Popular Culture Review 30.1
passage where the pilot Wade Cooper is talking about how he once , against orders , had carried out a one-man attack on a Japanese target . This attack is described as a heroic accomplishment in all of the three translations , but the heroic part is somewhat toned down in the Swedish translation , whereas the fact that it was carried out against orders is emphasized . After having told Cherry about this heroic accomplishment , Cooper then brags about it . This passage is omitted from the Swedish translation : “ I guess I was something of a smart aleck . Jeepers , what a time I had for myself ! When you fly one of those high-powered bombers , why , you ’ re just sitting there with a thousand horses in your lap and a feather in your tail ” ( 8 ). In fact , Cooper ’ s easy-going way of describing this accomplishment is almost stronger in the Norwegian target text . In the source text , Cooper speaks of the attack in an easy-going manner and that he had a good time bombing Japanese targets alone in his airplane , but he admits that he was a smart aleck then , implying to the reader that things might be different now . In the Norwegian translation , “ smart aleck ” is translated to “ fin fyr ” ( 10 ), indicating that he was a “ good man ” in doing this .
There are also other passages in the novel where people nonchalantly talk about the war that have been omitted from the Swedish target text . When Cherry and her friends arrive in England in Flight Nurse , they are ordered to work in a military hospital rather than flying to the front and hauling wounded soldiers as they had hoped . They make moping comments about having “ crossed an ocean merely to help out on a ward ” ( 40 ). These comments have been omitted from the Swedish target text , resulting in a translation that makes Cherry and her friends appear more serious and less “ belligerent ” than in the source text and the Norwegian target text . As compensation for not being allowed to fly , Cherry and her friends are al-
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