Charlotte BOSSEAUX, How Does it Feel? Point of View in Translation. The Case of Virginia Woolf into French, Amsterdam / New York, Rodopi (Approaches to Translation Studies), 2007, 247 p.
ISBN 978-90-420-2202-7
SUMMARY
Narratology is concerned with the study of narratives; but surprisinglyit does not usually distinguish between original and translated texts.This lack of distinction is regrettable. In recent years the visibilityof translations and translators has become a widely discussed topic inTranslation Studies; yet the issue of translating a novel’s point ofview has remained relatively unexplored. It seems crucial to ask howfar a translator’s choices affect the novel’s point of view, andwhether characters or narrators come across similarly in originals andtranslations.
Thisbook addresses exactly these questions. It proposes a method by whichit becomes possible to investigate how the point of view of a work offiction is created in an original and adapted in translation. It showsthat there are potential problems involved in the translation oflinguistic features that constitute point of view (deixis, modality,transitivity and free indirect discourse) and that this has an impacton the way works are translated.
Traditionally, comparativeanalysis of originals and their translations have relied on manualexaminations; this book demonstrates that corpus-based tools cangreatly facilitate and sharpen the process of comparison. The method isdemonstrated using Virginia Woolf’s To The Lighthouse (1927) and The Waves (1931), and their French translations.
CONTENTS
Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter One: Narrative Point of View and Translation
Chapter Two: The Different Categories of Point of View
Chapter Three: Methodological Tools and Framework
Chapter Four: Virginia Woolf, a Case in Point
Chapter Five: The Model Demonstrated Case-Study One: To the Lighthouse
Chapter Six: The Model Demonstrated Case-Study Two: The Waves
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index