mistakes

DANGLING MODIFIERS

One of the most common and less visible grammar mistakes is the use of “dangling modifiers.” Look at the two following sentences: “Before describing what happened, the background to these events must be understood.” “Examining the second stanza of the poem, the rhyme scheme is even more complex.” In both cases, the first part of the sentence “modifies” the main proposition, contained in the second part. These modifying phrases “dangle” because the nature of the subject has changed in the transition from the modifying phrase to the main proposition.

Please, avoid these mistakes by always asking yourselves “is the subject the same throughout the sentence?”

PUNCTUATION

    Make a correct use of punctuation.

The period, or fullstop (“.”), separates two different sentences: please do no separate them with a simple comma (“,”).

The colon (“:”) exemplifies: please use it when the following sentence explains the preceding one (as this sentence does).

The semicolon (“;”) separates/links a series of sentences belonging to the same logical level; it must not be used to separate sentences which are not linked to one another; it ought to be used parsimoniously.

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OTHER PUNCTUATION MARKS

      Brackets (this sentence is contained in brackets) are used to insert secondary comments Dashes ( – ) are used to insert a detour from the point you are making: they separate, not link, and there is a space before and after them Hyphens ( - ) are used to put two words together: they link, not separate, and there is no space before or after them, as in “Anglo-American”) Dots (…) are used when the sentence is left suspended Ellipses (. . . or […]) shows that a portion of the quotation is missing Do! Not! Use! Exclamation! Marks! (except in very! very!! very!!! specific cases)

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ITALICS AND QUOTATION MARKS

Use italics for whole works emphasis or for the titles of (books, movies, musical records, paintings, newspapers, journals) Use quotation marks (“”) for the titles of parts of books (chapters, essays, single poems or short stories), single songs or parts of musical works, newspaper and journal articles Remember: in English, commas, fullstops, exclamation and question marks must be inside the quotation marks, colon and semicolons must be outside

THE CONCLUSION

After the introduction and the development, you need to finish off your essay with a conclusion . The conclusion needs to do two things: 

1 sum up and round off what you have

written 

2 give your personal response

BIBLIOGRAPHY / WORKS CITED

  At the end of the essay you must add the list of THE works you have cited You must list them in the alphabetical order of the authors’ last names  Information must be given in this order: A book: Last name, first (and middle) name: place, publisher, year (if there is more than one author, separate them with a dash) Title: Subtitle , An article in a book: Last name, first (and middle) name: “Title of the article,” in First, last name(s) of the author(s) (ed./eds.), Title: Subtitle , place, publisher, year, pp.

An article in a journal: Last name, first (and middle) name: “Title of the article,” year, pp Title of the journal , vol. (no.), month/season A webpage: Last name, first (and middle) name (if there is one): “Title of the page,” Title of the website, URL.

EXAMPLES OF WORKS CITED

    BOOK – Bowen, Elizabeth: London, Vintage, 1998 The Heat of the Day , ARTICLE IN A BOOK – Baym, Nina : “Thwarted Nature: Nathaniel Hawthorne as a Feminist,” in Fritz Fleischmann (ed.), American Novelists Revisited: Essays in Feminist Criticism , Boston, Hall, 1982, pp. 55-77 ARTICLE IN A JOURNAL – Levine, Robert S.: “Antebellum Rome in The Marble Faun, ” American Literary History , 2 (1), Spring 1990, pp. 19-38.

WEBPAGE: Tamm, Eric: “Robert Fripp, from Crimson King to Crafty Master,” Progressive Ears http://www.progressiveears.com/frippbook ,