Articles Tagged with translation
“‘Sólo Soy Un Guitarrista’: Bob Dylan in the Spanish-Speaking World—Influences, Parallels, Reception, and Translation”
This article examines key aspects of the relationship between the work of Bob Dylan and the cultures of Spain and Spanish-speaking Latin America, including the Spanish/Latin American presence in Dylan’s songs and prose texts; the reception of Dylan’s work by Spanish-speaking critics and intellectuals; influences and parallels between Dylan and Spanish/Latin American musicians and writers, notably Federico García Lorca; and the translation of Dylan into Spanish. Dylan’s work is seen as a hybrid cultural phenomenon, generating connections between high-cultural and popular elements. Its two-way relationship with Hispanophone culture is seen as an interesting case of bridge-building between cultural systems.
Read more »Nothing’s Been Changed, Except the Words: Some Faithful Attempts at Covering Bob Dylan Songs in French
This article deals with the French translation and performed covers of Bob Dylan songs, with a view to setting forth the general rules of adapting songs into another language. Using a large number of examples, this article first explains the difference between covering and translating, which is first and foremost a matter of meter and scansion. The article then explores two approaches to “faithfulness”: one can either be faithful to the sound of the initial words or to the meaning. What is at stake here is the concept of distance: we need intercessors, but still want them removed from the picture. Rather than creators, the singers covering foreign songs have to be considered as transmitters. That is why most of those efforts, whatever their commercial success, often fail to impress as genuine works of art.
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