CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARATIVE METHOD IN THE LITERARY TRANSLATION OF IVAN FRANKO’S WORKS

This article analyses the concepts of the cross-cultural approach and cultural transfer as the foundations of comparative studies in literary translation. It defines the relationship between the ethical and the emic, where the ethical is universal while the emic is culture-specific, and states that ‘cross-cultural’ is a concept that refers to interaction, comparison or influence between two or more different cultures. The cross-cultural approach allows us to focus on recognising differences in values, norms, behaviour and communication between cultural groups, as well as identifying ways to bridge these differences for effective interaction and mutual understanding; in other words, the term is used to compare cultures, where one culture may serve as the ‘norm’, the reference point, for analysing others, but without collective transformations, relying instead on individual changes. This study demonstrates that the cross-cultural approach differs from multiculturalism and interculturalism, representing a contemporary alternative and complement to classical comparative studies, as cultural transfer focuses on ‘dynamic processes’, shifts, transformations and the hybridisation of elements. The article also highlights the reciprocal nature of cultural influence, as it is not only the ‘influencing’ culture that changes the ‘receiving’ culture, but rather the opposite, with mutual transformations taking place — that is, the correlation and interaction between the ethical and the emic — whilst emphasising the priority of the periphery of the cultural space, where national phenomena are viewed not as ‘pure’, but as the result of a complex interplay of influences: the periphery is understood not as a marginal zone, but as a cultural space where the fusion of different cultures is a relatively new and relevant phenomenon for contemporary comparative studies. This article analyses excerpts from I. Franko’s works translated into English by Vira Rich, which are among the most successful for an English-speaking audience thanks to a balance of strategies, so they can be regarded as a successful example of intercultural dialogue, enabling the English-speaking world to become acquainted with Ukraine’s intellectual heritage, demonstrating that biblical motifs in Frank’s work are not merely religious, but deeply philosophical and national in nature. At the same time, the translation demonstrates how the strategy of ‘moderate domestication’ helps to overcome cultural barriers without completely losing the ‘foreign’ element — ‘foreignisation’. The analysis, conducted using a cross-cultural approach, demonstrates how translation becomes an act of cultural transfer, and how I. Franko’s text, originally rooted in the context of the Ukrainian struggle for identity, takes on a new life within the English literary system.