Cultural and ideological turns in translation Desiree Trentini Giorgia Bagatti

Translation, History and Culture by Susan Bassnett and André Lefevere: Dismiss the previous theories. Focus on the interaction between translation and culture, on the way in which culture impacts and constrains translation and on the larger issue of context, history and convention. Mary Snell-Hornby: ‘the cultural turn’: metaphore for this cultural move. ⟹ it includes: studies of changing standards in translation over time, the power exercised in and on the publishing industry in pursuit of specific ideologies, feminist writing and translation, translation as ‘appropriation’, translation and colonization, translation as rewriting, film rewrites. We are going to analize: Translation as rewriting; Translation and gender; Translation and postcolonialism.

1) Translation as rewriting Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literary Fame by André Lefevere (1992): The motivation of such rewriting can be ideological or poetological: e.g.: E. Fitzgerald’s translation of the Rubayait by Omar Khayyám. Translation as the most influential type of rewriting: it can go beyond the boundaries of the C1. Literary system controlled by two main factors: Professionals within the literary system; Patronage outside the literary system. ‣ ideological component; ‣ economic component; undifferentiated or diferentiated ‣ status component. Two components of the dominant poetics: literary devices and the concept of the role of literature. Key claim: interaction between poetics, ideology and translation. But the most important consideration is the ideological one: e.g.: Lysistrata by Aristohpanes. e.g.: The diary of Anne Frank.

2) Translation and gender Gender in Translation: Cultural Identity and the Politics of Transmission by Sherry Simon (1996): Translation by a gender-studies angle. Sexism in translation studies (cf. the image of les belles infidèles; Steiner’s translation as penetration). Translation project: 1980s in Canada ⇾ Barbara Godard. Constance Garnett: classic of Russian literature. Jean Starr Untermeyer, Willa Muis, Helen Lowe-Porter: classics of German literature. Suzanne Jill Levine: new work ⇾ Infante’s Tres tristes tigres. Queer Theory: issue of language and identity by a cultural-theory angle: Keith Harvey: extracts from two novels: The French translation on Gore Vidal’s The City and the Pillar. The translation into American English of a novel by the Frenchman Tony Duvert.

3) Postcolonial translation theory The politics of translation by Spivak (1993/2012): brings together feminist, postcolonialist and poststructuralist approaches: Tension: Spivak’s speaking out against western feminists ⇾ translatese. Power relations Theory: Sitting Translation: History, Poststructuralism, and the Colonial Context by Niranjana (1992): Asymmetrical relations of power operating under colonialism. Three main failings in western translation studies: Translation studies has not considered the question of power imbalance between different languages; The concepts underlying much of western translation are flawed; The ‘humanistic enterprise’ of translation needs to be questioned. Niranjana’s recommendations for action: The postcolonial translation must call into question every aspect of colonialism and liberal nationalism; ‘Interventionist’ approach. Post-colonial Translation: Theory and Practice by S.Bassnett and H. Trivedi (1999): link between translational and transnational. Homi Bhabha: concepts of in-betweenness, the third space, hybridity, cultural difference.

Translation and ideology Committed approaches: Brownlie (2009) Examination of power and ideology in other contexts where translation is involved: Kate Sturge (2004): ideology behind the selection of texts in Nazi Germany to eliminate ‘all elements alien to the German character’. Disparity of power between languages: asymmetry ⇾ K. Bennett: ‘epistemicide’ caused by the dominance of English scientific and academic style. Hegemony and prestige of Classic languages: sacred scriptures and scientific texts. Translanguaging and Co-existing linguistic communities

Case study The Last Flicker (1991): English translation of Gurdial Singh’s Punjabi novel Marhi Da Deeva (1964): Punjabi and English: long history of British rule in India and imposition of the English language during that time. Translation by Ajmer S. Rode, a Punjabi settled in Canada. Translation promoted by a central government organization and written in the hegemonic language of English ➾ complex range of cultural issues. Engl. translation: mix of registers: archaic insults, rural life language, modern American expletives and speech markers. The translation of a Punjabi regional novel for the international audience will inevitabily involve spatial and cultural dislocation. Rode has translated the regional and social dialect of a small village community with the sociolect of urban working-class of North America. Dislocation towards the hegemonic Anglo-Saxon culture.

summary The ‘cultural turn’: the move towards the analysis of translation from a cultural studies angle. Translation as rewriting: power relations and ideologies existing in the patronage and poetics of literary and cultural system. Translation and gender: feminine visible in translation; translation of gay texts. Translation and postcolonialism: ‘dislocature’ of texts and translators working in former colonies of the European powers or in their languages. Translation and ideology: ideological manipulation.