Literary heteroglossia in translation
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Reine Meylaerts
Abstract
The last decade, e.g. through post-colonial studies, research on cultural identity construction has been focusing on aspects as “multilingualism” or “language plurality.” Heteroglossia or literary language plurality is the presence in the text of foreign idioms or social, regional, historical. . . varieties, considered in this paper not from an anecdotic or normative but from a functional, institutional viewpoint. Functional research on heteroglossia in “original” literary prose has developed a solid tradition in Canada, but it has remained virtually unknown in Descriptive Translation Studies. How heteroglossic can (or must) a translation be in a certain context? What are the modalities and identity functions of literary language plurality in literary translations? Until now, these questions have not got the attention they deserve. Because translation is a cross-cultural process between cultures maintaining unequal power relations (cf. Robyns 1994), its degree of language plurality can be loaded with the highest symbolic importance. Therefore, functional descriptive studies of heteroglossia in translated prose can offer a possible correction of a certain idealizing monolingualism of translation studies’ models and enhance our understanding of literary identity construction and cultural dynamics. The present paper tries to put forward some hypotheses inspired by research on translations of Flemish novels into French during the 20s and 30s of the twentieth century in Belgium.
Abstract
The last decade, e.g. through post-colonial studies, research on cultural identity construction has been focusing on aspects as “multilingualism” or “language plurality.” Heteroglossia or literary language plurality is the presence in the text of foreign idioms or social, regional, historical. . . varieties, considered in this paper not from an anecdotic or normative but from a functional, institutional viewpoint. Functional research on heteroglossia in “original” literary prose has developed a solid tradition in Canada, but it has remained virtually unknown in Descriptive Translation Studies. How heteroglossic can (or must) a translation be in a certain context? What are the modalities and identity functions of literary language plurality in literary translations? Until now, these questions have not got the attention they deserve. Because translation is a cross-cultural process between cultures maintaining unequal power relations (cf. Robyns 1994), its degree of language plurality can be loaded with the highest symbolic importance. Therefore, functional descriptive studies of heteroglossia in translated prose can offer a possible correction of a certain idealizing monolingualism of translation studies’ models and enhance our understanding of literary identity construction and cultural dynamics. The present paper tries to put forward some hypotheses inspired by research on translations of Flemish novels into French during the 20s and 30s of the twentieth century in Belgium.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
New perspectives on the disciplinary space of translation
- Questions in the sociology of translation 9
- Pour une socio-traduction 29
- Conciliation of disciplines and paradigms 43
- Conducting research on a “Wish-to-Understand” basis 55
- Translation as dialogue 67
-
Theoretical models at work
- Literary heteroglossia in translation 85
- Defining target text reader 99
- Critical Language Study and Translation 111
- The ideological turn in translation studies 129
-
Texts and contexts in translation
- Institutionalising Buddhism 147
- Subtitling reading practices 161
- An Englishman in Alentejo 169
- Lembranças e Deslembranças 185
- Notes on contributors and editors 197
- Index 203
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
New perspectives on the disciplinary space of translation
- Questions in the sociology of translation 9
- Pour une socio-traduction 29
- Conciliation of disciplines and paradigms 43
- Conducting research on a “Wish-to-Understand” basis 55
- Translation as dialogue 67
-
Theoretical models at work
- Literary heteroglossia in translation 85
- Defining target text reader 99
- Critical Language Study and Translation 111
- The ideological turn in translation studies 129
-
Texts and contexts in translation
- Institutionalising Buddhism 147
- Subtitling reading practices 161
- An Englishman in Alentejo 169
- Lembranças e Deslembranças 185
- Notes on contributors and editors 197
- Index 203
