Full Description
The linguistically innovative aspect of Francophone African literature has been recognized and studied from a variety of angles over recent decades, yet little attention has been paid to what happens to such literature when it is translated into another language. Taking as its corpus all sub-Saharan Francophone African texts that have ever been published in English, this book explores the ways in which translators approach innovative features such as African-language borrowings, neologisms and other deliberate manipulations of French, depictions of sociolinguistic variation, and a variety of types of wordplay. The implications of their translation decisions are drawn out with reference to the broader significances that are often accorded to postcolonial literature, and earlier critics' calls for a decolonized translation practice are explored from both a practical and theoretical angle. These findings are used to push towards a detailed investigation of the postcolonial turn in translation studies, drawing on the work of key postcolonial theorists such has Homi K. Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak.
This is a timely and incisive critical assessment of contemporary discourses on the ethics and politics of translation.
Contents
Decolonizing Translation: Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Francophone African Novels and Their Translation into English
Corpus Boundaries
- African
- Genre
Translation into English
- Index Translationum
- PEN/IRL Report on the International Situation of Literary Translation
Presence on the UK/US Book Markets
Themes of Translated Novels
Style in Translated Novels
Linguistic Innovation: Creativity or Corruption?
Linguistic Innovation in an African context
2. Linguistic Diversity and Polyglossia
References to Polyglossia in the Corpus Texts
Depicting Polyglossia and Linguistic Diversity
3. Visible Traces and Traces within Traces
Interpreting the Significance of Visible Traces
Translation of Visible Traces
- Simplification of Orthography
- Alterations to Typography
- Eliminations of Visible Traces
- Relocation of Glosses and Addition of Further Explanatory Material
- Omission of Glosses
Traces within Traces
Summary
4. Basilectal and Mesolectal French
Novels Set in the Colonial Era: français petit nègre
- Pidgin-for-pidgin (or Pseudo-pidgin for Pseudo-pidgin) Approaches
- Rendering petit nègre Using Inaccurate English
- Retaining French
- From Depiction to Description
- Evaluation of Translation Approaches to petit nègre
Basilectal French in Post-Independence Novels
- Rendering Basilectal Orthographical Variation with Orthographical Corruption in English
- Rendering Basilectal Variation in Standard English
- Retaining the French of the Original
- Summary of Translation Approaches to Basilectal French in Post-Independence Novels
Depicting Children's Language
- Translating Isolated Basilectal Expressions
- Re-creating Idiosyncratic Basilectal Styles
Mesolectal French
- Semantic Neologisms
- Borrowing
- Calqued Expressions
- Derivation
- Grammatical and Paralinguistic Variations
Summary
5. Relexification
Composition
Derivation
Hypostasis
Calquing
6. Onomastics and Wordplay
Onomastics
Wordplay
7. Towards a Decolonized Translation Practice
Translating Visible Traces
Translating Relexification
Translating Onomastics and Wordplay
Basilectal and Mesolectal Features, or, Tranlsating Dialect
Decolonized Translation Practice: Some Conclusions
8. Exploring the Postcolonial Turn in Translation Theory
Berman, Venuti, Spivak: Ethical Translation, Erotic Translation and the Problem of Effect
Spaces Between and Intercultures
Further Applications of Bhabhian Theory
Bibliography
Index
