The Geranium of Zsófi Tímár in India

The Rewriting and Translation of Classics and Contemporary in the Course of Studying Hungarian

Abstract

The paper deals with the contemporary rewriting of Kálmán Mikszáth’s classical short story The Widowhood of Tímár Zsófi by Krisztina Tóth in The Geranium of Zsófi Tímár, that was part of the syllabus for the MA Russian students who specialized in Hungarian. The interpretation of Mikszáth’s short story, its Hindi translation and the analysis of narrative voice in both stories helped the students in the understanding and translation of Krisztina Tóth’s short story. The translation of Krisztina Tóth’s short story was prepared by a student in a way that the narrative, the impersonal voice of narration was maintained, but some details were added which were not easily understood because of the practice of textual reading and cultural context. Thus, the title, the relationship between Péter and Zsófi and Péter’s death got a different hue in the translation of the Indian student.