earticle

영어

This study aims to examine the practice of abridged translation in the field of literary translation. As the object of analysis, two different translations of Duma's The Three Musketeers are used, one being a complete translation and the other being an abridged translation. This paper begins with suggesting the reasons of abridgements, based on information found from the publishers' comments and book descriptions, and pointing out the possible problems that the abridgements of a literary text may produce. Then it shows that the act of translation is closely connected with the establishment of certain cultural values in a society and therefore always includes value judgements. In the analysis that follows, it is revealed that in the abridged version of The Three Musketeers the narrative structure is simplified, the personalities of characters are transformed and even distorted, and the motives of the characters are represented quite different from the original text. In a word, the whole structure of Dumas's original text undergoes radical changes and therefore even the nature of the work is transformed. In conclusion, this study points out that abridged translation of a work of literature, despite its good intentions, cannot render the unique flavor and subtle texture of the original to its readers properly, and a careful consideration should be given before the translation/publishing project.