15 research outputs found
Metamorphosis or Metramorphosis? Towards a Feminist Ethics of Difference in Translation
Translation has been theorized as a process of metamorphosis, either as metaphor (replacing the original) or metonymy (substituting part for original whole). I propose an additional model for translation exchanges: the metramorphic processes described by psychoanalyst Bracha Ettinger. Ettinger expands the scope of interactions by describing maternal/late pre-natal infant relations as âsubjectivity-as-encounter.â Her focus on a âseveralityâ preceding autonomous subject positions overcomes the problematic self/other divide and helps us rethink the relation between source and target text. Ettinger posits âmatrixialâ metramorphosis, which, unlike metamorphosis, does not involve total transformations; rather, it indicates expansion or development. Textually, this means that translations do not efface sources through equivalent matches or inevitable losses, but extend them through exchanges in which sources are still present within translations. An alternative to equivalence as the goal of translation and fidelity as the ethics of translation, a matrixial paradigm reflects the dependency of the source text on the translation, as well as the plurality of many texts prior to translation. A metramorphic translation practice amplifies source texts, mediating them through a less polarized and more interconnected perception of difference which is the grounds for a new feminist ethics.La traduction est souvent perçue comme un processus de mĂ©tamorphose, ou encore comme mĂ©taphore (remplacement de lâoriginal) ou mĂ©tonymie (la substitution dâune partie au tout). Nous proposons un autre modĂšle pour concevoir les Ă©changes de la traduction fondĂ© sur les processus de mĂ©tramorphose Ă©noncĂ©s par la psychanalyste Bracha Ettinger. Ettinger Ă©largit le champ des interactions en dĂ©crivant les rapports mĂšre/enfant prĂ©natal au dernier stade de la grossesse comme une subjectivitĂ© fondĂ©e sur une rencontre de sujets partiels. Son insistance sur ce quâelle nomme « la plusieurité », qui prĂ©cĂšde les positions autonomes du sujet individuel, dĂ©passe la division problĂ©matique du Soi et de lâAutre et nous aide Ă repenser la relation entre texte source et texte cible. Ettinger nous offre la mĂ©tramorphose « matrixielle », qui, Ă la diffĂ©rence de la mĂ©tamorphose, nâimplique pas de transformations totales, car elle signale plutĂŽt une expansion ou un dĂ©veloppement. Sur le plan textuel, les traductions nâeffacent pas leur origine dans des correspondances Ă©quivalentes ou des pertes inĂ©vitables; elles les prolongent grĂące aux Ă©changes oĂč lâorigine demeure au sein des traductions. Remplaçant lâĂ©quivalence comme but et la fidĂ©litĂ© comme Ă©thique de la traduction, un paradigme matrixiel reflĂšte la dĂ©pendance du texte source, ainsi que la pluralitĂ© de maints textes avant leur traduction. Une pratique de la traduction mĂ©tramorphique amplifie le texte Ă traduire en le mĂ©diatisant par le biais dâune perception de la diffĂ©rence moins polarisĂ©e et plus interreliĂ©e, Ă©tablissant ainsi les bases dâune nouvelle Ă©thique fĂ©ministe
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On Becoming in Translation: Articulating Feminisms in the Translation of Marie Vieux-Chauvet\u27s Les Rapaces
This thesis discusses aspects of feminist translation as exemplified by my French to English translation of Marie Vieux-Chauvetâs novel, Les Rapaces (1984). Articulating feminist translation as a form of activism, I argue that feminism manifests in translation not only informatively, through linguistic and cultural representation, but also through formative processes that are constitutive of texts. Describing some of the key moments in the creation of The Raptors, I show how these relate to Bracha Ettingerâs concept of metramorphic processes and to my own elaboration of her theory with regard to the generative aspect of becoming in translation. Viewing translation as a transformative encounter, from the perspectives of both the translator and the translationâs Haitian American audience, I underline the contribution of feminine paradigms for innovating translation theory and practice
Catherine Malabouâs Plasticity in Translation
Translating Catherine Malabouâs La PlasticitĂ© au soir de lâĂ©criture: Dialectique, destruction, dĂ©construction (2005) for its 2009 English publication, I was struck by how suggestive Malabouâs concept of plasticity is for a reworking of conventional notions of translation. In this philosophical autobiography of her encounters with Hegel, Heidegger, and Derrida, Malabou introduces âplasticity,â suggesting that the more contemporary notion of plasticity supersede Derridaâs proposal of writing as motor scheme. Reviewing and developing Derridaâs innovative discussions of translation, this article argues that the giving, receiving, exploding, and regenerating of form described by plasticity changes change, and therefore alters the transformation that is translation. Adapting Malabouâs philosophical concept to the field of translation studies, I make a distinction between elastic translation and plastic translation, which allows us to break free of paradigms of equivalence that have for so long constrained translation theories and practice. While plasticity drives Malabouâs philosophical intervention in relation to identity and gender, it also enables a productive reconceptualization of translation, one which not only privileges seriality and generativity over narratives of nostalgia for a lost original, but which also forges connections across different identity discourses on translation.En traduisant La plasticitĂ© au soir de lâĂ©criture. Dialectique, destruction, dĂ©construction (2005) de Catherine Malabou en vue de lâĂ©dition anglaise de 2009, jâai Ă©tĂ© frappĂ©e de constater Ă quel point son concept de plasticitĂ© pouvait ĂȘtre utile pour repenser les notions conventionnelles en traduction. Dans cette autobiographie philosophique, qui dĂ©crit ses rencontres avec Hegel, Heidegger, et Derrida, Malabou introduit « la plasticité » en suggĂ©rant que cette notion, plus contemporaine, pourrait remplacer la conception dâĂ©criture comme schĂšme moteur de Derrida. AprĂšs avoir revu et explicitĂ© les rĂ©flexions innovatrices de Derrida sur la traduction, jâavance que les pouvoirs de donner, de recevoir, dâexploser et de rĂ©gĂ©nĂ©rer la forme qui sont dĂ©crits par la plasticitĂ© modifient la modification et altĂšrent ainsi la transformation quâest la traduction. Pour adapter le concept philosophique de Malabou Ă la traductologie, jâĂ©tablis une distinction entre la traduction Ă©lastique et la traduction plastique, ce qui me permet de faire voler en Ă©clats les paradigmes dâĂ©quivalence, qui depuis si longtemps restreignent la thĂ©orie et la pratique de la traduction. Si la plasticitĂ© sous-tend lâintervention philosophique de Malabou face Ă lâidentitĂ© et au genre, elle pousse aussi Ă une re-conceptualisation fĂ©conde de la traduction, en privilĂ©giant non seulement la « sĂ©rialité » et la « gĂ©nĂ©rativité » par rapport à « une esthĂ©tique de nostalgie pour » un original perdu, mais aussi en Ă©tablissant des liens entre les diffĂ©rents discours identitaires au sujet de la traduction
Catherine Malabouâs Plasticity in Translation
Translating Catherine Malabouâs La PlasticitĂ© au soir de lâĂ©criture: Dialectique, destruction, dĂ©construction (2005) for its 2009 English publication, I was struck by how suggestive Malabouâs concept of plasticity is for a reworking of conventional notions of translation. In this philosophical autobiography of her encounters with Hegel, Heidegger, and Derrida, Malabou introduces âplasticity,â suggesting that the more contemporary notion of plasticity supersede Derridaâs proposal of writing as motor scheme. Reviewing and developing Derridaâs innovative discussions of translation, this article argues that the giving, receiving, exploding, and regenerating of form described by plasticity changes change, and therefore alters the transformation that is translation. Adapting Malabouâs philosophical concept to the field of translation studies, I make a distinction between elastic translation and plastic translation, which allows us to break free of paradigms of equivalence that have for so long constrained translation theories and practice. While plasticity drives Malabouâs philosophical intervention in relation to identity and gender, it also enables a productive reconceptualization of translation, one which not only privileges seriality and generativity over narratives of nostalgia for a lost original, but which also forges connections across different identity discourses on translation.En traduisant La plasticitĂ© au soir de lâĂ©criture. Dialectique, destruction, dĂ©construction (2005) de Catherine Malabou en vue de lâĂ©dition anglaise de 2009, jâai Ă©tĂ© frappĂ©e de constater Ă quel point son concept de plasticitĂ© pouvait ĂȘtre utile pour repenser les notions conventionnelles en traduction. Dans cette autobiographie philosophique, qui dĂ©crit ses rencontres avec Hegel, Heidegger, et Derrida, Malabou introduit « la plasticité » en suggĂ©rant que cette notion, plus contemporaine, pourrait remplacer la conception dâĂ©criture comme schĂšme moteur de Derrida. AprĂšs avoir revu et explicitĂ© les rĂ©flexions innovatrices de Derrida sur la traduction, jâavance que les pouvoirs de donner, de recevoir, dâexploser et de rĂ©gĂ©nĂ©rer la forme qui sont dĂ©crits par la plasticitĂ© modifient la modification et altĂšrent ainsi la transformation quâest la traduction. Pour adapter le concept philosophique de Malabou Ă la traductologie, jâĂ©tablis une distinction entre la traduction Ă©lastique et la traduction plastique, ce qui me permet de faire voler en Ă©clats les paradigmes dâĂ©quivalence, qui depuis si longtemps restreignent la thĂ©orie et la pratique de la traduction. Si la plasticitĂ© sous-tend lâintervention philosophique de Malabou face Ă lâidentitĂ© et au genre, elle pousse aussi Ă une re-conceptualisation fĂ©conde de la traduction, en privilĂ©giant non seulement la « sĂ©rialité » et la « gĂ©nĂ©rativité » par rapport à « une esthĂ©tique de nostalgie pour » un original perdu, mais aussi en Ă©tablissant des liens entre les diffĂ©rents discours identitaires au sujet de la traduction
Une intelligence autre: Reception Plasticity and the Melancholy of the Translated Author
Presenting Catherine Malabouâs philosophy of âplasticityâ as a schema relevant to translation, this article examines the reception of a translated work not among a given target audience but rather for the author and translator, who is also the first reader of the work in the new language. Even as the pleasure the translator enjoys in the two languages is discussed, we recognize that the experience of being translated may produce a certain melancholy for the author as a result of leaving their language to communicate with an other intelligence.Ălaborant la philosophie de la « plasticité » de Catherine Malabou comme schĂ©ma pertinent Ă la traduction, cet article examine la rĂ©ception dâune Ćuvre traduite non pas auprĂšs dâun public cible, mais pour lâauteure et sa traductrice â premiĂšre lectrice de lâĆuvre dans cette nouvelle langue. Tout en Ă©voquant le plaisir de la traductrice qui jouit des deux langues, nous admettons que lâexpĂ©rience dâĂȘtre traduite peut, chez lâauteure, produire une certaine mĂ©lancolie, rĂ©sultat du devoir de quitter sa langue pour communiquer avec une intelligence autre
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A theory of matrixial reading: Ethical encounters in Ettinger, LaferriĂšre, Duras, and Huston
Matrixial reading is a new methodology for literary criticism that emphasizes the ethical relevance of literature. Adhering to an interdisciplinary approach, I adopt feminist artist and psychoanalyst Bracha Ettinger\u27s paradigm of subjectivity-as-encounter, based on the maternal/late pre-natal infant relation, to refigure reading relations. Analyzing selected texts, I show how readers are invited to form an ethical covenant based on matrixial, as opposed to phallic, relations. I discuss exile and the foreign in Dany LaferriĂšre\u27s novels; Marguerite Duras\u27 work provokes an epistemological reflection on ignorance; with Nancy Huston I demonstrate the role of reading in healing trauma