Humor is in the air: Comparative analysis of idiom-based wordplays in literary texts

Abstract

In this article, we discuss the translation of wordplays generated from idioms in literary texts, by means of Veisbergs’ ideas (1997). We analyze excerpts translated from English into Brazilian Portuguese, in seven different renderings of Looking through the mirror (Carroll) and The Picture of Dorian Gray (Wilde), aiming to verify how the wordplays were created, and, afterwards, translated, considering their stylistic, idiomatic and pragmatic nature. Our results demonstrate the prevalence of equivalent idiom transformation, loan translation, and analogue idiom transformation. In conclusion, the translators somehow tried to preserve the wordplays and their effect; however, some solutions showed lower degrees of idiomaticity and naturalness.