ABSTRACT
In the light of major developments in translation studies in the last fifteen years it is now possible to analyse literary translations not only in relation to source literatures/literary systems, but more importantly, in relation to target literatures/literary systems.2 Target-orientated analyses, of a descriptive rather than prescriptive kind, are necessarily linked to the recognition of the importance of historical and functional studies of translations. It has been seen that the systems theory, originating from the works of Tynianov and Jakobson in the 1920s, then re-worked and formulated in terms of a 'polysystem' theory by Even-Zohar in the 1970s (Even-Zohar 1978a: 1979) can serve as the basic framework for such studies. To put it briefly, the poly system theory conceives of literature as a dynamic structure, a system of multiple systems, of which the various strata are in a state of permanent opposition and conflict (as may be seen in the tensions between literary types and models of canonized/official/ high status and those of non-canonized/unofficial/popular status) and are consequently subject to shifts in position. In the context of this theory,
wasmainlythroughthemediumofprose,especiallyjournalisticproseand worksforthetheatre,thattranslatedliteraturesucceededinmakingits wayfromtheperipherytowardsthecentreofthepolysystem.
