Translators’ Creativity in the Dutch and Spanish (Re)translations of “Oxen of the Sun”: (Re)translation the Bakhtinian Way

This paper aims to assess the translators’creativity in the “Oxen of the Sun” episode in Joyce’s Ulysses, by comparing translations and retranslations into Dutch and Spanish. According to the “Retranslation Hypothesis” inspired by Berman and put forth by Chesterman, first translations are more “target-oriented,” whereas retranslations are said to be more “source-oriented.” Drawing on a Bakhtin-inspired conceptual framework that considers translation to be a form of dialogical writing and combining the explicitation and conventionalization hypotheses with the “Retranslation Hypothesis” and Theo Hermans’idea that the translator’s voice is heard especially in instances of self-referential use of language such as double-voiced discourse and heteroglossia, we would like to test the hypothesis that retranslations of the “Oxen” episode are less explicitating than first translations, and therefore give more room to the author’s voice as well as the translator’s voice and creativity.