The Norms at Play in the Macedonian Literary System: An Analysis of the Role of Mihajlovski’s Shakespeare in Macedonian

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the norms at play in the Macedonian target system and the position of translated literature in the current Macedonian cultural, literary and historical context. The corpus of the study consists of two of Dragi Mihajlovski’s translations: “Hamlet” (2008) and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (2011). The analysis is framed within Even-Zohar’s (1990/2004) polysystem theory and is based on Toury’s (1995) methodology for descriptive translation studies. The methodology used in this study follows the three-phase methodology developed by Toury (1995). In Shakespeare’s time, the primary word-formation processes were affixation, conversion and compounding (Nevalainen, 2001) and he used them all to a great extent. This study analyses the relationship of words derived through the processes of conversion and compounding between the target texts against their source text counterparts as well as the paratextual and metatextual material. The results of the study suggest that following Shakespeare’s model, Mihajlovski creates a number of neologisms through compounding and conversion. That way Mihajlovski enriches the Macedonian language, whereas his translations serve as a model for other translators and writers to follow. Together with the analysis of Mihajlovski’s views on translation and the target socio-cultural, literary and historical context, these findings suggest that the underlying concept of translation in the current Macedonian system is that of adequate translation (Toury, 1995). We conclude that Mihajlovski’s choices are driven by the need for new models in the target context, where translation seems to occupy a central position in the Macedonian polysystem.