HUMOR U AUTOSTOPERSKOM VODIČU KROZ GALAKSIJU DAGLASA ADAMSA

Abstract

In this paper we will present on a smaller scope the different ways that stars, planets and the whole cosmos were named within The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. The central part of this paper is the comparative analysis of humor in the original text and its Serbian translation with the aim to highlight the unconventional humor that consists of numerous satirical remarks on global industrialization, belief in God, poetry, bureaucracy, consumerism and mankind in general. Our primary tasks are: 1) to observe in what ways the author approaches these serious topics via a “light-hearted” form, whereby humor is not a typical characteristic of traditional science fiction; 2) to analyze whether something that is “humorous” in the English language is necessarily “humorous” in the Serbian language and how these humorous effects are produced; 3) to contemplate how an entertaining and funny point of view can be the most effective way to express the criticism of dominant structures of power and the underlying myths. Through the comparative approach we have come to the conclusion that the successful instances of translation keep the elements of the writer’s aesthetic and poetics, which suggests that the method of faithful translation has an advantage over free translation.