Silenced in translation
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Jeroen Vandaele
Abstract
Originally marketed for children, Elvira Lindo’s Manolito series has established itself in Spain as a classic work of comic fiction that transcends age barriers. The comically risqué and colloquial narratives were soon translated into French for Gallimard’s Jeunesse collection, and sold well. Translations into many languages followed, with mixed results: though some were quite successful (e.g., Japanese, Farsi), quite a few others were not well-received (English, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Italian), and some likely markets either passed on translating the works (Sweden) or did so only much later on (the United States). This relative lack of success cannot be reduced to the simple idea of different national styles of humor. Rather, various translation agents silenced overtones of Manolito’s voice for many different reasons. We see among other things a translator’s failure to translate Manolito’s quasi-spoken voice, a publisher’s desire to standardize Manolito’s voice for a large market, the translator’s or the publisher’s desire to rewrite the authorial and narratorial ethical voices, and the translator’s or publisher’s fear that some readers will think that their children will not understand that Manolito’s voice pertains to a work of fiction.
Abstract
Originally marketed for children, Elvira Lindo’s Manolito series has established itself in Spain as a classic work of comic fiction that transcends age barriers. The comically risqué and colloquial narratives were soon translated into French for Gallimard’s Jeunesse collection, and sold well. Translations into many languages followed, with mixed results: though some were quite successful (e.g., Japanese, Farsi), quite a few others were not well-received (English, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Italian), and some likely markets either passed on translating the works (Sweden) or did so only much later on (the United States). This relative lack of success cannot be reduced to the simple idea of different national styles of humor. Rather, various translation agents silenced overtones of Manolito’s voice for many different reasons. We see among other things a translator’s failure to translate Manolito’s quasi-spoken voice, a publisher’s desire to standardize Manolito’s voice for a large market, the translator’s or the publisher’s desire to rewrite the authorial and narratorial ethical voices, and the translator’s or publisher’s fear that some readers will think that their children will not understand that Manolito’s voice pertains to a work of fiction.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
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Part I. Opening the field
- Introduction 3
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Part II. Charting the field
- The Scandinavian singer-translator’s multisemiotic voice as performance 21
- Translators, editors, publishers, and critics 39
- The making of a bestseller-in-translation 61
- Contextual factors when reading a translated academic text 81
- When poets translate poetry 101
- Translators in search of originals 119
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Part III. Traveling the field
- Unraveling multiple translatorship through an e-mail correspondence 133
- Silenced in translation 159
- The voice of the implied author in the first Norwegian translation of Simone de Beauvoir’s Le deuxième sexe 181
- Three voices or one? 201
- The voices of Cieza de León in English 223
- References 241
- Index 263
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
-
Part I. Opening the field
- Introduction 3
-
Part II. Charting the field
- The Scandinavian singer-translator’s multisemiotic voice as performance 21
- Translators, editors, publishers, and critics 39
- The making of a bestseller-in-translation 61
- Contextual factors when reading a translated academic text 81
- When poets translate poetry 101
- Translators in search of originals 119
-
Part III. Traveling the field
- Unraveling multiple translatorship through an e-mail correspondence 133
- Silenced in translation 159
- The voice of the implied author in the first Norwegian translation of Simone de Beauvoir’s Le deuxième sexe 181
- Three voices or one? 201
- The voices of Cieza de León in English 223
- References 241
- Index 263
