Effendi Kadarisman's Peksi Jiwa, A Jewel of Literary Transcreation

Abstract

Good literary translators satisfy readers’ demands for entertainment or moral teachings that originate from foreign texts, but more importantly, also provide the academia with valuable research data. Certain translation techniques and strategies that translators use when translating foreign literary pieces, with the addition historical background or social circumstances surrounding the translations can push outstanding literary translation projects into recognition and transform the translation into new pieces of literary work that equal or outshine the original work. Effendi Kadarisman’s Peksi Jiwa (1980), a Javanese poem that he freely translated from Emily Dickinson’s epic poem Hope is the thing with feathers (c.a., 1890) is a perfect example of this case. This article then initiates a broader translation analysis of this literary translation, armed with a knowledge Professor Kadarisman’s personal biographical background and character, with the goal of understanding Peksi Jiwa as a Javanese transcreation of a Emily Dickinson’s classic. The translation analysis reveals that Peksi Jiwa’s literary translation put into use remarkable elements of cultural and poetic considerations in process of translation, so much that in the end, it enables Peksi Jiwa to transcend from a mere Javanese translation into an exceptionally well written poem, worthy of its own merit. Thus, Peksi Jiwa becomes a transcreation of Emily Dickinson’s original poem.