19 research outputs found
The Plasticity of Thought in Translation
No full textMy first translation of French philosopher Catherine Malabou’s work is “An Eye at the Edge of Discourse” (2007), in which she asks “What is it to see a thought? To see a thought coming?” This question prompted me to ask in turn, “What is it to see a thought coming in translation?” I put this question to readers of translations and, in a self-reflexive move, as a translator of her French thought into English. Engaging a seminar on this topic in which Malabou offered a retrospective account of how plasticity has emerged in her work over more than two decades, I consider its transdisciplinary potential specifically as it manifests in the field of translation, and here in the translation of scholarly thought.Following this retrospective gaze, I consider a recent article that is still untranslated from the French, Malabou’s “Quand on n’a que le discours: Réflexions sur la forme” (2022a). Drawing on the intersection of thinking and seeing, I refer to three artists—Kader Attia, Sophia Wallace, and Pearl Shread—to explore the valences of visibility and intelligibility, as well as routes of access to thought and knowledge.I conclude my discussion with brief reflections on my recent Malabou translation Stop Thief! Anarchism and Philosophy (2023), suggesting that the act of translation offers a possible route to autonomy and self-determination in the face of dominating effects of governance.La première traduction que j’ai faite de l’oeuvre de la philosophe française Catherine Malabou est un article intitulé « Un oeil au bord du discours » (2000b; trad. 2007), dans lequel elle demande « Qu’est-ce que voir une pensée? Voir une pensée venir? » Sa question provoque l’interrogation de cet article, à savoir, « Qu’est-ce que voir venir une pensée dans une traduction? » Question adressée aux lecteurs des traductions et, dans une démarche autoréflexive, que je médite en tant que traductrice de sa pensée française vers l’anglais. En m’appuyant sur un séminaire qu’elle a consacré à ce sujet, dans lequel elle a analysé rétrospectivement l’apparition, sur plus de vingt ans, de la plasticité dans son travail, j’examine le potentiel transdisciplinaire de la plasticité, tel que le concept se manifeste dans le champ de la traduction, notamment dans la traduction de la pensée savante.Suivant ce regard rétrospectif, je m’appuie sur un article récent de Malabou qui n’a toujours pas été traduit du français, intitulé « Quand on n’a que le discours: Réflexions sur la forme » (2022a). Évoquant l’intersection de la pensée et de la vision, je fais référence à trois artistes – Kader Attia, Sophia Wallace et Pearl Shread – afin d’explorer les possibles de la visibilité et de l’intelligibilité, ainsi que les voies d’accès à la pensée et à la connaissance.Je conclus ma discussion avec quelques réflexions sur la plus récente traduction de Malabou de Au voleur! Anarchisme et philosophie (2022c), suggérant que l’acte de traduire offre une voie à l’autonomie et à l’autodétermination face aux effets dominants de la gouvernance
Une intelligence autre: Reception Plasticity and the Melancholy of the Translated Author
No full textPresenting Catherine Malabou’s philosophy of “plasticity” as a schema relevant to translation, this article examines the reception of a translated work not among a given target audience but rather for the author and translator, who is also the first reader of the work in the new language. Even as the pleasure the translator enjoys in the two languages is discussed, we recognize that the experience of being translated may produce a certain melancholy for the author as a result of leaving their language to communicate with an other intelligence.Élaborant la philosophie de la « plasticité » de Catherine Malabou comme schéma pertinent à la traduction, cet article examine la réception d’une œuvre traduite non pas auprès d’un public cible, mais pour l’auteure et sa traductrice – première lectrice de l’œuvre dans cette nouvelle langue. Tout en évoquant le plaisir de la traductrice qui jouit des deux langues, nous admettons que l’expérience d’être traduite peut, chez l’auteure, produire une certaine mélancolie, résultat du devoir de quitter sa langue pour communiquer avec une intelligence autre
Catherine Malabou’s Plasticity in Translation
No full textTranslating Catherine Malabou’s La Plasticité au soir de l’écriture: Dialectique, destruction, déconstruction (2005) for its 2009 English publication, I was struck by how suggestive Malabou’s concept of plasticity is for a reworking of conventional notions of translation. In this philosophical autobiography of her encounters with Hegel, Heidegger, and Derrida, Malabou introduces “plasticity,” suggesting that the more contemporary notion of plasticity supersede Derrida’s proposal of writing as motor scheme. Reviewing and developing Derrida’s innovative discussions of translation, this article argues that the giving, receiving, exploding, and regenerating of form described by plasticity changes change, and therefore alters the transformation that is translation. Adapting Malabou’s philosophical concept to the field of translation studies, I make a distinction between elastic translation and plastic translation, which allows us to break free of paradigms of equivalence that have for so long constrained translation theories and practice. While plasticity drives Malabou’s philosophical intervention in relation to identity and gender, it also enables a productive reconceptualization of translation, one which not only privileges seriality and generativity over narratives of nostalgia for a lost original, but which also forges connections across different identity discourses on translation.En traduisant La plasticité au soir de l’écriture. Dialectique, destruction, déconstruction (2005) de Catherine Malabou en vue de l’édition anglaise de 2009, j’ai été frappée de constater à quel point son concept de plasticité pouvait être utile pour repenser les notions conventionnelles en traduction. Dans cette autobiographie philosophique, qui décrit ses rencontres avec Hegel, Heidegger, et Derrida, Malabou introduit « la plasticité » en suggérant que cette notion, plus contemporaine, pourrait remplacer la conception d’écriture comme schème moteur de Derrida. Après avoir revu et explicité les réflexions innovatrices de Derrida sur la traduction, j’avance que les pouvoirs de donner, de recevoir, d’exploser et de régénérer la forme qui sont décrits par la plasticité modifient la modification et altèrent ainsi la transformation qu’est la traduction. Pour adapter le concept philosophique de Malabou à la traductologie, j’établis une distinction entre la traduction élastique et la traduction plastique, ce qui me permet de faire voler en éclats les paradigmes d’équivalence, qui depuis si longtemps restreignent la théorie et la pratique de la traduction. Si la plasticité sous-tend l’intervention philosophique de Malabou face à l’identité et au genre, elle pousse aussi à une re-conceptualisation féconde de la traduction, en privilégiant non seulement la « sérialité » et la « générativité » par rapport à « une esthétique de nostalgie pour » un original perdu, mais aussi en établissant des liens entre les différents discours identitaires au sujet de la traduction
Bianca Pitzorno's "Riding the Broom": A Translation and Critical Introduction
No full textAnglophone publishing industries in the United States and the United Kingdom lead in the global export of English literature in translation. However, their import of translated international works does not equally reflect this level of production. Thus, when translating children’s literature in unreceptive markets, translators must confront the foreignness of non-English names and other cultural references. How do these translators imagine their young audience? How does their conception of childhood affect the methods they apply in their translation? These questions underscore a complex discussion in the translation of children’s literature: should we domesticate foreign literature for the comfort of local readers?
My project includes a complete English translation of the renowned Italian author Bianca Pitzorno’s children’s novel "A cavallo della scopa" (1999). The introductory chapter that precedes my translation consists of several sections which address the author and the contents of the novel, as well as an analysis of the novel’s themes. Additionally, I reflect on how I navigated the translation process (translating rhyme, real and fictional proper names, and other cultural aspects of Pitzorno’s Italian fantasy world).Italia
Translating the Void: The Poetics of Foreignness in Malek Alloula’s L’Accès au corps
No full textIn this work, I present my original translation from French into English of Malek Alloula's book-length poem L’Accès au corps, published in 2005.
In the first chapter of my introduction, I summarize my background research into the life and work of Malek Alloula, as well as Algerian literature in the 20th century. In the first section, “Malek Alloula: Critic of Colonialism,” I explore Alloula’s critical work, including his book Le Harem Colonial (1981), which analyzes the representation of Algerian women in colonial postcards. I attempt to challenge his analysis by applying a feminist critique to his work. In the second section, “Malek Alloula: Francophone Writer,” I discuss the complications of Alloula’s identity as a francophone writer, as well as his role in the Algerian literary movements of the 20th century. As a native Algerian who chose to write his poetry in French, Alloula challenged French hegemony both in the content of his poetry and in his unique manipulations of the French language. In the third section, “Poetry: A Form of Resistance,” I synthesize my reading of Alloula’s other works of poetry in order to explore patterns in his poetic voice, as well as to analyze recurring motifs in his writing, such as memory, exile and cultural heritage.
In the second chapter, I analyze my own process of translation in order to offer a transparent appraisal of my own shortcomings as a translator, as well as to explain some of the choices I made in my final translation. In the first section, “The Translator’s Perspective: First Encounters,” I explain the failure of my first attempt to translate this book two years ago. I conclude that my lack of contextual research into the author and his homeland led to an inaccurate translation of the text. In the second section, “Approaching the Text: Methodologies,” I explain my choice to create what Lawrence Venuti would deem a “foreignizing” translation in English, which, rather than striving to create a fluent, accessible text, carries across the difficulties of the original French. In this section, I apply the theories of several prominent thinkers in the field of translation studies in order to explore notions of violence, appropriation and essentialization in the translation of francophone texts. I also include an analysis of one page of Accessing the Body in order to explain some of the choices I made in my final translation -- choices colored, in large part, by my research into the cultural context of the poem. In the concluding section, “The Afterlife of the Poem,” I discuss the poet’s recent death, and its implications on my translation process.Frenc
Metamorphosis or Metramorphosis? Towards a Feminist Ethics of Difference in Translation
No full textTranslation has been theorized as a process of metamorphosis, either as metaphor (replacing the original) or metonymy (substituting part for original whole). I propose an additional model for translation exchanges: the metramorphic processes described by psychoanalyst Bracha Ettinger. Ettinger expands the scope of interactions by describing maternal/late pre-natal infant relations as ‘subjectivity-as-encounter.’ Her focus on a ‘severality’ preceding autonomous subject positions overcomes the problematic self/other divide and helps us rethink the relation between source and target text. Ettinger posits ‘matrixial’ metramorphosis, which, unlike metamorphosis, does not involve total transformations; rather, it indicates expansion or development. Textually, this means that translations do not efface sources through equivalent matches or inevitable losses, but extend them through exchanges in which sources are still present within translations. An alternative to equivalence as the goal of translation and fidelity as the ethics of translation, a matrixial paradigm reflects the dependency of the source text on the translation, as well as the plurality of many texts prior to translation. A metramorphic translation practice amplifies source texts, mediating them through a less polarized and more interconnected perception of difference which is the grounds for a new feminist ethics.La traduction est souvent perçue comme un processus de métamorphose, ou encore comme métaphore (remplacement de l’original) ou métonymie (la substitution d’une partie au tout). Nous proposons un autre modèle pour concevoir les échanges de la traduction fondé sur les processus de métramorphose énoncés par la psychanalyste Bracha Ettinger. Ettinger élargit le champ des interactions en décrivant les rapports mère/enfant prénatal au dernier stade de la grossesse comme une subjectivité fondée sur une rencontre de sujets partiels. Son insistance sur ce qu’elle nomme « la plusieurité », qui précède les positions autonomes du sujet individuel, dépasse la division problématique du Soi et de l’Autre et nous aide à repenser la relation entre texte source et texte cible. Ettinger nous offre la métramorphose « matrixielle », qui, à la différence de la métamorphose, n’implique pas de transformations totales, car elle signale plutôt une expansion ou un développement. Sur le plan textuel, les traductions n’effacent pas leur origine dans des correspondances équivalentes ou des pertes inévitables; elles les prolongent grâce aux échanges où l’origine demeure au sein des traductions. Remplaçant l’équivalence comme but et la fidélité comme éthique de la traduction, un paradigme matrixiel reflète la dépendance du texte source, ainsi que la pluralité de maints textes avant leur traduction. Une pratique de la traduction métramorphique amplifie le texte à traduire en le médiatisant par le biais d’une perception de la différence moins polarisée et plus interreliée, établissant ainsi les bases d’une nouvelle éthique féministe
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On Becoming in Translation: Articulating Feminisms in the Translation of Marie Vieux-Chauvet's Les Rapaces
No full textThis thesis discusses aspects of feminist translation as exemplified by my French to English translation of Marie Vieux-Chauvet’s novel, Les Rapaces (1984). Articulating feminist translation as a form of activism, I argue that feminism manifests in translation not only informatively, through linguistic and cultural representation, but also through formative processes that are constitutive of texts. Describing some of the key moments in the creation of The Raptors, I show how these relate to Bracha Ettinger’s concept of metramorphic processes and to my own elaboration of her theory with regard to the generative aspect of becoming in translation. Viewing translation as a transformative encounter, from the perspectives of both the translator and the translation’s Haitian American audience, I underline the contribution of feminine paradigms for innovating translation theory and practice.Master of Arts (M.A.
Metaphors, women and translation: From les belles infidèles to la frontera
No full textOne of the main concerns of translation theory from the 17th century till today has
been the problem of how to be faithful to the original text. Further, this concern
regarding both the origin and the originality of the source text has given rise to
numerous metaphors in connection with gender and sexuality. In this article I
undertake an overview of the history of gender metaphors in translation as found
in the writings of translators and theorists from all periods. Through the metaphors
appearing in their texts, I examine how authors such as Gilles Menáge, Friedrich
Schleiermacher and George Steiner perpetuate the patriarchal stereotypes, and how
Gloria Anzaldúa, Jacques Derrida, Carol Maier, Maria-Mercè Marçal, Carolyn
Shread and other authors seek to go beyond these stereotypes by forging new
metaphors. I have made use of Derridian terminology to rename the three parts of
the article: 1) The First Age or les belles infidèles – the age of sexist and androcentric
sexual metaphors; 2) The Second Age or the Derridian ‘double bind’ – the age in
which Derrida presents a model of metaphor which, despite using sexual language,
defends the woman and translation; and 3) The Third Age or the new metaphors –
the age of non-sexual metaphors
Export Price Stability and Compatibility of Euro under the Export- Biased Productivity Growth in Turkey: A Criticism against the Maastricht Inflation Criterion
No full textIn this work, we analyzed the export- biased productivity, wage growth and the ULCP in Turkey. Then, by using input- output methods , we could show that Turkey has an economy which is able to be a part of the Euro system and Euro is compatible under the export- biased productivity growth in Turkey though its relatively high inflation. That means Maastricht inflation criterion should be revised in terms of countries’ economic performance
Translating women /
No full textINHOUDSOPGAVE:##The voice of nature :; British women translating botany in the early nineteenth century /; Alison E. Martin -- ; A dream of light in the eternal darkness :; Karolina Pavlova's translations from the German /; Tom Dolack -- ; Helen Maria Williams' Paul and Virginia and the experience of mediated alterity /; Anna Barker -- ; From "Alejandra" to "Susanna" :; Susan Bassnett's "Life Exchange" with Alejandra Pizarnik /; Madeleine Stratford -- ; Re-vision and/as translation :; the poetry of Adrienne Rich /; Sandra Bermann -- ; "I like women" :; regarding feminine affinities in translation /; Pilar Godayol -- ; Ulrike Meinhof :; de-fragmented and re-membered /; Luise von Flotow -- ; Why philosophy went missing :; understanding the English version of Simone de Beauvoir's /; Anna Bogic -- ; The story of Ruth and Esperanza :; concepts of translation in Ruth Behar's Translated woman /; Kate Sturge -- ; Sexuality and femininity in translated chick texts /; Anne-Lise Feral -- ; Echoes of Emily Dickinson :; male and female :; French translators listening to the poet /; James W. Underhill -- ; Prefacing gender :; framing Sei Shônagon for a Western audience, 1875-2006 /; Valerie Henitiuk -- ; Translating gender/Traduire le genre :; is transdiscursive translation possible? /; Bella Brodzki -- ; On becoming in translation :; articulating feminisms in the translation of Marie Vieux-Chauvet's Les rapaces /; Carolyn Shread -- ; "Gender trouble" in the American translation of Tahar Ben Jelloun's L'Enfant de sable /; Pascale Sardin.Met bibl. ref. en index.INHOUDSOPGAVE:##The voice of nature :; British women translating botany in the early nineteenth century /; Alison E. Martin -- ; A dream of light in the eternal darkness :; Karolina Pavlova's translations from the German /; Tom Dolack -- ; Helen Maria Williams' Paul and Virginia and the experience of mediated alterity /; Anna Barker -- ; From "Alejandra" to "Susanna" :; Susan Bassnett's "Life Exchange" with Alejandra Pizarnik /; Madeleine Stratford -- ; Re-vision and/as translation :; the poetry of Adrienne Rich /; Sandra Bermann -- ; "I like women" :; regarding feminine affinities in translation /; Pilar Godayol -- ; Ulrike Meinhof :; de-fragmented and re-membered /; Luise von Flotow -- ; Why philosophy went missing :; understanding the English version of Simone de Beauvoir's /; Anna Bogic -- ; The story of Ruth and Esperanza :; concepts of translation in Ruth Behar's Translated woman /; Kate Sturge -- ; Sexuality and femininity in translated chick texts /; Anne-Lise Feral -- ; Echoes of Emily Dickinson :; male and female :; French translators listening to the poet /; James W. Underhill -- ; Prefacing gender :; framing Sei Shônagon for a Western audience, 1875-2006 /; Valerie Henitiuk -- ; Translating gender/Traduire le genre :; is transdiscursive translation possible? /; Bella Brodzki -- ; On becoming in translation :; articulating feminisms in the translation of Marie Vieux-Chauvet's Les rapaces /; Carolyn Shread -- ; "Gender trouble" in the American translation of Tahar Ben Jelloun's L'Enfant de sable /; Pascale Sardin
