Translating Hélène Cixous: French Feminism(s) and Anglo-American Feminist Theory

Translating Hélène Cixous: French Feminism(s) and Anglo-American Feminist Theory — The works of H. Cixous in English translation represent an interesting case study to examine the relevant choice factors which enter into the project of translation. Cixous, as a representative of what the Anglo-American feminist community has described as "French Feminism" remains best known for two works, both written nearly twenty years ago, "Le Rire de la Méduse" (1975) and La Jeune Née (1976). Although the former text was translated almost immediately, the latter waited a decade before reaching an English reading audience. Compared to Luce Irigaray and Julia Kristeva, Cixous remains the least available in translation to an English audience despite a prolific output over the course of her career. The politics of choice, the décalage factor, the problems of academic translators and the "difficulty factor" are discussed as they relate to Cixous's translated works.Traduire Hélène Cixous : le(s) féminisme(s) français et la théorie féministe anglo-américaine — Les traductions en anglais des travaux d'H. Cixous constituent un cas intéressant pour l'examen des critères significatifs entrant en jeu dans un projet de traduction. Cixous, représentante de ce que la communauté féministe anglo-américaine a décrit comme le « féminisme français », reste très connue pour deux de ses travaux écrits il y a près de vingt ans : « le Rire de la Méduse » (1975) et la Jeune Née (1976). Bien que le premier ait été traduit presque immédiatement, il a fallu attendre dix ans avant que le public anglophone n'ait accès au second en traduction. Comparée à Luce Irigaray et à Julia Kristeva, Cixous demeure l'auteure dont les oeuvres sont les moins accessibles en traduction à ce public, malgré sa production prolifique. La politique d'édition, le décalage, les problèmes que posent les traducteurs « universitaires » et la difficulté de la traduction sont ici abordés dans leurs relations avec les traductions des oeuvres de Cixous

Adventures in Music Translation: Italian Songs and Arias (aka “The Yellow Book”) and Me

This article is a general exploration of translation issues involved in the translation and performance of the art song, arguing that although critical interest in recent years has been growing, the problems involved in these hybrid translation projects involving both text and music present a number of conundrums: primacy of text or music, focus on performability, and age-old arguments about fidelity and/or foreignization vs domestication. Using information from theatre translation and input from singers themselves, the author argues that this particular area of translation studies will work best in the future with a collaborative approach that includes translators, musicologists, and performers working together in order to produce the most “singable” text as possible for the art song in performance