The case of Natascha Wodin's autobiographical novels

a corpus-stylistics approach

Marion Winters

pp. 145-166

in: Jean Boase-Beier, Lina Fisher, Hiroko Furukawa (eds), The Palgrave handbook of literary translation, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018

Abstract

In this chapter Winters explores the usefulness of corpus linguistics methodologies for analyzing literary texts and their translations. The case study is based on two autobiographical novels by Natascha Wodin and their translations into English by two different translators. A corpus-based analysis of these texts has been carried out with a largely data-driven approach, revealing stylistic differences in lexical and syntactical creativity. This chapter focuses on the latter, addressing, in particular, sentence structure, punctuation and repetition. These stylistic features impact on the way the autobiographical I is being portrayed in the text. On the basis of an interview with the author, discussions of mind-style and narratives shed further light on the effects of the stylistic differences that emerged from the corpus linguistic analysis.

Cited authors

Wodin Natascha