This book is a much needed contribution to interdisciplinary research on the intersection of French and Francophone Studies and Translation Studies. It highlights the symbiotic relationship between the two disciplines whereby theories and concepts developed in translation studies provide useful models and paradigms for studying francophone literature, while major concepts that hold sway in the francophone world provide a solid basis for elucidating and understanding translation phenomena. The book is at once a contribution to the growing field of postcolonial francophone studies and the sub-area of postcolonial translation theory. Contributors are experts from a variety of disciplines and hail from various regions across the globe. What unites them is their interest in translation and its conceptualization both as an interlinguistic practice and a metaphor for intercultural communication and transcultural relations. The contributions draw on literature, film, historical documents and critical theories by French and francophone thinkers, highlighting the significance of translation for African, Caribbean and migrant francophone discourse.

A Linguistic Handbook of French for Translators and Language Students offers the reader an in-depth contrastive study of French and English based on recent theories of linguistics and discourse analysis. At the same time it is a practical manual for the advanced language student or the translator with dozens of exercises in analyzing and translating French along with detailed corrections. Organized in three sections – Structure, Perspective and Coherence – the handbook first explores French word formation and syntax, then moves on to the use of tense and aspect, illocution and speech styles in various text types. Finally, problems concerning textual coherence and cohesion in both languages are discussed: anaphora and ellipsis, relevance and equivalence and information structure. Each chapter is followed by a list of suggested readings for further discussion and a detailed glossary at the end of the book explains all technical terms used. The handbook is designed to be used either as a textbook or for individuals working at home.

This volume collects papers presented at the annual French Literature Conference, sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures of the University of South Carolina.

This volume is of particular relevance to literary and filmic translators, to translation theorists and to anyone with an interest in translation as an art. Throughout the majority of essays in the volume, translation is projected as a complex creative task and not as an exercise in simply re-encoding the meaning of a source text. The received superiority of the original is ultimately questioned here. The customary binary divide between original and translation or copy, and between author and translator is forcefully challenged as cinematic and literary translation is presented as an essentially creative process. Whether highlighting specific author-related problems or whether focusing on the broader issues of the ethics of translation, of cultural transmissibility or of obsolescence, the general thrust of these essays seeks to demonstrate the authorial credentials of the translator. Despite the cogent counter-arguments advanced by a minority of the contributors, the dominant discourse here is one which replaces the stereotypical, virtually anonymous translator with a high-profile, creative figure.

Focusing on the African writer and the language of the former colonial power, The Francophone African Text: Translation and the Postcolonial Experience highlights the writer's re-appropriation of the foreign language in the creative writing process. It calls attention to the African writer's use of French, a process of creative translation in which the writer's words form a hybrid code that compels the original French to refer to the indigenous African language for meaning. Examining a group of works under the theme of translation, this book reveals that a consideration of both ideological and linguistic elements enhances understanding of the subject from the broader perspective of postcolonial discourse.

Translation—as a concept—has become central to postcolonial theory in recent decades, offering useful insights and metaphors for the processes explored within the framework of postcolonial studies. But translation itself is still an underexplored activity within this discipline. Intimate Enemies rights this wrong, weaving together reflections on translation by translators, authors, and academics working in regions of Africa, the Caribbean, and nations in the Indian Ocean. Moving beyond the traditional view of translation as betraying, at some level, original texts, the contributors instead highlight the potential for translation to counter the destructive effects of globalization, promote linguistic diversity, and reveal the dynamic political and economic contexts in which books are written, sold, and read.

The linguistically innovative aspect of Francophone African literature has been recognized and studied from a variety of angles over recent decades, yet little attention has been paid to what happens to such literature when it is translated into another language. Taking as its corpus all sub-Saharan Francophone African texts that have ever been published in English, this book explores the ways in which translators approach innovative features such as African-language borrowings, neologisms and other deliberate manipulations of French, depictions of sociolinguistic variation, and a variety of types of wordplay. The implications of their translation decisions are drawn out with reference to the broader significances that are often accorded to postcolonial literature, and earlier critics' calls for a decolonized translation practice are explored from both a practical and theoretical angle. These findings are used to push towards a detailed investigation of the postcolonial turn in translation studies, drawing on the work of key postcolonial theorists such has Homi K. Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak. This is a timely and incisive critical assessment of contemporary discourses on the ethics and politics of translation.