French and Francophone Language and Literature Commons^™

Liking Mozart By Chen Chia-Tai, Elaine Wong

Transference

"Liking Mozart" is an English translation of a Chinese poem written by the Taiwanese poet Chen Chia-tai (1954- ).

Foreword, Molly Lynde-Recchia

Transference

No abstract provided.

Transference Vol. 7, Fall 2019

Transference

Complete issue with covers of Transference Vol. 7, Fall 2019

Looking At Shadows: Four French Texts In English Translation, Kalena M. Hermes

World Languages and Cultures

This project present four French texts in English translation that share the theme of loss. This theme is perhaps one of the most poignant and relevant; loss is an experience that every human will encounter, and as people we continue across time to grapple with what it means for us and how to deal with it. These four texts will bring the perspectives of four authors to light in English. When we study how other countries and cultures deal with common human issues, we are able to gain new views on these issues. This project will make these texts accessible …

Modern Theoretical Approaches To Medieval Translation, Michelle R. Warren

Dartmouth Scholarship

This chapter explores some of the ways in which modern literary theory opens insights into medieval European translations. Rather than drawing a distinction between theoretical approaches that apply to medieval studies and those that do not, I will explore a few examples that might in turn inspire readers to their own insights. It is my hope that over time readers of this Companion to Medieval Translation will posit many more modern theoretical approaches to medieval translation than can be suggested here. We might even imagine that some of the particularities of medieval European theories of translation could themselves be codified …

Translation Of View From The Ossuary By Antoine Volodine, John Thomas Mahany

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This is a literary translation from the French of Antoine Volodine’s Vue sur l’ossuaire. Additional creative embellishments have been included in the form of translator’s notes and epigraphs in order to enhance the fictive reality of the work.

Lost And Found In Translation: A Study Of The Bilingual Work Of Samuel Beckett, Julien Green, And Nancy Huston, Genevieve Waite

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

While much has been written and theorized about translation, until recent years, considerably less attention has been paid to the product and process of self-translation, and self-translation studies has only recently emerged as a new and growing field of interest in academia. In my dissertation, I analyze the extent to which literal, linguistic loss in translation leads to figurative gain in the self-translated work and non-authorial translations of three translingual Franco-Anglophone authors: Samuel Beckett, Julien Green, and Nancy Huston. In addition to examining how self-translators and non-authorial translators afford themselves liberties in translation, I investigate the ways in which a …

Poor Rutebeuf By Rutebeuf/ Leo Ferré, Roger Greenwald

Transference

Translated from French by Roger Greenwald

Excerpts From The Clutter Of Words By Suzanne Alaywan, Nina Youkhanna

Transference

Translated from Arabic by Nina Youkhanna

Agency And Political Engagement In Gide And Barrault's Post-War Theatrical Adaptation Of Kafka's The Trial, Yevgenya Strakovsky

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article, "Agency and Political Engagement in Gide and Barrault's Post-war Theatrical Adaptation of Kafka's The Trial" Yevgenya Strakovsky considers the political themes of André Gide and Jean-Louis Barrault's Le Procès (The Trial, 1947), the first theatrical adaptation of Franz Kafka's Der Prozess (The Trial, 1914). Strakovsky demonstrates that Le Procès, written and staged in the immediate aftermath of World War II, levels a critique against the passive complicity of citizens in unjust persecution in both its script and its staging. The paper also considers the elements of Kafka's prose that lend themselves to …

Ginsberg's Translations Of Apollinaire And Genet In The Development Of His Poetics Of "Open Secrecy", Véronique Lane

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Ginsberg's Translations of Apollinaire and Genet in the Development of his Poetics of 'Open Secrecy'" Véronique Lane analyzes the extent to which the journals, letters and poems of Allen Ginsberg are marked by constant reference to literary models that give just as much weight to French as to American writers. Focusing on his long involvement with Guillaume Apollinaire and Jean Genet's works, Lane argues that Ginsberg meticulously constructed the genealogy of his poetry through a threefold strategy of literary quotation, translation and encryption. Uncovering this strategy through analysis of "Howl," "At Apollinaire's Grave," and "Death to Van …

An Escape From Language Into Language: The Internal Exile Of Louis Wolfson, Antoine N. Rideau

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper aims to show how the life and work of American francophone author Louis Wolfson - who suffered from schizophrenia and underwent a self-imposed exile from his own mother tongue - might serve to illuminate European émigré writers' relationships to multilingualism.

Sharing Domestic Violence Research From Senegal With A Global Audience, Charlotte Coleman, Daryl Lee

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The United States Department of Justice defines domestic violence as, “a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner,” and goes on to say that it affects “people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels.” Those affected include but are not limited to, “family members, friends, co-workers, other witnesses and the community at large1.” The purpose of our project was to translate a 2013 study entitled Gender-based violence in Senegal: Prevention as an alternative to the perils of justice and security. It was originally …

A Translation And Analysis Of Spring's Bride By Mohammed Dib: Creating A Space For Indigenous North African Drama, Jordan Talbot

All Master's Theses

The Ubu Repertory Theatre Script Collection, which is located in the archives at New York University, contains numerous manuscripts in the French language from dramatists all over the world. One of those manuscripts, La fiancée du printemps by Mohammed Dib, is my own translation of the text from French into English, now titled Spring’s Bride. The text operates as a plea for postcolonial solidarity in the face of an increasingly fragmented community. The characters of the play must confront their deeply held beliefs and their possible destructive power. The translation of this text presents the postcolonial perspective to an …

Translation From French To English Of A Women’S Rights Study By A Senegal Research Group, Danielle Stanford, Daryl Lee

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The goal of this project was to make an academic study on women’s property rights in Senegal accessible to a non-French speaking audience. The study was conducted by a university research group on gender issues (GESTES) at the Université Gaston Berger, Saint Louis, Senegal. I worked as part of a team of three translators, rendering it from French into English. GESTES (in English: “Gender and Society Research and Study Group”) is coordinated by Dr. Fatou Diop Sall, a professor at the Université Gaston Berger. Dr Sall’s group study on property rights of women, published in a limited number of copies …

War Across Language: A Comparative Content Analysis Of Variations Affecting The American And The French Reporting Of Civil War In The Central African Republic, Craig A. Smith

Honors Theses

It is easy to forget that people all across the world read about the same events that you do, albeit published by different media outfits. What they read, though, can differ drastically. This study analyzed the New York Times and Le Monde for their content in reporting. Articles were examined from each paper to better understand what the focus, themes, and views were on the conflict in the Central African Republic, as expressed by each respective media outlet. Literature was collected to establish a basic knowledge of French colonialism and the Central African Republic. All of the selected articles for …

Lost In Translation? Found In Translation? Neither? Both?, Esther Allen, Mary Ann Caws, Peter Constantine, Edith Grossman, Nancy Kline, Burton Pike, Damion Searls, Karen Van Dyck, Alyson Waters, Roger Celestin, Charles Lebel

The Quiet Corner Interdisciplinary Journal

Translation specialists Esther Allen, Mary Ann Caws, Peter Constantine, Edith Grossman, Nancy Kline, Burton Pike, Damion Searls, Karen Van Dyck and Alyson Waters respond to the TQC question:

“Lost in translation”; “Found in translation”: Are these just useless commonplaces or are they indicative of something relevant to your own practice?

Crossing Cultures: The Old Norse Adaptations Of Marie De France’S Lais, Kenna Jacobs

The Quiet Corner Interdisciplinary Journal

The representation of sin and sexuality in Marie de France’s Lais is a topic that continues to be debated among scholars, as the unexpected storylines – including adultery, bestiality, and physical violence – often clash with our preconceived notions concerning the medieval principles of modesty and restraint. The provoking, even disconcerting, nature of this work becomes quite apparent when examined in conjunction with their later adaptations in the thirteenth century, as King Hákon of Norway commissioned the translation of several lais into Old Norse as a means of promoting the courtly codes and conventions within French literature. Focusing on the …

Treasure Hunt Without A Map: Archival Research At The University Of Pennsylvania, Meghan Strong

English and Creative Writing Independent Study Projects

Under the supervision of Meredith Goldsmith in the English Department, I spent this semester developing archival research projects for lower level students in the humanities. My project corresponded with the aims of the Council for Undergraduate Research, which works to develop undergraduate research skills throughout the disciplines. The Kislak Center is a nearby resource that has the potential to provide students with opportunities to develop crucial research skills while discovering little pieces of history that are hidden away in the archives. The final exercises presented here focus on the subjects of Walt Whitman, Marian Anderson, and Michel de Montaigne.

Transference Vol. 2, Fall 2014, Molly Lynde-Recchia

Transference

Transference is published by the Department of World Languages and Literatures at Western Michigan University. Dedicated to the celebration of poetry in translation, the journal publishes translations from Arabic, Chinese, French and Old French, German, classical Greek, Latin, and Japanese, into English verse. Transference contains translations as well as commentaries on the art and process of translating.

Translations From Allada And Experience D'Edward Lee, Versailles By Gérard Gavarry, Gérard Gavarry, Katina Rogers

Publications and Research

At the heart of Gérard Gavarry’s writing are the questions of what power language holds, and what remains beyond the reach of expression. The two translations included here, excerpts from Allada (P.O.L, 1993) and Expérience d’Edward Lee, Versailles (P.O.L, 2009), share little with each other in terms of setting or structure, but explore similar questions of the role and limits of language in relation to defamiliarization, power, and fear. The inventive reflection on the nature of language, identity, and power that, woven into the fabric of the novel, makes Gavarry’s work some of the most compelling fiction coming out of …

Reviving The Surrealist Revolt: A Retracing Of Surrealism’S History And A Reimagining Of Its Future In Translation, Kyle Young

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Although Surrealist writing has literary merit, Surrealist texts were written as revolutionary tracts meant to undermine the social order. Yet the politically radical aspects of the movement are no longer taken very seriously. At least one contributing factor to the current impotence of Surrealism is the approach taken in the translation of Surrealist texts. Many translators have presented Surrealist texts as they would traditionally present any literary document. However, Walter Benjamin’s writings on translation, in particular his essay “The Task of the Translator,” provide a novel conception of translation, one which can produce linguistically radical texts. I will argue that …

Calixthe Beyala Chez Les Scandinaves, Ylva Lindberg

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

The study focuses on the circulation of literature in the world and it takes as an example the publication of the literary works of Beyala in Scandinavia. The reception of her novels is analyzed on the basis of commentaries by critics in Swedish media. The analysis shows that the Swedes construct their own image of the author. In order to find interpretation tools they link her texts to their own literary patrimony and they take into account the exoticism inherent in her novels. It thus becomes legitimate, apt to serve current ebates in Sweden, for example about feminism and cultural …

Patience: A Project In Translation, Donna St. Louis

Student Summer Scholars Manuscripts

Translation seems to be a simple process: a translator with a strong command of two languages renders a phrase from Language A into Language B for the purpose of wider communication. Given her intimacy with both languages, it should be a relatively easy task to transport meaning from one language to another. Yet a superficial transformation of language is not enough to create a successful translation; rather, a translator must seek to grasp and communicate the literary heart of a piece, as well as convert the complexities of its linguistic skeleton.

I explored translation’s double nature by translating a French …

Boudjedra, Écrivain De Langue Arabe?, Touriya Fili-Tullon

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

This paper is devoted to bilingualism in R. Boudjedra’sliterary practice. Our aim is to show how French and Arabic versions of his books may be read as hypertexts of metadiscoursive value. Considered from this point of view, the differing versions neutralize any genetic approach and make the rules of an “authoritative” translation obsolete.

Zachary Richard's "Faire Récolte": A Translation From The French, Michael D. Bierschenk

LSU Master's Theses

In the second half of the twentieth century, the Cajun language, which had been entirely oral for most of its history, began to emerge as a productive literary language. One of the prominent new authors of the period was Zachary Richard, also an important Cajun musician. One of his collections of poetry, Faire récolte (Les Éditions Perce-Neige, 1997), is translated here. This thesis also includes a translator's note that briefly explores the broad themes of the poems and the methods used in translating them.

Interpreting Guillaume De Lorris’ Oiseuse: Geoffrey Chaucer As Witness, Gregory M. Sadlek

English Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.