Translation by Addition as a Tool of Unveiling the Discursive Identity of the Translator in the Initial Rendering of Mikhail Lermontov’s “A Hero of Our Time” Into French

This article explores how translation transforms the original text and reveals the translator’s individual style and discursive identity. The main goal of the study is to find, describe, and analyze semantically significant lexical additions used in translation, explaining subjective meanings that are not present in the original text. The empirical data for this study comes from the first translation of M. Yu. Lermontov’s novel “A Hero of Our Time” into French. This translation was published in the literary section of the Parisian newspaper “La Démocratie pacifique, journal des intérêts des gouvernements et des peuples.” The translator was Alexey Arkadyevich Stolypin (1816–1858), a contemporary and relative of the author. The article uses a descriptive method, combined with semantic, functional, contextual, comparative, and quantitative analyses. The back translation technique is also applied to enhance the presentation and analysis of the data. The study shows that translational additions have a strong anthropocentric character, divided into two main typological groups: the translator’s subjective judgments and various factual information, mainly about the characters of the novel. The prevalence of the first group demonstrates A.A. Stolypin’s communicatively active position, addressing both the French-speaking and Russian-speaking readers. The results of the study suggest that semantically significant translational additions are potential indicators of not only the translator’s individual style but also their discursive identity and professional competence. This article contributes to a deeper understanding of the complexities of translation and its role in shaping the subjective aspects of the translated text.

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