Critics

Critics

Łucja Biel, A Cognitive Analysis of Distance in Language. A Case Study of Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day and its Polish Translation U schyłku dnia by Jan Rybicki. MA thesis, Jagiellonian University, 1998 (Prof. E. Tabakowska).

Final remarks: The comparison of the images of the English and the Polish Stevens

The analysis of the selected aspects of Stevens’s language has shown that it is underlined by the notion of distance which contributes to his overall image.

First, the English Stevens is concerned with preserving social distance towards his interlocutors. His language is formal and mimics the speech of those whom he serves. He, however, makes several grammatical mistakes which show his true social origin. Those who are higher in the hierarchy recognize his mistakes while those Stevens might consider his equal perceive his language as too inflated and not inviting to getting involved in any informal relations.

The latter consequence is further strengthened by Stevens’s forms of address which signal and maintain the respectful distance between him and his interlocutors: his father and Miss Kenton. The narrator employs the formal register, which shows that he is polite and careful at observing conventions. It functions as a defensive device in that it provides a face-saving line of escape both for Stevens and his interlocutors. Though it also shows that his relations with them are strictly professional.

Furthermore, in the original Stevens employs the epistemic distance which indicates that he is constantly on the defensive. It shows his insecurity and lack of confidence. Thus, he employs devices that give him an ‘out’, for example: the one construction, the passive voice and hedges. Thus, one and the passive move the speaker into the ground and turn attention away from him. One and hedges can mark Stevens’s doubts as to what he says (passages 9.E. and 13.E.) and the latter allow Stevens a degree of imprecision, which is self-protective in that he can avoid responsibility by shifting it to the hearer or some unspecified people. Hedges and formal register also show some manipulation on the part of the speaker (passage 13.E.), and thus they allow for self-deception.

The notion of distance has not been rendered equivalently in the Polish version. As a result, the image of the narrator changes and he emerges as a different person. First of all, the language of the Polish Stevens is less formal and therefore it signals smaller social distance between interlocutors. The narrator’s mistakes are not rendered (example 2.P.) and thus his true social origins are not exposed.

Stevens does not maintain the respectful distance towards Miss Kenton, either. Although he addresses her more formally than in the original, he is capable of making strong accusations where the English Stevens is oblique and extensively polite. As a result, Rybicki’s Stevens appears as not concerned about maintaining conventions. Furthermore, the introduction of expressions marked as colloquial implies lack of respect on his part (see examples 3.P. and 4.P.) rather than lack of intimacy. As a consequence, it offends the hearer and Stevens is not so oblique or reserved.

The narrator’s degree of epistemic distance towards his messages is also different. The Polish version offers stronger epistemic commitment and thus implies that the speaker takes more responsibility. It is evident, for example, in the rendering of one as ja, which puts the speaker on-stage and directs attention to him. The Polish Stevens is often more suggestive (examples 13.P, 14.P and 15.P.). He does not offer an ‘out’ to the hearer. In the English version Stevens does not impose his opinions overtly: he merely asks for understanding (15.E.) while in the Polish version he requires it on the part of the reader. As a result, Rybicki’s Stevens is not so often on the defensive.

In the examples analyzed, the higher degree of distance was achieved only through the no/to construction, which was consistent with the overall construal of Stevens and with the polite forms of address, which are coded differently in Polish. This, however, does not compensate for the changes in the image of Stevens resulting from the non-equivalent rendering of other aspects of his language.