Article Citation: Omotayo I. OLALERE and James ORAO (2023). The Appropriation of Biblical Passages in the two German Translations of Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Petals of Blood. DEGEL: The Journal of the Faculty of Arts and Islamic Studies, Vol. 20, No. 1 & 2. ISSN 0794-9316
THE
APPROPRIATION OF BIBLICAL PASSAGES IN THE TWO GERMAN TRANSLATIONS OF NGUGI WA
THIONG’O’S PETALS OF BLOOD
By
Omotayo I. OLALERE and James ORAO
Abstract
The Bible has been said to serve as a common
resource for other written literatures particularly of European language
expression. This study critically examines the usage of biblical passages in
the two German versions of Ngugi’s Petals of Blood with the aim of showing the
complexity involved in the appropriation of biblical passages in works of
translation. To achieve this, the concept of appropriation as a form of
rewriting is adopted for the analysis in this paper. The justification for this
study is the need to reveal that appropriation, though normally seen as a
viable approach used by postcolonial authors, can also be observed in the
translations of African postcolonial literatures. The strategies used in
translating Biblical intertext as described by Klimovich (2014), is used for
the conceptual framework. The political leanings and cognitive levels of the
translators and loss of intertextuality and aesthetic intents in the German
versions of the text which make compromise through translation difficult are
the core findings of this work. Thus, the study will add to the body of
knowledge on appropriation and the translations of African Europhone
literature.
Introduction
According to Quinto and
Santos[1],
“appropriation is a process in which the language is adapted as a tool and
utilized in various ways to express widely differing cultural experiences. It
seizes the language of the center and utilizes it in a discourse fully adapted
to the colonized place.” This idea of appropriation is based on Ashcroft,
Griffith and Tiffin’s[2] idea
of appropriation of the colonial language by the postcolonial authors in their
works. However, in this paper, appropriation is adopted and used beyond the
level of language to describe a form of rewriting based on the fact that
biblical texts used in the original novel have been translated in various ways
which shows the complexity involved in translating a universal resource in
Europhone literatures which is the Bible. Selected passages of the Bible in the
source text and their two German translations will be examined based on the
concept of appropriation to reveal how extracts from the Bible can be rewritten
and appropriated to fit into the work of a translation for the target readers.
The objective of the paper is to show that not only language can be
appropriated but also the text.
Many
studies on the works of Ngugi wa Thiong’o have explored the appropriation of
Christian values in his works[3],
however, in this article, an exploration of the translation of these values in
the German translations of Petals of Blood is intended. The writer Ngugi
wa Thiong’o believes so much in the Marxist ideologies which he
unapologetically advocates in his novels and plays. He is also known to do this
by critically attacking Christian ideas and values. Such criticism of the Bible
is so pervasive in the author’s writings that a huge amount of scholarly
criticisms on his works have been dedicated to this subject matter. For
instance, Anonby[4] who
established his theological reflections on the novels of Ngugi considers as
prevalent in Ngugi’s novels the ineffectuality, perniciousness, and ultimate
absurdity of Christian otherworldliness[5]. She
examined “the criteria of the novel’s implicit judgement of Christian
theologies and practices and its re-contextualization or ‘transgressive
re-inscription’ of biblical narratives”[6]. Andindilile[7]
maintains that Ngugi has been dubbed a “religious writer”. He further argues
that Ngugi, despite his negative attitude towards Christianity has engaged
Christian thematic typology as a conduit for subversion in his fiction[8]. In
doing this, he claims the author uses Christianity and its typology to advance
his literary and rhetorical agenda and these serve as powerful literary and
rhetorical tools in his works. Although Ngugi forcefully attacks Christianity,
he engages the aesthetics of the Bible to his own advantage.
From
the foregoing, it can be said that extant studies on Ngugi’s works are replete
with discussions on biblical appropriations in his texts. Consequently, the
following section will give a brief overview on the concept of appropriation.
The
term “appropriation” is also used in other areas of research disciplines like
Law, Political Science and Visual Arts. In the study of language and
literatures, the term can be viewed as an aspect of language or culture.
Regarding postcolonial literature, it has been utilised more to describe the
use of language in postcolonial contexts particularly by authors of texts from
the non-Western world. This therefore, can also be seen as a form of
“translation” of indigenous words into the European language means of writing.
Also, it shows a sort of application of words, terms or devices for purposes
other than which it was meant in the European context. On one hand,
appropriation in postcolonial literature deals with the language and its use,
cultural appropriation can be described as the use of items belonging to a
particular culture (e.g African) by another culture e.g (Western). Since this
study employs literature, that is, the translation of Ngugi’s novel Petals
of Blood and since language is a major focus of translation, the notion of
cultural appropriation will not be delved into for the analysis or as a
conceptual framework. Rather, appropriation will be used as a framework.
In language use,
Ashcroft et al.[9]
consider appropriation as the process by which the language is made to “bear
the burden” of one’s own cultural experience. As such, language is adopted as a
tool and utilised to express widely differing cultural experiences[10].
Here, appropriation is understood as a process of neutralising cultural
imprints of the colonial language and adapting it to a valued asset in
postcolonial transformations. More particularly, they see appropriation as “the
process by which the English language is taken to bear the burden of one’s own
cultural experiences; or … to convey in a language that is not one’s own the
spirit that is one’s own”[11].
Although this idea of appropriation is based on language, this study intends to
apply it to passages from the Bible and not language per se. Therefore, the
conceptual framework of appropriation is adjusted here. Against this
background, one can say that the biblical extracts in the source text were used
by the translators to “bear the burden of their own cultural experience. Thus,
the appropriation of the Biblical texts in the translation shows that it
carried the “spirit” of the target context. Potentially, appropriation is
likely to show variations in the use of biblical texts in the translations. The
differences in the target texts may reveal the translator’s own ideological
tendencies which differ from the source text aspect of appropriation.
Studies on the Translation of
Ngugi’s Works
Extant studies on the
translation of Ngugi’s works abound but we are only able to lay our hands on a
few of them which will be reviewed in the in the following. Wangui wa Goro[12] in his PhD titled “Hecterosexism In
Translation: A Comparative Study Of Ngugi Wa Thiong'o's Caitani Mutharabaini
(Devil On The Cross) And Matigari Ma Njiruungi (Matigar!). The aim of his research was to investigate
the theoretical and practical implications of issues around the subject
locations of writers and translators as readers and writers in historical
contexts using Ngugi’s novels above. He asserts that the wider context of
culture, economics, politics and societal development impact on the translation
process in general. In addition, his study sought to ascertain how much is lost
or gained through the subject location of translators and that of culture
through texts and readers. In conclusion, he was able to ascertain whether
translation can enable the relocation or re(dis)covery of 'hidden', 'lost',
'forgotten' or 'new' 'cultures' in narratives including such shifts, and indeed
the 'migration' of the 'subjects' of writers, readers, and translators.
Elena
Bandín[13] in her article The Role Of
Self-Translation in the Decolonisation Process of African Countries
considered Ngugi wa Thiong’o as the most representative and committed writer in
the anti-colonial struggle because of his rejection of the English language for
his writings. She considered Ngugi’s Self-translating is parallel to writing,
both being creative processes carried out by the author-translator[14]. For her, the reason why authors translate
themselves can be found in Fanon’s philosophical view of writing, that is, they
contribute to the creation of a national consciousness and a national
literature.
Waltraud Kolb[15] studied the translations of proverbs in the
German versions of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, the oral texture in Amos
Tutuola’s The Palmwine Drinkard and the Gikuyu and Swahili words in the
German versions of Ngugi’s Petals of Blood. She observed that the
strategies employed by the two German translators of Ngugi’s novel were
different and the reason for this could be because they were translating for
different audiences. While one translator translated for East Germany, the
other translated for West Germany.
It can be observed that
although the works reviewed above state one thing or the other about
translation and Ngugi’s texts, only very little has been done in exploring the
appropriation of biblical passages in the translations of his works. This study
therefore fills this gap.
Ngugi in
Discourse
Ngugi’s works consist of a complex interplay of
intertexts and languages that would prove a daunting task to any translator.
This is more so, especially since Ngugi has expressed himself severally on the
critical question of language vis-a-vis African literature[16]. What happens, then, when an author who is
critically vocal about language gets translated? It “raises [a] set of
questions about the status of the text, as well as the status of the
translation”[17]. Baker[18], in reference to Ngugi’s self-translation of Wizard
of the Crow from Gikuyu into English, observes that it should be read “as
an experiment in narrative form, drawing at the same time on the ideological
perspective provided by Ngugi in his essays and social commentaries”. But
translations, whether as self-translations or otherwise, also – and especially
for an exiled author like Ngugi – serve to transmit twice over to an
increasingly deaf and indifferent world the stories of the ravaged postcolonial
lands[19]. Translation, thus, is a political act as
well.
Petals of Blood, as already noted, consist of intertextual and
linguistic interplays that are at the core of its aesthetic composition. It is,
therefore, only prudent that we also consider the question of linguistics of
the biblical passages we have considered above. As already stated, both
translations, even though they are into the same language – German – tend to
make linguistic choices that might at times seem curious, if not altogether
questionable. The biblical passages in POB buttress Ngugi’s critical
interrogation of the state of the postcolonial nation. Their translation, even
where this is directly borrowed from a German Christian Bible, need to be
linguistically embedded to this end. Indeed, it can be said that Ngugi enjoys
his linguistics games so much so that sometimes a reader – and maybe the
translator? – gets lost in the intertextual and linguistic web that he creates.
An example that seems to have lost the translators in this intertextual and
linguistic web can be found in the translation of the following biblical
allusion:
Many were the times I used to think that I
could hear a Lamb’s voice calling me across a deep deep valley: come unto me,
all ye that are lonely, and I’ll give you the final rest….[20]
The translation of “final rest” as “ewige Ruhe”
meaning “everlasting peace” loses the intended contextual allusion to a desire
for death by Wanja. It is a failure by the translators to establish a
connection between Ngugi’s adept appropriation of the Bible, to recognize the
recontextualization of the Bible within a post-colonial rewriting setting as
well to lay bare these intertexts that are, thus, important in understanding
the impetus behind a critically Postcolonial novel like Petals of Blood.
If we look at a translation as discursive dance between the source text/culture
and the target text/culture, we conclude that there were missteps in both
translations that rendered some inherently salient aspects of the novel mute.
While it is an aspect that would require its
own study, the question of what the re-appropriation of the biblical intertexts
back into its western original culture mean for the translation enterprise is
one that has to be posed. Ngugi uses a technique of infusing his language with
vernacular or even leaving whole parts of his texts in vernacular in a process
to dismantle the “linguistic authoritarianism”[21] of the colonial English language as well as to
segregate, otherize as well as castigate the new elite. This language infused
with the vernacular, which forms a key part of the aesthetics of the
postcolonial writing back, gets lost in translation rendering chunks of the
poetics and well as aesthetics of such language in Ngugi’s works unappreciated.
Strategies of Translating Biblical Intertexts
The
Bible itself as used by the author is a translated text. This follows that
there lies more than one version of the Bible at the disposal of the author at
the time of writing. Consequently, the translator might choose to question
which version the author adheres to or probably take the pain to compare the
biblical inferences with all versions available in English in order to see
whether the author picks randomly from different English versions of the Bible
in his usage in the novel. Such a task might, however, be too cumbersome for a
translator. Secondly, the translator is faced with the fact that the author
either quotes verbatim from a version of the Bible or appropriates it by
slightly or significantly altering the biblical passage to make it applicable
to a particular context or making obscure biblical allusions in a cultural
context that might easily escape the translator. Thus, there could be an
amalgamation of biblical culture with the author’s African culture.
Another
major challenge such intertexts could pose for a translator could be that the
Bible deployed by the author comes in form of translation which already
includes intertexts from another cultural background (Jewish) which is alien to
the English source text. The above poses a major challenge as it suggests a
multiple hybrid nature of biblical intertexts found in African literature. The
cultural hybridity here encompasses the Jewish, English and African cultures at
the same time.
On
the part of the translator, however, he has to choose between translating
verbatim using the source text’s author’s appropriation of the Bible passages
or making an independent decision between either translating in his own words
or choosing from existing translations of the Bible in the target language. The
latter option, however, poses the challenge of including target cultural
contexts which might be contrary to the source text. Furthermore, the
translator in this case is faced with the challenge of either sticking to a
particular version of the Bible in the target language or employing various
versions in the target text. It also goes without saying that the implication
for such a decision might lead to greater contextual complexities.
Klimovich[22]
noted that intertextual elements from the Bible are considered to be “the
universal intertextual elements”. He opined that there are four basic ways of
signification of such element from the Bible and these are referential,
expressive, norminative and quotational. He particularly considers intertextual
elements from the Bible to be special translation units that are “stylistically
marked speech patterns, that are kept in collective mind of the native speakers
as ’ready to use’ elements, and for this reason, they are the most ’favourable’
signs to express the definite meaning, which has expressive and impressional
connotation”[23].
Despite their stylistic importance, Klimovich[24]
considers keeping the meaning of intertexts from the Bible in a work of
translation more paramount and necessary condition. Another major factor
pertinent to their translation is their function. This may include stylistic,
compositional and pragmatic functions. Klimovich[25]
concluded that
the
strategies of translation of the intertextual elements from the Bible cannot be
purely fixed or “recorded”. The reason for this is that in translating such
elements, there will be full or partial loss of intertextuality in the target
text.
Although
Klimovich[26]
considered the phenomenon of translating biblical inferences in translation
studies, we believe he did this not having the peculiarity of an African text
which have been explained above, in mind.
A Brief Introduction of the German Translations
of Petals of Blood
The novel Petals
of Blood was written by Ngugi wa Thiong’o in 1977 and published by Heinemann in London. The first German translation was done by Josef
Zimmering and was published in 1980 by Verlag Volk und Welt in Berlin. It was
titled Land der flammenden Blüten.
This translation is also regarded as the East German translation because it was
commissioned in East Germany which was separated from West Germany due to
different political ideologies that existed in Germany at that time.While the
socialist ideology prevailed in East Germany, the capitalist ideology was
maintained in West Germany during the period of separation. In some cases,
these ideologies are reflected in the translations of works done into German by
the East and the West. The second translation which was published in West
Germany was done by Susanne Koehler and published in 1981 by Hammer Verlag in
Wuppertal. It is titled Verbrannte Blüten.
Just like Petals of Blood, many of Ngugi’s novels published at that time
have two different German versions, one for the East and the other for the
West. The version for the Eastern block used to come out first before the one
for the West. Examples of works like this are The River Between (1965), A
Grain of Wheat (1967). It is worthy of note however, that in the case of A
Grain of Wheat, only the hard cover changed when it was published in West
Germany. The content remained the same.
Analysis of Data
In
the following analysis the two German versions of selected biblical intertexts
in Ngugi’s Petals of Blood will be
examined. For the sake of clarity, the data has been grouped into two. Also,
quotations from the East German version i.e. Land der flammenden Blüten are
referred to as LDFB while those of the West German version i.e. Verbrannte
Blüten are referred to as VB. The appropriation of scriptural texts in the
target texts stemming from ideological orientations and cognitive influence of
the translators shall be brought to limelight in the analysis. The two groups
in which the data has been grouped into are: biblical allusions and quotations
and mixed quotations.
Biblical Allusions and Quotations
The
author of the novel, Ngugi introduces each section of the novel with a poem.
The novel is divided into four sections and he prefaced the first and third
sections with Bible verses alongside a poem. The introduction to the first
section of the novel is with the following verse from the book of Revelation:
And I
saw, and behold, a white horse, and he that sat thereon had a bow; and there
was given unto him a crown and he came forth conquering, and to conquer….
And
another horse came forth, a red horse and to him that sat thereon was given to
take peace from the earth, that they should slay one another and was there
given unto him a great sword…
And I
saw, and behold a black horse; and he that sat thereon had a balance in his
hand…
And I
saw, and behold, a pale horse; and he that sat upon him, his name was Death…
And
there was given unto them authority over the fourth part of earth, to kill with
sword and with famine, and with death.
Revelation,
Chapter 6
The
above quotation serves a compositional function in the source text. The style
of the author in quoting the scriptural verse is also very significant. Indeed,
key in the novel are among others discourses on war, hunger and death, to which
the above scriptural allusion refers. The verse from the book of Revelation
thus serves a foreshadowing role in the novel: the implied war for independence
as well as the World Wars (embodied by Abdulla, Nyakinyua’s husband etc.), the
crippling drought and hunger in Ilmorog that seems to be the co-driver of the
narration, and lastly, the death, not only of Mukami but also of the three
profiteers found burned in Ilmorog. The discourses around these narrate the end
of ‘old’ Ilmorog and the beginning of ‘new’ Ilmorog; the same role that the
book of Revelation achieves for the Christian faith. The message, to use a
biblical allusion, is that all have been judged and those found wanting – in
the newly independent Kenya, that is Chui, Mzigo and Kimeria will die. They are
those whose judgment as the selfish profiteers from the newly independent state
will lead to death by fire.
In Land der flammenden
Bluten, the translation reads:
Und ich
sah, und siehe, ein weißes Pferd. Und der
darauf
saß, hatte einen Bogen, und ihm ward gegeben
eine
Krone, und er zog aus sieghaft und daß er siegte...
Und es
ging heraus ein anderes Pferd, das war feuerrot.
Und dem,
der darauf saß, ward gegeben, den Frieden
zu
nehmen von der Erde und daß sie sich untereinander
erwürgten,
und ihm ward ein groß Schwert gegeben...
Und ich
sah, und siehe, ein schwarzes Pferd. Und der
darauf
saß, hatte eine Waage in seiner Hand....
Und ich
sah und siehe, ein fahles Pferd. Und der
darauf
saß, des Name hieß Tod... Und ihnen ward Macht
gegeben
über den vierten Teil der Erde, zu töten
mit dem
Schwert und Hunger und Tod.
Offenbarung des Johannes
6. Kapitel
Josef
Zimmering in his East German translation sees a stylistic feature of the
quotation rather than the compositional feature. He therefore rewrites the
Bible verse as a poem of four stanzas. The effort of the translator to group
the lines together and strive to create a rhyme suggests an ideology rooted in
socialism. The symbolic message of each individual line is discarded and
replaced with a symbolic message of group of lines. Also, this translator
employs a dynamic method in that he does not resolve in replacing the Bible
verse with its equivalent in the German Bible. He rather rewrites the Bible
verse into a poem. On the other hand, Susanne Koehler, the West German
translator translates the verse as follows:
Und ich
sah, und siehe, ein weißes Pferd. Und der darauf saß hatte einen Bogen, und ihm
ward gegeben eine Krone, und er zog aus sieghaft und dass er siegte...
Und es
ging heraus ein anderes Pferd, das war feuerrot.
Und dem,
der darauf saß, ward gegeben, den Frieden zu nehmen von der Erde und dass sie
sich untereinander erwürgten, und ihm ward ein großes Schwert gegeben...
Und ich
sah, und siehe, ein schwarzes Pferd. Und der darauf saß, hatte eine Waage in
der Hand...
Und ich
sah, und siehe, ein fahles Pferd. Und der daraus saß, des Name hieß Tod...
Und
ihnen ward Macht gegeben über den vierten Teil der Erde, zu töten mit dem
Schwert und Hunger und Tod.
Offenbarung
des Johannes
The
West German translator manifests the influence of Western ideology through the
recognition of the importance and symbolic meaning of each individual line of
the verse as represented by the author in the source text. It is also observed
that this translator quotes from the German version of the Bible (Lutherbibel
1912). Such a decision to make use of an equivalent from the existing German
version of the Bible suggest her attempt to replicate the author’s work since
the author also quotes verbatim from the King James Version of the Bible. This
also points at the place the Christian religion holds in West Germany during
the period of translation. Zimmering the first translator, however, uses his
own words in translating the bible verse. Consequently, this may be interpreted
to “indicate the degree of his […] identification with the European institution
and its ideology”[27]. The
socialist institutions of the East German state and their unwelcoming attitude
to religion are thus seen accommodated in this translation strategy. An over
familiarity with the scriptures is, however, observed in the second translation
considering the fact that the second translator omits the translation of
“Chapter 6” in her version. While the first translator translates the author’s
quotation “Revelation Chapter 6” in full as “Offenbarung des Johannes 6.
Kapitel”, the second translator only writes “Offenbarung des Johannes”.
In
the next example, we see Munira writing his prison notes. He thinks Wanja the
prostitute to be seductress. He thinks of delivering Abdulla, Karega and
himself from the power of the seductress. Therefore, he writes, “Get thee
behind me, Satan” (POB 45). The
quotation above is from Matthew 16: 23 where Jesus referred to Peter as Satan
tempting him with his words. The same could be said of Munira’s reference to
Wanja in this context. While the East German translator reverts to use his own
words in replicating the text in German – “Verschwinde hinter mir Satan” (LDFB 69) –, the West German translator
resorts to quoting from the Schlachter 2000 Bible: “Weiche von mir Satan” (VB 86). The author here by quoting
exactly from the Bible tries to emphasize the magnitude of Munira’s belief in
the Bible, which forms part of his character and by extension the basis of his
conflict. The East German translation, therefore, misses out on this critical
aspect of Ngugi’s deployment of biblical allusions and quotations in the novel:
that some of the characters’ sensibilities are conflicted especially because of
the duality of their Christian upbringing in a society trying to dismantle the
colonial power structures of which Christianity was part and parcel of.
Towards
the end of the story, when Munira discovered Karega meeting with Wanja in her
hut, he thought also of delivering Karega from Wanja’s embrace. A voice then
spoke to him “She is Jezebel” (POB 332),
referencing the story of Jezebel, the wicked wife of king Ahab who paints her
face in order to seduce men, which can be found in the book of 1st
and 2nd Kings in the Old Testament of the Bible. She is also a
symbol of seduction in the book of Revelation. The German translation of the
name Jezebel is “Isebel”. While the East German version reads “Sie ist Isebel”
(She is Jezebel) LDFB 408, the West
German version reads “Sie ist Beelzebub” (She is Beelzebub) VB 569, harking back to Beelzebub the
prince of demons (the full account of which can be found in the Bible in Luke
11: 14 – 15). Both translations foreground different aspects of Ngugi’s
aesthetics of biblical appropriation: the East German translation, in employing
Baker’s[28]
translation strategies of implied meaning, looks at the delivered connotations
of Jezebel/Isebel as “a cheap harlot, scheming, promiscuous, a female gigolo, a
biblical queen, evil and treacherous, wicked, wild, uninhibited, cute, happy,
slinky, powerful, calculating, ambitious, ruthless and self-centred”[29] and
a woman of the world (considering that the biblical Jezebel was not a native of
Israel), characteristics that seem to be associated with Wanja by different
characters in the novel. The West German translation of Jezebel as “Beelzebub”
indicates an awareness of the extensive biblical intertextuality inherent in
Ngugi’s works and thus translating this intertextual element within the context
of the larger source corpus. Venuti[30]
describes this kind of scenario as the intertextual relation that exists
between the translation and other texts, whether written in the translating
language or in a different one. Further, this strategy of both translators in
putting Wanja – Jezebel – within existing discourses surrounding the
construction of the woman within and without the biblical intertext is a “part
repetition” and “part recreation” which allows for a de-contextualization and
detachment of the intertext from its own context and placement in a new
socio-historical context[31].
Wanja thus becomes both a Jezebel, i.e. adulteress/prostitute and outsider as
well as Beelzebub, i.e. demon/god and outsider (Beelzebub being both a demon
and a philistine god). As Farahzad[32]
further notes, the “movement from one context to another assigns new
intertextual properties to it by relating it to the discursive practices of the
society it enters”. In both cases, the biblical and/or intertextual allusion is
not lost on either of the translators, even as both try to remain true to the
ideologically underlying notions of religious openness in the West German State
or irreligiousness in East Germany.
Another
allusion to a Bible passage could be found in the story where Munira’s desire
for Wanja seem uncontrollable. Therefore, his mood was changing between reality
and fantasy in a particular night when he was thinking of approaching Wanja
with his desires. He felt so overwhelmed that he prayed saying “…ah, that this
cup would soon be over” (POB 35),
alluding to Jesus’ prayer to the Father when he was about to suffer and die in
Matthew 26: 39 (KJV): “And He went a little further and fell on His face and
prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me….”
The symbolic reference to this verse in the story is the metaphoric use of the
word “cup”. In the Lutherbibel, the sentence reads: “so gehe dieser Kelch an
mir vorüber” (Matthew 26: 39). The East German translator, ignoring the
symbolic import of the word “cup”, translates the sentence as “…ach wenn es
doch bloß bald vorbei wäre” (LDFB 54).
This solution in this version could also be explained in terms of the
irreligiousness stemming out of the socialist ideology of the East at that
time. This decontextualization of the intertextual reference, however, sees
Ngugi’s aesthetic import, especially his banalization of the scripture – the
parodical comparison of Munira’s lusty weakness to Jesus’ impending betrayal
and death – literally lost in translation. The symbolic nature of this biblical
allusion is apparent, especially since the term was not only used in Jesus’
prayer but also in describing the type of suffering the disciples would suffer
like Jesus did. The story behind this can be seen in Matthew 20: 22 and Mark
10: 38 where Jesus says to James and John: “Are ye able to drink the cup that I
drink?” The West German translator, however, is not oblivious of the symbolic
allusion of the word “cup” to the Bible in this context of the novel.
Therefore, she resorts to using exactly the same word for “cup” as found in the
German Bible: ‘… oh, dass dieser Kelch schnell vorüberginge” VB 68. The use of the equivalent “Kelch”
(cup) as against other options like “Tasse”, “Becher” or “Pokal” suggests the
foregrounding of biblical imagery in this translation.
Mixed Quotations
What
is meant by mixed quotations is the mixture of the author’s own words with
Bible passages or the usage of biblical speech patterns and vocabularies for
quotations which cannot actually be found in the Bible. In the case of mixed
quotations in the source text, the author Ngugi employs this strategy to a
large extent in his work. Such a strategy is another of Ngugi’s sublime means
of applying biblical intertexts in his works. For example, the following
passages from the source text read:
And
Jesus told them: Go ye unto the villages and dark places of the earth and light
my lamp paraffined with the holy spirit. So be it. Aamen. (POB 16)
Yes.
Many were the times I used to think that I could hear a Lamb’s voice calling me
across a deep deep valley: come unto me, all ye that are lonely, and I’ll give
you the final rest…. (POB 40)
In
the close examination of the two different translations of these mixed
quotations, we discovered that the cognition of the translators rather than the
political ideologies of the two states influenced the translations. The
equivalents of the above texts are as follows:
Und
Jesus sprach zu ihnen: Gehet hin in die Dörfer und finstern Orte der Erde und
entzündet ihnen mein vom Heiligen Geiste gespeistes Licht. So sei es. Aamen!
(LDFB
27)
Und
Jesus sagte zu ihnen: Geht in die Dörfer und an die dunklen Orte dieser Erde
und zündet mein Licht an, erleuchtet durch den Heiligen Geist. So sei es.
Aamen.
(VB
35)
Ja.
Viele Male dachte ich, ich könnte eines Lammes Stimme durch ein tiefes, tiefes
Tal mir zurufen hören: Kommt zu mir, die ihr allein seid, und ich werde euch
die ewige Ruhe schenken... (LDFB 62)
Ja, sehr
oft vermeinte ich die Stimme eines Lammes zu hören, das mich über ein tiefes,
tiefes Tal zu sich rief: Kommt her zu mir, alle, die ihr einsam seid, ich will
euch die ewige Ruhe geben... (VB 77)
Ngugi makes two references in
these two excerpts that seem to have been ignored by the two translators: the
first one refers to Stanley’s Through the Dark Continent (1878), which
grounded the later references of Africa as ‘the dark continent’ and which Ngugi
also sublimely references in “the villages and the dark places of the earth”.
In this reference Ngugi further alludes to the stated holy Christian mission of
the early Europeans to Africa in general. The density of intertextuality in
that quotation seem to have been ignored by both translators, whose
translations can in no way be interpreted to unravel the above stated aspects.
The West German translation, however, may allow for an intertextual connection
to be made through the use of “dunkel” – which allow for associations to
‘darkness’ and ‘unenlightened’, etc. – as opposed to Zimmerings use of
“finster”. The second quotation alludes to the biblical Mathew 11:28: “Come
unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”.
While Ngugi talks about “final rest”, the two translations refer to “ewige
Ruhe” which is “everlasting rest”. Both translations seem to have missed the
context of this ironically applied biblical allusion, as it relates to Wanja’s
despair after her abuse at the hands of the older Kimeria and her desire for a
‘final rest’ in death. The use of the “Lamb” gives them the pointer to the
biblical intertext, but they miss out on the seeming challenge thrown at
Ngugi’s idea of the Christian god’s inability to offer succour to the
destitute, in effect questioning the tenets of Christianity.
Such variance in translating
mixed quotations is observed further in the following:
„… out of the mouth of babes,
saith the Lord“ (POB 296)
„Durch
den Mund der Kindlein spricht der Herr“ (LDFB 417)
„Aus dem
Mund der Unmündigen und Kinder, sagt der Herr“ (VB 509)
In
the above example, the author speaks of “babes” and not “babes and minor” as
can be observed in the second translation into German. Here the second
translator overtranslates by practically adopting the existing version of the
biblical allusion from the German Bible. Dynamic method of translation can be
observed in the West German translation in the following example as well:
„How could he so put the fear
of the Lord into them?” (POB 168).
„wie
konnte er ihnen solche Fürcht vor dem Herrn einfloßen?“ (LDFB 240).
„Wie
gelang es ihm, sie so einzuschüchtern?“ (VB 293).
In the above example, the
author uses the idiomatic expression “to put the fear of the Lord into
someone”. This is not a purely biblical allusion, even though it refers to
Fraudsham who is the Christian missionary representative in Siriana. While the
East German translator overlooks this fact and renders his translation in a
biblical language, the West German translator translates the sentence
dynamically as “How was he able to intimidate them?”, which corresponds to the
German equivalent of that idiomatic expression.
While direct quotations may
call for a straight-forward look through the German Bible for an equivalent, it
is worth noting that indirect quotes and allusions are also common in Ngugi’s
novel and a reader may encounter ideological differences that seem difficult to
reconcile through translation. As Fang[33]
notes
a biblical allusion in a
foreign text is not precisely rendered by an allusion to the same passage from
a Bible translation in the translating language. The allusion in the foreign
text may well construct an intertextual relation to a version that, given the
cultural importance of the Bible, has accumulated meanings, values, and
functions which cannot be recreated merely by inserting an allusion to a Bible
translation in a different language.
The cultural intertexts upon
which the biblical allusions are imposed thus present hurdles that neither a
purely linguistics competence nor ideological leaning or textual familiarity
with the Bible can resolve. And this leads to the appropriation of biblical
intertextual elements with influences from ideological and cognitive tendencies
of the translators.
A
translation is a compromise: between intertexts (in this case the ones from the
Bible) as well as ideologies and cognition. Ngugi’s works with his censure of
the complicity of Christianity with empire, colonialism and conquest of the
African continent, his “appropriation and recontextualization of Biblical
narratives and symbols”[34] in
his novels as well as the sublime nature of his biblical intertexts
significantly problematize this compromise. As in Ngugi’s other novels, notably
A Grain of Wheat[35] but
also in Devil on the Cross, Matigari as well as in Wizard of the Crow[36] the
biblical intertext is constitutive and, as has been noted above, performs a
compositional function. The aim of this study, therefore, has been to evaluate
the appropriation of intertextual elements from the Bible in the two German
translations of Ngugi’s Petals of Blood.
Intertexts from the Bible serving as the universal intertextual resource for
works of literature has been studied in European cultures and their
translations. This is, however, not the case in the context of African
literatures and their translations particularly into German. We began on the
premise that Ngugi’s “transgressive re-inscription” of the Bible would present
a challenge while being re-appropriated back into the western tradition through
translations into German. It is worth noting the following as the key causes of
difficulty in translating Ngugi’s works into the two German editions: First,
Ngugi’s biblical allusions are already toned by the local cultural intertexts
accompanying them in the novel and are thus ‘ridges’ apart from any equivalent
the translators may find. Second, the Marxist critical lens through which Ngugi
chooses to look at the whole postcolonial condition means that aspects of his
Marxist criticism might not find adequate reflection in a text being produced
for a capitalist society as the West Germany is. Third, the postcolonial
context and discourses within which Ngugi wrote the novel additionally
alienated the biblical intertexts to a point that any attempts at finding a
compromise through translation for a western target audience proved cumbersome,
inadequate and often problematic.
Arguing
for a functionalist motive behind the two translations, the concept of
appropriation was employed for the analysis in the study considering the role
of the translators in the context of the different ideologies in Germany at
time of the production of the two target texts. The different translations
which were brought about from the different ideologies of the East and West
German states (1949 – 1990) exhibit influences of the translation commission.
This, however, does not nullify the fact that the cognitive role of the
translators also came into play in the process of translation. In all, however,
it has been observed that despite the different strategies employed by the
translators, there is a “full” or “partial” loss of intertextuality and
aesthetic intent in the target texts. And this is in congruence with the claim
of Klimovich[37].
What, however, makes the case of African literature unique is the fact that
intertexts from the Bible are easier to be recognized by the Western translator
and can, therefore, be more intentionally appropriated in the target texts.
Intentionality on the part of the translator in this case is paramount.
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[4] Anonby, J. “Theological Reflections on the Novels of
Ngugi wa Thiongo”. East Africa Journal of Evangelical Theology, (2018).
[5] Anonby, J. “Theological Reflections on the Novels of
Ngugi wa Thiongo”, 18.
[6] Van Vuuren, M. “Kihika’s Bible: The recontextualisation
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10.1080/18125441.2017.1404626.
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[9] Aschroft, B. et al. The Empire
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[10] The Empire Writes Back,
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[11] The Empire Writes Back, 38.
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[25]
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[27] Cunico, S. & Munday, J.
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[28] Baker, M. In other
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[29] Stark, S.G. & Van Deventer, H.J.M.
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68) DOI: 10.4102/ve.v30i2.301.
[30]
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[31] Farahzad, F. “Translation as an
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127) DOI: 10.1080/09076760802547462.
[32] Farahzad, F. “Translation as an Intertextual Practice”,
127.
[33] Fang, Y. “Ideology of Translation vs
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[37] Klimovich, N. “Phenomenon of Intertextuality in
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