Nothing Really Mattress: Kafka, Camus, and Importance of Translations

Analyzing translations of the first sentence in Franz Kafka's novella Metamorphosis by looking at diction (connotation/denotation), syntax, imagery/details, structure, and other stylist/figurative elements:

Original: Als Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen Träumen erwachte, fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem ungeheuren Ungeziefer verwandelt.

Translation #1: As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.

• Diction: 'awoke', 'uneasy', and 'transformed' are uncommon conversational words, so they create a more formal tone; 'found himself' suggests surprise
• Syntax: sentence is arranged in chronological order; seems to go from one event to the next; subject, verb, object
• Imagery/Details: a man waking up; nightmares; bed; giant, creepy insect to replace the man in the bed
• Structure: very orderly
• Other: Antecedent: introduces Gregor Samsa then uses 'he', 'himself', and 'his' referring to Gregor

#2: Gregory Samsa woke from uneasy dreams one morning to find himself changed into a giant bug.

• Diction: 'woke' and 'changed' are more casual words, so it creates a more casual tone
• Syntax: chronological; subject, verb, object
• Imagery/Details: a man waking up; nightmares; man surprised he changed into a giant bug; not many details
• Structure: factual; straight to the point
• Other: Anti-Climax: the event happens without anything leading up to it

#3:When Gregor Samsa awoke from troubled dreams one morning he found he had been transformed in his bed into an enormous bug.

• Diction: 'awoke', 'troubled', and 'transformed': more formal tone
• Syntax: chronological, subject, verb, object
• Imagery/Details:a man waking up, frazzled from bad dreams the night before, man transforms in his bed to become a bug
• Structure: a little odd; seems words were just thrown in in wrong places like 'in his bed' and 'one morning'
• Other: Suspense: he has been transformed into an enormous bug...What's going to happen next?

#4: One morning, upon awakening from agitated dreams, Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin.

• Diction: 'upon', 'awakening', 'agitated', 'vermin': more formal tone; 'monstrous' and 'vermin: negative, gross connotation
• Syntax:  object, verb, noun
• Imagery/Details: morning; sun; frustrated/angry/annoyed person waking up; the person is a man in his bed; man realizes he is actually a huge, ugly rat
• Structure: many pauses with commas; thrown in information
• Other: Epiphany: 'Gregor Samsa found himself...transformed into a monstrous vermin'; Gregor makes the realization that he is now a vermin

Literary devices play a huge role in the meaning of a text. Authors use everything from word choice to syntax to punctuation to imagery shift in order to get their point across. Looking at word choice, we can see how much of a difference this device made in Translation #4 by replacing the word 'bug' or 'insect' with 'vermin'. Immediately, the first image that popped into my head was of a large, disgusting, evil-looking rat instead of a huge, perhaps harmless 'bug'. Even between the words 'bug' and 'insect', I pictured something different. When I think of an 'insect', I think of a hairy, brown, antenna-y, leggy creepy crawly. Word choice in this example, especially, was an important part of the author's message. Syntax is the way the words are arranged in the sentence. This literary device makes a difference in the understanding of the text. The order in which an author talks about events affects which order the images appear in my head. The use of punctuation in texts can alter the whole meaning of the story. For example, commas and ellipsis can cause the audience to add dramatic pauses to the text while question marks obviously can cause the audience to wonder. Imagery shifts can be used to create chaos or confusion in a text. If the author wants the reader to feel overwhelmed by the story, imagery shifts would be a good way to cause this feeling. 

I really don't believe that there is one literary device out of these four that is the most important. I think each one contributes to the meaning of the story differently and allows the audience to understand it. When a few of these devices are paired together in a sentence or throughout a text, the effect is especially prevalent. This exercise definitely brings up the difficulty of reading translated texts. Since everyone has varied opinions, one person's perception of the text could not necessarily be what the author intended it to be. This would then affect the reader of a translated text and construe what they think the text means.