Translating identity
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Simon Mckinnon
Abstract
The late-medieval French Débat des hérauts d’armes reinforces a sense of French collective identity within its readership by providing a comparison of France and England in which France is systematically presented as superior. This chapter will argue that the Debate Betwene the Heralds, John Coke’s 1549 translation of the Débat, appropriates and manipulates the source material in order to make it acceptable to a patriotic English readership during a period of war between England and France. Nevertheless, by ‘rewriting’ his source, Coke retains its fundamental purpose: the promotion of positive collective self-identity against a largely negative representation of the cultural and political other. The chapter will therefore illustrate the important role played by translation in the imagining of collective identity.
Abstract
The late-medieval French Débat des hérauts d’armes reinforces a sense of French collective identity within its readership by providing a comparison of France and England in which France is systematically presented as superior. This chapter will argue that the Debate Betwene the Heralds, John Coke’s 1549 translation of the Débat, appropriates and manipulates the source material in order to make it acceptable to a patriotic English readership during a period of war between England and France. Nevertheless, by ‘rewriting’ his source, Coke retains its fundamental purpose: the promotion of positive collective self-identity against a largely negative representation of the cultural and political other. The chapter will therefore illustrate the important role played by translation in the imagining of collective identity.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- On translated images, stereotypes and disciplines 1
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Translation and historical trajectories of images
- Translating identity 21
- The adventures of a Amsterdam Spaniard 37
- National images in transit 53
- The image of Spain in Flanders as shaped by the translations of Jozef Simons 69
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Translation and the construction of hetero-Images
- Englishness in German translations of Alice in Wonderland 87
- Champion of the humiliated and insulted or xenophobic satirist? 109
- Italians in films 127
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Translation and the reconstruction of hetero-images
- Comparing national images in translations of popular fiction 145
- Bel Paese or Spaghetti noir ? 163
- How Algeria’s multilingual condition and colonial history is obscured 181
- Translation as blockage, propagation and recreation of ethnic images 201
-
Translation and auto-images
- The construction of national images through news translation 219
- Images of turmoil. Italy portrayed in Britain and re-mirrored in Italy 239
- Images of Italy? 257
- (Trans)forming national images in translation 277
- Nation in translation 299
-
Envoi
- Sundry remarks about a discipline in the making by an eye-witness 317
- Name index 325
- Subject index 329
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- On translated images, stereotypes and disciplines 1
-
Translation and historical trajectories of images
- Translating identity 21
- The adventures of a Amsterdam Spaniard 37
- National images in transit 53
- The image of Spain in Flanders as shaped by the translations of Jozef Simons 69
-
Translation and the construction of hetero-Images
- Englishness in German translations of Alice in Wonderland 87
- Champion of the humiliated and insulted or xenophobic satirist? 109
- Italians in films 127
-
Translation and the reconstruction of hetero-images
- Comparing national images in translations of popular fiction 145
- Bel Paese or Spaghetti noir ? 163
- How Algeria’s multilingual condition and colonial history is obscured 181
- Translation as blockage, propagation and recreation of ethnic images 201
-
Translation and auto-images
- The construction of national images through news translation 219
- Images of turmoil. Italy portrayed in Britain and re-mirrored in Italy 239
- Images of Italy? 257
- (Trans)forming national images in translation 277
- Nation in translation 299
-
Envoi
- Sundry remarks about a discipline in the making by an eye-witness 317
- Name index 325
- Subject index 329
