A Case-Study of Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth: Translating Portnoy’s Complaint with the aid of analysis

Abstract

A major issue when it comes to translation is the problem of stylistics. Literary works and their specific style can, and often do, pose a problem when it comes to translation, as a novel’s specific stylistic characteristics can be difficult to recreate in a target language. Portnoy’s Complaint, written by critically acclaimed author Philip Roth, is no exception when it comes to stylistic problems (1969). This thesis explores different aspects of Portnoy's Complaint with their regard to translation problems; style and stylistics, Judaism, culture specific items, and coarse langauge and taboo.