Parallel corpora in the theory and practice of literary translation

This article is about the use of corpus linguistics tools and methodologies in the description and practice of literary translation, focusing on parallel corpora. A typology of corpora - and more specifically -of parallel corpora, is presented and discussed in a translation-driven perspective. The process of alignment, i.e. the pairing of source and target segments in parallel corpora, is seen as a necessary step for any investigation, as the usefulness of parallel corpora depends mostly on the ability to search for and retrieve paired translation units. Parallel corpora can help investigating literary translation in a number of ways. Examples are provided of some types of investigations which can be carried out using corpora. Parallel corpora are compared and contrasted to translation memories, which are used in technical translation and localization. Finally, some examples of the use of parallel corpora in the practice of literary translation are presented, based on the Rushdie English Italian parallel corpus, which the author constructed as a resource both for descriptive and theoretical studies and as an aid in the translation of a then untranslated (in Italian) novel by the British author, Grimus.