Authors

Discussion

This research explores the complex dynamics of translation and linguistic creativity in the Hungarian renditions of James Joyce’s Ulysses, with a special focus on the intertextual and cultural references embedded within the novel. Central attention is given to the creative strategies employed by Miklós Szentkuthy, the second Hungarian translator of Ulysses, whose version exhibits an idiosyncratic mixture of fidelity and innovation.

The project investigates how intertextual references – particularly those to Shakespeare – are rendered, adapted, or reimagined in the Hungarian target text. By systematically cataloguing and analyzing these instances in a dedicated digital database, the research identifies patterns of translational behavior that reveal the tension between literalness and creativity. The collected data include precise locations of Shakespearean references, their linguistic reformulations, and the degree to which translators acknowledge or conceal the intertextual source.

The study further situates Szentkuthy’s translation within a broader theoretical framework that examines questions of translatability, wordplay, and the limits of equivalence. English wordplay in Ulysses often resists straightforward translation, yet Hungarian translators, especially Szentkuthy, frequently compensate through inventive lexical choices, cultural reinterpretation, and stylistic ingenuity. The analysis asks: to what extent can the semantic richness, rhythm, and wit of Joyce’s language be maintained? What happens when a seemingly minor play of words, later revealed to be thematically central, is lost or transformed in translation? 

Through this inquiry, the research aims to contribute to translation theory by demonstrating how creative adaptation can function as a form of literary authorship. The findings suggest that translational creativity does not merely mitigate loss but can also generate new interpretive layers that enrich the reception of Joyce’s work in the Hungarian literary context.