The migration of Madama Butterfly
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Danielle Thien
Abstract
This paper looks at the role that translation has played in depicting Butterfly as Other. The first part examines the translation processes that intervened in the transposition of Butterfly’s tale from short story and play to opera. The second part provides an analysis of the earliest French and English translations of the libretto using Lance Hewson’s approach to literary translation criticism. By taking a text-based approach, this study puts into question the notion that modifying the meaning of a libretto is acceptable as long as the words conform to the music. It also seeks to challenge the way in which Butterfly has sometimes been regarded as the archetype of the Asian woman in Western imaginations.
Abstract
This paper looks at the role that translation has played in depicting Butterfly as Other. The first part examines the translation processes that intervened in the transposition of Butterfly’s tale from short story and play to opera. The second part provides an analysis of the earliest French and English translations of the libretto using Lance Hewson’s approach to literary translation criticism. By taking a text-based approach, this study puts into question the notion that modifying the meaning of a libretto is acceptable as long as the words conform to the music. It also seeks to challenge the way in which Butterfly has sometimes been regarded as the archetype of the Asian woman in Western imaginations.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
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Open perspectives
- Opera and intercultural musicology as modes of translation 13
- Surtitles and the multi-semiotic balance 35
- Tradition and transgression 53
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Across genres and media
- When Mei Lanfang encountered Fei Mu 75
- Fluid borders: From Carmen to The Car Man . Bourne’s ballet in the light of post-translation 95
- Aesthetics of translation 117
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Text and context
- Translations, adaptations or rewritings? 135
- The voice of the translator 159
- “Ordne die Reih’n” 175
- The migration of Madama Butterfly 195
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From text to stage
- The intertwined nature of music, language and culture in Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle 219
- Translating Wagner’s Versmelodie 243
- Operetta in Turkey 271
-
Libretto translation revisited
- Two English translations of Jaroslav Kvapil’s Rusalka libretto 291
- Intertextuality in nineteenth-century Italian librettos: To translate or not to translate? 315
- Multilingual libretti across linguistic borders and translation modes 337
- About the contributors 359
- Index 365
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Open perspectives
- Opera and intercultural musicology as modes of translation 13
- Surtitles and the multi-semiotic balance 35
- Tradition and transgression 53
-
Across genres and media
- When Mei Lanfang encountered Fei Mu 75
- Fluid borders: From Carmen to The Car Man . Bourne’s ballet in the light of post-translation 95
- Aesthetics of translation 117
-
Text and context
- Translations, adaptations or rewritings? 135
- The voice of the translator 159
- “Ordne die Reih’n” 175
- The migration of Madama Butterfly 195
-
From text to stage
- The intertwined nature of music, language and culture in Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle 219
- Translating Wagner’s Versmelodie 243
- Operetta in Turkey 271
-
Libretto translation revisited
- Two English translations of Jaroslav Kvapil’s Rusalka libretto 291
- Intertextuality in nineteenth-century Italian librettos: To translate or not to translate? 315
- Multilingual libretti across linguistic borders and translation modes 337
- About the contributors 359
- Index 365
