Translation as Reparation showcases postcolonial Africa by offering African European-language literature as a case study for postcolonial translation theory, and proposes a new perspective for postcolonial literary criticism informed by theories of translation. The book focuses on translingualism and interculturality in African Europhone literature, highlighting the role of oral culture and artistry in the writing of fiction. The fictionalizing of African orature in postcolonial literature is viewed in terms of translation and an intercultural writing practice which challenge the canons of colonial linguistic propriety through the subversion of social and linguistic conventions. The study opens up pathways for developing new insights into the ethics of translation, as it raises issues related to the politics of language, ideology, identity, accented writing and translation. It confirms the place of translation theory in literary criticism and affirms the importance of translation in the circulation of texts, particularly those from minority cultures, in the global marketplace.
Grounded in a multidisciplinary approach, the book will be of interest to students and scholars in a variety of fields, including translation studies, African literature and culture, sociolinguistics and multilingualism, postcolonial and intercultural studies.
Author(s): Paul F. Bandia
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 280
City: London
Tags: translation studies, translation
Cover......Page 1
Title Page......Page 2
Copyright Page......Page 3
Dedication......Page 4
Half Title......Page 6
Table of Contents......Page 8
Acknowledgements......Page 10
Introduction......Page 11
1. Introduction......Page 23
2. The polemics of language......Page 25
3. Colonial language policies......Page 27
4. Criticism and responses......Page 31
5. Critical view of orality and its influences......Page 34
6. The complex union of writing and orality......Page 35
1. Introduction......Page 41
2. The pragmatics of African oral discourse in European-language writing......Page 42
2.1. Crosscultural pragmatics and intercultural writing......Page 43
2.2. Theoretical relevance for transcultural analysis......Page 46
3. Writing culture and identity......Page 47
4. Sociopragmatics and culture-specific discourse......Page 49
5. What’s in a name? Writing traditional onomastic practices......Page 50
5.1. Pragmatic functions of naming......Page 60
2. Interculturality and discoursal indirectness......Page 63
3. The art of oratory......Page 71
4. Proverbs, aphorisms and intercultural narratives......Page 83
4.1 Proverb patterns and style......Page 85
4.2 Proverb content and meaning......Page 86
5. Intercultural narratives and ‘African time’ concepts......Page 96
6. The aesthetics of vulgarity......Page 101
1. Introduction......Page 109
2. Lexical innovation and formation......Page 110
3. Semantic shifts......Page 111
4. Interpolations of the vernacular......Page 119
5. Hybrid formations and some lexical innovation strategies......Page 124
6. Recreating ornamental discourse......Page 128
1. Pidgins and creoles in creative writing......Page 132
2. Linguistic hybridity in Francophone literature......Page 141
3. Polylingualism and intercultural writing......Page 146
4. Code-switching and literary stylistics......Page 152
5. Code-switching, translation and resistance......Page 157
1. Interculturality, heteroglossia and inter-European language translation......Page 169
2. Towards a postcolonial translation theory for African literature......Page 173
3. From orature to writing: accented translation between colonial languages......Page 180
4. Tripartite or three-tier approach......Page 183
4.1. Initial translation or the orality/writing interface......Page 185
4.2. Postcolonial translation as conversion......Page 188
5. Between Francophone and Anglophone literatures: translation as conversion......Page 194
1. Creative writing and translating in non-indigenous or second languages......Page 227
1.1. The impact of orality......Page 228
1.2. Language contact and cultural encounter......Page 231
2. Postcoloniality and translation......Page 237
3. Writing, translation and an ethics of difference......Page 240
3.1. Translation equivalence or sameness in difference......Page 242
Bibliography......Page 252
Index......Page 267
