Translation and migration : the representation of objects in Lou Drofenik’s Birds of Passage

Abstract

This dissertation explores the intersection of translation and migration through an analysis of the role of objects in Lou Drofenik’s novel Birds of Passage. More specifically, the research questions include identifying the role and representation of the objects mentioned in the novel, as well as the effects brought about by the objects. Drawing on the theoretical framework of translationality as developed by Piotr Blumczynski and M. Carmen África Vidal Claramonte, the study examines how material objects function as carriers of cultural memory, identity, and linguistic negotiation in the context of migration. Selected extracts from the novel are translated from English into Maltese to foreground issues related to cultural specificity and the transference of meaning. The study demonstrates the way that objects are represented in the translational journey, by taking into account their symbolic features, cultural references and the way the migrant experience adds on to the experience of translationality. Particular attention is given to culture-specific items and their narrative significance, illuminating the ways in which translation becomes a dynamic process embedded in the migrant experience. This research contributes to the fields of literary translation and migration studies by highlighting the translational function of objects as both symbolic and communicative agents in literary translation.