Exploring Spanish-English translation through conceptual metaphor components: A case study based on The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes and its translators

This case study applies a multidisciplinary approach to explore real discourse^{1} in translation from a linguistic and literary perspective. The selected approach involves comparing the two translations of La muerte de Artemio Cruz, by Carlos Fuentes, published in English under the title The Death of Artemio Cruz. The criterion of linguistic deviation between the two translated texts is combined in this study with the literary use of metaphors in Fuentes’s novel in order to focus on the study of metaphors of deep significance both in the original and in the translation solutions proposed, and thereby explore what they say about translation and translators. Cognitive models are applied to the analysis of the fragments identified, in order to explore the role played by different metaphor components, as defined by Zoltán Kövecses; the aim is to determine the ways in which such components underpin and can help identify translation solutions based on language and translation features that convey culture-specific elements, and also to determine the extent to which they reveal the translator’s presence. Applying conceptual metaphor theory allows us to see in a more concrete way abstract elements conveyed through translation. Image schemas, in particular, which are dynamic spatial patterns such as path and container that give basic structure to our experiences and knowledge, provide a “more concrete” tool which allows us to visualize aspects transferred between languages and cultures that reveal the translator’s presence in the text. This multidisciplinary approach, although not systematic in a strict sense (because it does not set out to identify all metaphors and the corresponding components present in the selected text and translations), proves helpful in proposing translation procedures that go beyond the very general solutions proposed previously based on translating metaphors from the source language into the “same” or “different” metaphors or mappings in the target language. This new approach, with its focus on more concrete and basic structures, can provide the basis for a more objective methodology in the field of metaphor translation