THE MEANS OF TRANSLATING THE TROPES IN THE FANTASY NOVEL “THE HOBBIT, OR THERE AND BACK AGAIN” INTO UKRAINIAN

Abstract

The article investigates the translation transformations used by the translator Olexandr Mokrovolskyi to render the imagery and stylistic means of expression in the first translation into Ukrainian of the novel “The Hobbit, or There and Back Again” by the British author John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. The choice of the literature work for the study is determined by high popularity of fantasy fiction among the readers of all ages worldwide at the present time. This novel, published in 1937 and gained popularity since the 60-ies of the twentieth century, is one of the most significant for the development of fantasy fiction in the following decades as well as the epic trilogy “The Lord of the Rings” by the same author, the stories about Conan the Barbarian by the American writer Robert Ervin Howard and the series of novels “The Chronicles of Narnia” by the British writer Clive Staples Lewis. The novel “The Hobbit, or There and Back Again” is full of various author's stylistic devices and expressive means, but the article focuses on the means of translation of three most commonly used tropes, such as epithet, metaphor and simile. Some kinds of grammatical, lexical-grammatical, lexical-semantic, lexical-stylistic transformations used by the translator are described in the article.