Metaphors, women and translation
from les belles infidèles to la frontera
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v7i1.97Keywords:
history of translation, gender and translation, women and metaphors in translationAbstract
One of the main concerns of translation theory from the 17th century till today has been the problem of how to be faithful to the original text. Further, this concern regarding both the origin and the originality of the source text has given rise to numerous metaphors in connection with gender and sexuality. In this article I undertake an overview of the history of gender metaphors in translation as found in the writings of translators and theorists from all periods. Through the metaphors appearing in their texts, I examine how authors such as Gilles Menáge, Friedrich Schleiermacher and George Steiner perpetuate the patriarchal stereotypes, and how Gloria Anzaldúa, Jacques Derrida, Carol Maier, Maria-Mercè Marçal, Carolyn Shread and other authors seek to go beyond these stereotypes by forging new metaphors. I have made use of Derridian terminology to rename the three parts of the article: 1) The First Age or les belles infidels – the age of sexist and androcentric sexual metaphors; 2) The Second Age or the Derridian ‘double bind’ – the age in which Derrida presents a model of metaphor which, despite using sexual language, defends the woman and translation; and 3) The Third Age or the new metaphors – the age of non-sexual metaphors.
References
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Bassnett, S. (2005) Translation, Gender and Otherness. Perspectives. Studies in Translatology 13 (2): 83–90.
Bhabha, H. k. (1990) The Third Space. In J. Rutherford (ed.) Identity, Community, Culture, Difference 207–221. London: Lawrence and wishart.
Bhabha, H. k. (1994) The Location of Culture. London: Routledge.
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Camps, a. (2011) ‘a mitad de camino entre aquí y allá, en medio de quién sabe dónde’: Traducir la/desde la frontera. Monografías de Traducción e Interpretación 3: 337–354.
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Derrida, J. (1985) des Tours de Babel. Translated by J. f. Graham. In J. Graham (ed.) Difference in Translation 165–258. Ithaca, New york: Cornell University Press.
Derrida, J. (1987) Positions. Translated by a. Bass. London: The athlone Press.
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Ettinger, B. L. (1994) The becoming threshold of matrixial borderlines. In G. Robertson, m. mash, L. Tickner, J. Bird, B. Curtis and T. Putnam (eds) Traveller’s Tales: Narratives of Home and Displacement 38–62. London: Routledge.
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Fusco, C. (1995) English is Broken Here. New york: The New Press.
Godard, B. (1990) Theorizing feminist discourse/Translation. In S. Bassnett and a. Lefevere (eds) Translation, History, Culture 87–95. London: Routledge.
Godayol, P. (2000) Espais de frontera. Gènere i traducció. Vic: Eumo Editorial.
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Godayol, P. (2012) malintzin / La malinche / doña marina: Rereading the myth of the traitorous translator. Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies 18: 61–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14701847.2012.716645
Gómez-Peña, G. (1992) The new world (b)order. Third Text 21: 74.
Hanne, m. (2006) metaphors for the translator. In S. Bassnett and P. Bush (eds) The Translator as Writer 208–24. London: Continuum.
Husserl, E. (1962) L’origine de géométrie. Translated by J. derrida. Paris: Presses Universitaires de france.
Lefevere, a. (ed.) (1992) Translation/History/Culture: A Sourcebook. London: Routledge.
Littau, k. (2000) Pandora’s Tongues. Traduction, Terminologie, Rédaction XIII (1): 21–35.
López Ponz, m. (2009) Traducción y literatura chicana: nuevas perspectivas desde la hibridación. Granada: Comares.
Lotbinière Harwood, S. (1991) Re-belle et infidèle: la traduction comme practique de réécriture au feminin/The body bilingual: translation as a rewriting in the feminine. montreal/Toronto: Les éditions du remue-ménage/women’s Press.
Maier, C. (1994) women in translation: current intersections, theory and practice. Delos 5 (2): 29–39.
Maier, C. (1996) found in translation: The translators. In On Translation: The Games 58–67. atlanta: atlanta College of art Gallery.
Marçal, m.-m. (2004) Sota el signe del drac. Proses 1985–1997. Barcelona: Proa.
Mezei, k. (1998) Bilingualism and translation in/of michèle Lalonde’s ‘Speak white’. Special Issue: Translation and minority. The Translator: 4 (2): 229–247.
Mills, S. (1995) Feminist Stylistics. London: Routledge.
Pratt, m. L. (1992) Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation. London and New york: Routledge.
Robinson, d. (1997) Western Translation Theory: From Herodotus to Nietzsche. manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.
Said, E. w. (1991) Identity, authority and freedom: the potentate and the traveler. Cape Town University. Conference, 22 may 1991.
Shread, C. (2008) metamorphosis or metramorphosis? Towards a feminist ethics of difference in translation. Traduction, Terminologie, Rédaction XX (2): 213–242.
Simon, S. (1996) Gender in Translation: Cultural Identity and the Politics of Transmission. London and New york: Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203202890
Spivak, G. C. (1974/1997) Translator’s preface. In J. derrida Of Grammatology ix–xc. Baltimore, maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press.
St. andré, J. (2010) Thinking through Translation with Metaphors. manchester: St. Jerome.
Steiner, G. (1975/1992) After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation. Oxford and New york: Oxford University Press.
Vidal Claramonte, Á. (1998) El futuro de la traducción. Valencia: Institució alfons el magnànim
Vidal Claramonte, Á. (2007) Traducir entre culturas. frankfurt: Peter Lang.
von flotow, L. (1997) Translation and Gender: Translating in the ‘Era of Feminism’. manchester and Ottawa: St. Jerome Publishing and University of Ottawa Press.
von flotow, L. (2012) Translating women: from recent histories and re-translations to ‘queerying’ translation, and metramorphosis. Quaderns. Revista de traducció 19: 127–139.
Wilson, B. (1990) Gaudí Afternoon. Seattle: Seal Press.
Zaccaria, P. (2008) Traducir fronteras, poner en escena el transnacionalismo. DeSignis 12: 75–84.
Anzaldúa, G. and keating, a. (ed.) (2002) This Bridge We Call Home: Radical Visions for Transformation. New york: Routledge.
Bassnett, S. (1999) metaphorically Translating. Textus Quaderni di studi semiotici (La traduzione). G. franci and S. Nergaard (eds) (January-april) 84: 35–45.
Bassnett, S. (2005) Translation, Gender and Otherness. Perspectives. Studies in Translatology 13 (2): 83–90.
Bhabha, H. k. (1990) The Third Space. In J. Rutherford (ed.) Identity, Community, Culture, Difference 207–221. London: Lawrence and wishart.
Bhabha, H. k. (1994) The Location of Culture. London: Routledge.
Brufau alvira, N. (2010) Las teorías feministas de la traducción a examen: destilaciones para el siglo XXI. Granada: Comares.
Camps, a. (2011) ‘a mitad de camino entre aquí y allá, en medio de quién sabe dónde’: Traducir la/desde la frontera. Monografías de Traducción e Interpretación 3: 337–354.
Chamberlain, L. (1992) Gender and the metaphorics of translation. In L. Venuti (ed.) Rethinking Translation 57–74. London: Routledge.
Derrida, J. (1978) Spurs: Nietzsche’s Styles / Éperons. Les Styles de Nietzsche. Translated by S. agosti. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Derrida, J. (1979a) Living on: Borderlines. Translated by J. Hulbert. In H. Bloom, P. de man, J. derrida, G. H. Hartman and J. H. miller (eds) Deconstruction and Criticism 75–175. New york: Seabury Press.
Derrida, J. (1979b) me-psychoanalysis: an introduction to the translation of ‘The shell and the kernel’ by Nicolas abraham. Translated by R. klein. Diacritics 9 (1): 4–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/464696
Derrida, J. (1985) des Tours de Babel. Translated by J. f. Graham. In J. Graham (ed.) Difference in Translation 165–258. Ithaca, New york: Cornell University Press.
Derrida, J. (1987) Positions. Translated by a. Bass. London: The athlone Press.
Derrida, J. (1988a / 1985) Roundtable on translation. In C. mcdonald (ed.) The Ear of the Other: Otobiography, Transference, Translation 93–161. Translated by P. kamuf. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Derrida, J. (1988b) Letter to a Japanese friend. In d. wood and R. Bernasconi (eds) Derrida and différance 1–5. Translated by d. wood and a. Benjamin. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press.
Derrida, J. (1988c) Ulysses gramophone: Hear say yes in Joyce. In B. Benstock (ed.) James Joyce: The Augmented Ninth 27–75. Translated by T. kendall and S. Benstock. New york: Syracuse University Press.
Derrida, J. (2000) what is a ‘relevant’ translation? Critical Inquiry 27 (4): 169–200. Translated by L. Venuti.
Ettinger, B. L. (1994) The becoming threshold of matrixial borderlines. In G. Robertson, m. mash, L. Tickner, J. Bird, B. Curtis and T. Putnam (eds) Traveller’s Tales: Narratives of Home and Displacement 38–62. London: Routledge.
Federici, E. (2011) metaphors in dialogue: feminist literary critics, translators and wtiters. Monografías de Traducción e Interpretación 3: 355–376. http://dx.doi.org/10.6035/monTI.2011.3.12
Fusco, C. (1995) English is Broken Here. New york: The New Press.
Godard, B. (1990) Theorizing feminist discourse/Translation. In S. Bassnett and a. Lefevere (eds) Translation, History, Culture 87–95. London: Routledge.
Godayol, P. (2000) Espais de frontera. Gènere i traducció. Vic: Eumo Editorial.
Godayol, P. (2005) frontera spaces: Translating as/like a woman. In J. Santaemilia (ed.) Gender, Sex and Translation: The Manipulation of Identities 9–14. manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.
Godayol, P. (2012) malintzin / La malinche / doña marina: Rereading the myth of the traitorous translator. Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies 18: 61–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14701847.2012.716645
Gómez-Peña, G. (1992) The new world (b)order. Third Text 21: 74.
Hanne, m. (2006) metaphors for the translator. In S. Bassnett and P. Bush (eds) The Translator as Writer 208–24. London: Continuum.
Husserl, E. (1962) L’origine de géométrie. Translated by J. derrida. Paris: Presses Universitaires de france.
Lefevere, a. (ed.) (1992) Translation/History/Culture: A Sourcebook. London: Routledge.
Littau, k. (2000) Pandora’s Tongues. Traduction, Terminologie, Rédaction XIII (1): 21–35.
López Ponz, m. (2009) Traducción y literatura chicana: nuevas perspectivas desde la hibridación. Granada: Comares.
Lotbinière Harwood, S. (1991) Re-belle et infidèle: la traduction comme practique de réécriture au feminin/The body bilingual: translation as a rewriting in the feminine. montreal/Toronto: Les éditions du remue-ménage/women’s Press.
Maier, C. (1994) women in translation: current intersections, theory and practice. Delos 5 (2): 29–39.
Maier, C. (1996) found in translation: The translators. In On Translation: The Games 58–67. atlanta: atlanta College of art Gallery.
Marçal, m.-m. (2004) Sota el signe del drac. Proses 1985–1997. Barcelona: Proa.
Mezei, k. (1998) Bilingualism and translation in/of michèle Lalonde’s ‘Speak white’. Special Issue: Translation and minority. The Translator: 4 (2): 229–247.
Mills, S. (1995) Feminist Stylistics. London: Routledge.
Pratt, m. L. (1992) Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation. London and New york: Routledge.
Robinson, d. (1997) Western Translation Theory: From Herodotus to Nietzsche. manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.
Said, E. w. (1991) Identity, authority and freedom: the potentate and the traveler. Cape Town University. Conference, 22 may 1991.
Shread, C. (2008) metamorphosis or metramorphosis? Towards a feminist ethics of difference in translation. Traduction, Terminologie, Rédaction XX (2): 213–242.
Simon, S. (1996) Gender in Translation: Cultural Identity and the Politics of Transmission. London and New york: Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203202890
Spivak, G. C. (1974/1997) Translator’s preface. In J. derrida Of Grammatology ix–xc. Baltimore, maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press.
St. andré, J. (2010) Thinking through Translation with Metaphors. manchester: St. Jerome.
Steiner, G. (1975/1992) After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation. Oxford and New york: Oxford University Press.
Vidal Claramonte, Á. (1998) El futuro de la traducción. Valencia: Institució alfons el magnànim
Vidal Claramonte, Á. (2007) Traducir entre culturas. frankfurt: Peter Lang.
von flotow, L. (1997) Translation and Gender: Translating in the ‘Era of Feminism’. manchester and Ottawa: St. Jerome Publishing and University of Ottawa Press.
von flotow, L. (2012) Translating women: from recent histories and re-translations to ‘queerying’ translation, and metramorphosis. Quaderns. Revista de traducció 19: 127–139.
Wilson, B. (1990) Gaudí Afternoon. Seattle: Seal Press.
Zaccaria, P. (2008) Traducir fronteras, poner en escena el transnacionalismo. DeSignis 12: 75–84.
Published
2013-02-15
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Godayol, P. (2013). Metaphors, women and translation: from les belles infidèles to la frontera. Gender and Language, 7(1), 97-116. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v7i1.97
