This Element explores the politics of literary translation via case studies from the Heinemann African Writers Series and the work of twenty-first-century literary translators in Cameroon. It intervenes in debates concerning multilingualism, race and decolonization, as well as methodological discussion in African literary studies, world literature, comparative literature and translation studies. The task of translating African literary texts has developed according to political and socio-economic contexts. It has contributed to the consecration of a canon of African classics and fuelled polemics around African languages. Yet retranslation remains rare and early translations are frequently criticised. This Element's primary focus on the labour rather than craft or art of translation emphasises the material basis that underpins who gets to translate and how that embodied labour occurs within the process of book production and reception. The arguments draw on close readings, fresh archival material, interviews, and co-production and observation of literary translation workshops.
Author(s): Ruth Bush
Series: Elements in Publishing and Book Culture
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 118
City: Cambridge
Cover
Title page
Copyright page
Translation Imperatives
Contents
1 Introduction
2 Translation Is Not a Metaphor
Metaphors and the Literary Commons
Contextualising Untranslatability and Retranslatability
3 ‘Mere Translation!’ Rereading Multilingual Labour in the Heinemann African Writers Series
Murderers and Proles?
Expatriate Translators and African University Life
‘Distraction’, ‘Hackwork’, or ‘Drudgery’?
Translating Negritude Poetry: Form, Language, and Materials
Translation and Solidarity in the Black Atlantic
‘Right On!’ Simon Mpondo and the Translations of David Diop’s Coups de pilon
4 Translation Workshops: Multilingualism and Epistemic Violence in Contemporary Cameroon
Materiality, Form, and Translation in the Contemporary African Literary Scene
Literary Translation Workshops in Multilingual Cameroon: Background, Antecedents, and Parallels to the Bakwa Workshop
Feasibility Study, Focus Groups, and Workshop Overview
Pedagogy in Literary Translation Workshops
Multilingual Pedagogy at the Bakwa Literary Translation Workshop
Two-Way Learning in the Workshop Space: North/South Lessons
Retranslation and Extroversion
5 Conclusion
References
Acknowledgements
