Theories of children's literature and of translating for children

In this posting, I return to the topic of the translation into French of the Harry Potter novels by J.K. Rowling.

In previous postings, I've discussed numerous examples of how the translator rendered this series of novels into French, describing, and suggesting reasons for, his target language style, individual creation of French 'equivalents' for various colorfully named characters, and so on.

But in this posting, I would like to continue explaining the background to my research on the translation into French of J.K. Rowling's fiction. I will thus begin with a presentation of the main themes of the Potter novels, together with an examination of their impact within literary polysystems. I consider the reasons why they have enjoyed outstanding success, and ponder how best they might be categorized. I shall next talk about some of the academic literature on translating for children. The central consideration of this posting is, however, a discussion of translational norms.

There is probably little need to provide extensive background information on the ‘Harry Potter’ novels, so great is their renown. The basic premise of the series is that the eponymous hero is orphaned as a baby, and brought up by his aunt and uncle, the Dursleys, who indulge their own son while mistreating the unfortunate Harry Potter. They have told him that his parents were killed in a car crash, but Harry discovers the truth on his eleventh birthday, that his parents were wizards, murdered by the evil wizard Voldemort, who failed in his attempt to kill the infant Harry. This attack has left Harry with a permanent scar on his forehead and has reduced Voldemort to a semi-human fragment of his former self. Harry’s discovery of his true origins is his means of escape from his horrendous existence, as he is summoned to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a boarding school for apprentice sorcerers. At this school, he becomes embroiled in dramatic adventures, as he is under threat from repeated attempts on his life by Voldemort. Harry discovers that he is the only wizard who can kill Voldemort, and thus save the world from the reign of terror which this Dark Lord wishes to unleash. Ultimately, Harry and his nemesis are destined to do battle in a fight to the death which only one of them can survive, a duel programmed to take place in the final novel.


Complexity and Progression

An original aspect of this series is that the central character matures over the course of the novels, in tandem with those readers who began their acquaintance with Harry Potter when they themselves were children. This feature differentiates Rowling’s writings from the works of a writer such as Enid Blyton, whose characters remained ageless over their years of formulaic crime-solving. Furthermore, as the hero grows from childhood into young adulthood, the novels become progressively longer, more complex, challenging, serious, and darker. J.K. Rowling is unflinching in her presentation of such darker themes as danger and death. These themes, together with the complexity of her plots, their symbolism, hidden layers of meaning, high literary values and challenging language, mean that these books do not conform to what is conventionally understood as ‘children’s literature’. Nor do they have clear resolutions or happy endings.

Adolescent readers are helped, through their imaginative accompaniment of Harry Potter, to negotiate the transitional journey to adulthood. This transition is also negotiated within each individual novel: Rowling’s novels generally begin in the familiar territory of conventional children’s literature, but the reader is gradually transported to a darker terrain. Rowling’s works are ‘hybrid’ and ‘transitional’, as their protagonists and some younger readers are on a bridge between childhood and adulthood.

Cross-Generational Appeal and Varied Genres

The novels thus offer a variety of genres and moods, making them appeal to a broad cross-section of the public. I have detected, in these works, elements of the traditional fantasy story, juxtaposed with a component of mystery and suspense, as well as a variety of tones and moods ranging from light comedy to horror. Therefore, Rowling’s works may require adult guidance in the case of some younger readers.

Canonicity

Rowling’s works occupy a canonical position within the literary polysystem of their Anglophone SC, and are equally esteemed in their many TCs. This contention is borne out by positive critical and academic reaction, as revealed, for example, by an examination of review articles. Let us briefly consider what some British reviewers, quoted on some of the book covers, have said: the Times Literary Supplement stated that ‘Hogwarts is a creation of genius’. The Herald appears to recognise the power of these novels to appeal to adult readers, when it describes their ‘imaginative power, emotional intensity and entrancing complexity’, parameters according to which only literature for adult readers is normally evaluated. The publication Scotland on Sunday described the second Potter novel as ‘an intricately woven, highly imaginative tale…cleverly textured, sophisticated fiction.’ As for critical reaction in France, reviews have been equally positive: the literary periodical Je Bouquine approves the third novel’s emotional range: ‘On rit toujours autant, on frissonne beaucoup plus, on pleure parfois…un bonheur absolu!’ A similarly favourable reception is accorded by Libération: ‘A ce niveau-là, ce n’est plus un succès d’édition, mais un envoûtement universel.’

As regards academic evaluation, an article dated December 10th, 2004, on a University of Kansas website, describes how a professor of English at that institution ‘turned her enjoyment of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books into an academic exercise.’ Giselle Anatol perceived the multiple layers of meaning and symbolism in Rowling’s texts, and began to critically analyse them. She published a series of conference papers under the title Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays (Contributions to Popular Culture), which contained essays examining the novels from a variety of scholarly perspectives, with such titles as Reading Harry Potter through Theories of Child Development, and Harry Potter’s Schooldays: J.K. Rowling and the British Boarding School Novel. Thus, academics view the Harry Potter series as being more than simplistic literature, and refute the belief that so-called children’s literature is unworthy of serious consideration. It is recognized by such scholars that these texts have moral lessons which can influence how children interact with others. Brown (2005, p.14) notes that, while initial U.S. critical reaction tended to assess these novels according to criteria usually reserved for so-called ‘children’s literature’, their subsequent permeation of the adult literary market resulted in their being re-evaluated as serious literature (in this quotation, Brown is referring specifically to the first novel in the series):

The way in which Harrison {a literary critic} imbues the novel with “emotional essence”, “mythic vision” and “deeper emotions that underlay the best parts of the book” shows a stark difference from its reception early on, when it was mistakenly relegated to simply being a very good children’s book.
(Brown, 2005, p.14.)

Characteristics Typical of Children’s Literature

To explain the appeal of this series, as well as its literary merit, it is helpful to consider, firstly, those features which enable it to be categorized as ‘children’s literature’, and secondly, to consider those elements which have lent these works their classification as ‘adult literature’. On the one hand, the Potter novels have certain features in common with ‘young persons’ literature: the central characters are a group of children who frequently find themselves in positions of danger, and who succeed in outwitting wrongdoers and earning respect from the adult world. Furthermore, Rowling’s works are tales of fantasy, like other famous works for children, such as Arabian Nights, The Hobbit or Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Brown (2005, p. 16) thus points out, in reference to Rowling’s work, that
…we are placed in a world where children have the ability to act with as much authority and importance as adults, to the point that adults here are often marginalized to minor character roles…This glorification of child authority is often seen as a defining characteristic of children’s literature.
(Brown, 2004, p.16)
Let us now contrast the above features with the characteristics more typical of adult literature.

Characteristics Typical of Adult Literature

Firstly, the quality of Rowling’s writing is far from the type of simplified language usually associated with texts for younger readers. Her style is linguistically challenging, with a formal register and advanced vocabulary. Adults have enthusiastically approved their children’s reading of Rowling’s novels, because of their high literary values, seen as educationally beneficial.
Secondly, one must acknowledge the complexity of the plots and the sweeping cast of characters. There are thus increasingly convoluted mysteries, and progressively more serious issues are dealt with, ranging from grief to adolescent anxieties. Furthermore, the ambivalent meanings and the symbolism of the novels are elements which make these texts appeal to adult readers. For example, the deadly enmity between Harry and Voldemort is symbolic of the battle between good and evil, yet these novels have a strong moral core, in that good is seen to triumph. Another example of symbolism is the suggestion of racial discrimination in the attitudes of certain wizards, who regard as inferior so-called ‘half-blood’ wizards, that is, those whose ancestry is partly non-magical. The ‘Dark Forces’ of the magical community plan to take over the world and to enslave those who are not pure-blood wizards – such a theme has symbolic connotations, bringing to mind the horrors of the Nazi regime. Such symbolism encourages readers to reflect deeply on these texts, and to interpret them figuratively, rather than on a purely literal level.

Thirdly, readers are encouraged to show empathy when they feel the emotions engendered in the young hero – such feelings include the fear of death and the pain of loneliness, cruelty, bullying (at home and at school), abuse, and bereavement. Rowling does not shy away from exposing younger readers to the harsher realities of life, yet her moral stance is reassuring.

Fourthly, in an article in the French literary magazine, Lire, the philosopher Isabelle Smadja, who has published a study of the Potter novels entitled Harry Potter, les raisons d’un succès, (Harry Potter: the secret of its success, my translation) outlines her views on the morality of Rowling’s work:

La magie noire, quant à elle, est dénoncée comme maléfique et malfaisante. Les valeurs transmises sont l’apprentissage, la diffusion du savoir. La magie sert à faire passer un message très moral sans que cela prenne l’apparence d’une morale. (As for black magic, it is denounced as being evil and harmful. The values transmitted are those of learning and the dissemination of knowledge. Magic is used to convey a very moral message, without seeming to assume the appearance of transmitting morals [my translation]).
(Dresse, 2002, p.1)

A further adult feature, which adds realism, is the level of detail deployed in describing the wizarding world. Rowling offers in-depth descriptions of the boarding school surroundings of Harry Potter - in fact, she creates a whole ancient culture for this world of sorcery, adding to its authenticity. Brown (2004, p. 17) refers to ‘this detailed fantastic world that engrosses the reader’, which, he says, is ‘more characteristic of the immersive worlds created by adult best-selling authors like John Irving and John Steinbeck.’ I feel that Rowling’s intricately fashioned magical world is equally reminiscent of Tolkein’s complex world in his Lord of the Rings series. There is also the idea that the non-magical community exists in tandem with a secret, magical parallel world: the ways in which these co-existing universes occasionally overlap is fascinating. Harry Potter thus becomes additionally exciting, in that he is one of those rare wizards who straddle these parallel communities. In this sense, he bears a type of ‘hybrid’ identity, just as the novels themselves represent a hybrid literary genre, and just as the hero and many of his readers are ‘in-between’ childhood and adulthood.

Categorization

Rowling’s works are difficult to classify. They do not slot neatly into any pre-established literary category, and they call into question the concept of ‘children’s literature’ as a lesser-quality genre. I suggest that Rowling’s cross-generational appeal has forced the reading public to reconsider notions of rigidly defined boundaries between reading matter suitable for children as opposed to adults. Her novels prove that children are capable of appreciating more challenging literature, and that adults equally enjoy works which they might normally have dismissed as intended for younger readers, if the works are of sufficient quality. J.K. Rowling has stated that when she began writing the series, she did not intend it to be aimed only at children:
I didn’t know then that it was going to be a book for children – I just knew that I had this boy, Harry.
(Fraser, 2000, p.20.)

Translating Children’s Literature.

I would now like to review, briefly, some of the main theories associated with concepts of childhood, and theories of the translation of children’s literature. One of the contemporary scholars operating in the domain of translation of texts for young people is O’Connell. She supports the notion that the translation of so-called children’s literature deserves to be researched in greater detail. She feels that two particularly worthwhile areas of research are:
…studies of current translation practice and specific problems encountered by translations…[and] studies [of] the reception and influence of translations in the target language…
(O’Connell, 2000, p.100.)
The present research attempts to investigate both of these suggested areas.

Defining Childhood

O’Connell feels that the terms ‘children’ and ‘childhood’ refer to a diverse group of readers with differing tastes. Rowling appeals to the varying expectations of a heterogeneous segment of reading children, through the originality of her writings. I find that the French translator, Jean-François Ménard, has met the challenge of transferring the creativeness of the STs into the TC, through close translational equivalence – as O’Connell points out:
This idea [the heterogeneity of children] is clearly of relevance to translators of texts for children who, if they endeavour to retain as much of the range and diversity of the original, will create translations better able to satisfy the wide-ranging needs and expectations of a heterogeneous audience of children…
(O’Connell, 2000, p.105.)


Shifting Values

O’Connell notes that cultural beliefs about what constitutes appropriate reading material for children have changed over time and across cultures. She refers to the differing translations of the Grimm brothers’ folk tale Little Red Riding Hood – different translators rendered this tale variously, according to the cultural demands of their time, some TTs being more simplified and devoid of darker elements than others. I would similarly argue that the differences between the Blyton books, with their uniform, simple themes, and the darker worlds created by writers such as Rowling and Snicket, point to a significantly altered concept of childhood reading material between the 1950s and the present.

Common Features of Children’s Literature

O’Connell notes that the concept of ‘children’s literature’ embraces a range of genres, from novels and plays to nursery rhymes and fairytales, to name but a few. It is therefore difficult to capture the scope of the concept in a concise definition. However, O’Connell isolates distinctive features of this genre. She refers to its dual audience of older and younger readers, the latter being the primary readership, as well as to the ‘ambivalent content’ (O’Connell, 2000, p.107) of many of these works – Rowling’s novels display the latter feature:

…while it is true that many works of children’s literature and other texts for children appeal essentially much more to the primary audience, others are… ‘ambivalent texts’…Such texts operate on a number of different levels of meaning and sophistication, and thus can be understood by a child in terms of their conventional, literal meaning or interpreted by an adult on a more sophisticated or satirical level as well.
(O’Connell, 2000, p. 104.)

Complex texts are sometimes simplified in translation: ‘…many ambivalent STs are much more univalent in translation’. (O’Connell, 2000, p.108.) For instance, some of Pérrault's Tales of Mother Goose were expurgated and bowdlerized of their more violent aspects in some English versions for children, e.g. in the Ladybird book versions. But this bowdlerization does not apply to the French translations of Harry Potter: I find that the French TTs of Rowling’s novels retain the multi-layered meanings of the STs, preserving all of their ambivalence and darkness.

O’Connell also notes (2000, p.109) that, as most children’s authors are adults, they can sometimes be patronizing in their choice of content or language – however, this accusation could not be levelled at Rowling. This failure to be truly in touch with the abilities of younger readers can also apply to translators. However, Ménard appears to be one of that ‘small number of translators who specialise…in works for children’ (O’Connell, 2000, p. 110), so that his capacity to respect the intelligence of his young readers is reflected in the quality of his TTs. In addition, the fact that he is also a successful writer of original French-language fiction for children ensures that he has ‘a satisfactory awareness of the full range of entertainment, didactic, linguistic and other issues involved.’ (O’Connell, 2000, p.110.) Both the STs and French TTs of the Potter novels fulfil many of the functions expected of children’s literature, namely:
…entertainment, development of linguistic skills, socialisation and the acquisition of world knowledge… (O’Connell, 2000, p.110.)

I propose that an important norm applying to the Potter French TTs was the expectation, on the part of critics, readers and publishers, that these translations would mirror the complexity and pedagogic value of the STs, and would thus be ‘adequate’ renderings. This has meant that they have not been banished to the periphery of the TC polysystem. Most such polysystems, prior to the advent of Rowling’s novels, did exclude the bulk of children’s literature to their outer edges:
…the conventional literary system, reflecting the values implicit in the traditional hierarchical family system, tends to undervalue women’s writing, while children’s literature fares even worse as it concerns children primarily and is seen…as the domain of women – whether mothers or teachers…
(O’Connell, 2000, p.112.)

A further characteristic of this genre is ‘the recurrent similarities in terms of structure, characters and language…’ (O’Connell, 2000, p. 113.) This has caused scholars to view the genre as secondary. These predictable features do not apply to the works of Rowling. Nor do they apply to many so-called 'children's writers' (in a deprecatory labelling) over the centuries. What we really need to be doing is, I suggest, to continually question our concepts of the child reader, and her often under-estimated moral strength and intellectual prowess.

Furthermore, traditional fairy tales have been accused of being stereotypical, yet they share the symbolism and ambivalence of Rowling’s novels. Thus, in considering the scholarly denigration of such texts, I agree with O’Connell that ‘perhaps it is the means of interpretation that actually fail’. (2000, p. 113.)

Conventional versus Innovative Translation

O’Connell has noted that:
…translators of contemporary children’s literature tend, in general, to conform to the norms and conventions of the target language and culture, at the expense of what would traditionally be considered a faithful translation…[because]…adults’ perception is that children are unable to tolerate ‘as much strangeness and foreignness as adult readers and…the peripheral position of translated children’s literature in most…literary polysystems causes the translator to opt for the conventional rather than the innovative.
(O’Connell, 2000, p.122.)

This tendency to translate conventionally, producing a domesticating TT, does not apply to the French Potter TTs. Ménard follows Rowling’s lead in assuming that children can tolerate challenging and foreignizing literature, and thus opts for fidelity and adequacy. The innovative nature of Ménard’s TTs is also explained by the non-peripheral position of the Potter TTs in the French literary system: the Harry Potter novels have created such anticipation in TCs that TT readers have come to expect ST loyalty and faithful reproduction, in order to fully perceive and enjoy the original content of these novels, insofar as translation can fulfil this requirement – indeed, perhaps their foreignization and newness are part of the very attraction of the Potter series in non-Anglophone cultures.

Having examined, thus far in this posting, some of the theoretical aspects of translating literature, I now want to talk a little about Gideon Toury and his model of Descriptive-Explanatory Translation Studies (DTS).


Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS)

Toury is the theorist primarily associated with DTS, and it is his model which has been used for my translation research into Verne and Rowling renderings. Toury has created a systematic methodology for describing translations. His point of departure is that there is a connection between the process of translation (i.e. the strategies adopted by the translator), the form of the translation product (and therefore, by extension, the relationships between the TT and ST) and the position and objectives of translated texts within a TC. I would suggest that the Potter TTs occupy a central position in the French literary system, because of the worldwide excitement generated by them – this canonical position of the TTs therefore dictated that they be translated faithfully, so that TT readers could appreciate the ST plots and language use, as closely as the medium of translation can permit.
Toury is therefore interested in describing
…the regularities which mark the relationships assumed to obtain between function, product and process.
(Toury, 1995, p. 24 )
He regards translations as being, primarily, products of the receptor culture in which they are formulated:
In an attempt to pursue this [descriptive] goal, translations have been regarded as facts of the culture which hosts them…whatever their function and identity, they are constituted within that same culture and reflect its own constellation… this approach to the study of translations and translating in their immediate contexts earned the nickname of ‘target-oriented’.
(Toury, 1995, p.24 )

Toury’s concern with target-orientedness means that he wishes to describe TTs as they actually are, both as products of their TC (and thus as independent TC texts in their own right and not merely as dependent forms derived from some other culture) and as texts inspired by a ST. He strives for objective description of TTs, moving away from the ‘extreme source-orientedness’ (Toury, 1995, p.24) of Translation Studies in the 1970s, a period during which
The preoccupation was mainly with the source text and the proclaimed protection of its ‘legitimate rights’. Target constraints, while never totally ignored, often counted as subsidiary…Many factors which govern real-life translational behaviour, and the fact that these factors resulted in a variety of very different translation traditions, were resented or…relegated to the realm of ‘mere’ history.
(Toury, 1995, p. 24 )

Toury’s objective in describing translations is to suggest possible universal laws of translational behaviour, as well as to describe the values attached to translation activity by the TC in question:

…my own endeavours have always been geared primarily toward the descriptive-explanatory goal of supplying exhaustive accounts of whatever has been regarded as translational within a TC, on the way to the formulation of some theoretical laws.
(Toury, 1995, p. 25 )

He describes the difference between translational prescriptivism and his concept of DTS:
Under such observation [i.e. translation description], there is no pretence that the nature of translation is given or fixed in any way…What is addressed…is not even what translation is in general, but what it proves to be in reality, and hence what it may be expected to be under various specifiable conditions. (Toury, 1995, p.32 )

In my analysis of the Potter corpus, I therefore assumed that equivalence of some kind existed, and sought to describe and account for that equivalence.

The Tripartite DTS Model

Munday (2001, p.112) lists the three steps of Toury’s descriptive methodology, which ‘incorporat(es) a description of the product and the wider role of the sociocultural system’ (Munday, 2001, p. 112):
1 Situate the text within the target culture system, looking at its significance or acceptability.
2 Compare the ST and the TT for shifts, identifying relationships between ‘coupled pairs’ of ST and TT segments, and attempting generalizations about the underlying concept of translation.
3 Draw implications for future decision-making in future translating.
(Munday, 2001, p. 112)
Toury recommends widening the scope of descriptive research to increasingly larger corpora, in order to further validate, and extend, findings on norms. In Chapter 4, I suggest further research topics which involve extending the present corpus. As Toury says,
…one assumed translation, or even one pair of texts, would not constitute a proper corpus for study, if the intention is indeed to expose the culturally determined interdependencies of function, process and product… Any aspiration to supply valid explanations would …involve an extension of the corpus according to some principle…[such as] text-type, translator, period…[etc.]…striving for higher-level generalization and explanation…
(Toury, 1995, p.38 )

Ad-hoc Selection of Segments

Toury admits that the choice of an appropriate extract for analysis is ‘ad-hoc’, usually based on intuition. Munday explains that this part of the DTS model is a bone of contention:
The decisions on which ST and TT segments to examine and what the relationships are between them is an apparatus which Toury…says should be supplied by translation theory. Yet…linguistic translation theory is far from reaching a consensus as to what that apparatus should be…The result is a flexible and non-prescriptive, if also less than rigorously systematic, means of comparing ST and TT.
(Munday, 2001, pp.112, 113.)

This points to a possible limitation of Toury’s model: as the selection of segments to analyze is inevitably ‘ad-hoc’, the choices are not based on any statistically rigorous sampling methods, so that the findings may be less than scientifically grounded. On the other hand, I had read the entire parallel corpus and discerned global translation orientations, before selecting an extract for finer analysis. Therefore, I contend that my findings are soundly based on the entire corpus.

The Translator as a Cultural Mediator in a System of Norms

Toury sees the translator as being more than some type of mechanical generator of linguistic equivalents. S/he is, rather, an active, norm-obeying cultural mediator:
Translation activities should rather be regarded as having cultural significance. Consequently, ‘translatorship’ amounts first and foremost to being able to play a social role, i.e. to fulfil a function allotted by a community – to the activity, its practitioners and/or their products – in a way which is deemed appropriate to its own terms of reference.
(Toury, 1995, p53. )

The 2003 edition of the Collins English Dictionary defines a norm, in the sociological sense, as ‘an established standard of behaviour shared by members of a social group to which each member is expected to conform.’ Norms are thus culturally determined guidelines as to expected patterns of behaviour – Munday explains that they are
…sociocultural constraints specific to a culture, society and time. An individual is said to acquire them from the general process of education and socialization.
(Munday, 2001, p.113.)

Toury sees translatorial behaviour as governed by norms which regulate appropriate strategies in specific translational situations. His own definition of norms is

…the translation of general values or ideas shared by a community – as to what is right or wrong, adequate or inadequate – into performance instructions appropriate for and applicable to particular situations.
(Toury, 1995, p.55)

Toury sees norms as being situated midway between ‘general, relatively absolute rules’ and ‘pure idiosyncracies’ – they are social and cultural prescriptions for acceptable behaviour, some of which are ‘stronger and rule-like’, while others are ‘almost idiosyncratic’. Ultimately, a translator who manifests excessive deviation from normatively prescribed standards, will find her/himself subject to the sanction of no longer being employed. Acquired norms are thus constraints on translatorial freedom, which play a ‘role in directing translation activity in socio-culturally relevant settings’. (Toury, 1995, p.55). Because they control behaviour, norms allow us to observe regularities in translation shifts. They can be more or less constraining, depending on their potency.

Norms are inductively reconstructed through analyses of the corpora themselves, as well as through studying metatexts and paratexts such as declarations of translators, publishers and reviewers. However, corpora themselves are the most objective sources of information on norms, as statements made about translations may be biased in favour of individual views.

Toury’s Categories of Norms

Toury lists various norms, which operate at different stages of the translation process. His initial norm refers to the question of whether a translator adheres to ST norms or to those of the TC and TL – the former strategy yields what Toury describes as the adequacy of a translation, whereas the latter leads to the acceptability of a TT. Therefore, an adequate translation
…will tend to subscribe to the norms of the source text, and through them also to the norms of the SL culture [which may] entail certain incompatibilities with target norms and practices, especially [non-linguistic] ones.
(Toury, 1995, p.56 )

In the Potter TTs, the findings illustrate that there is adequacy in Ménard’s loyalty to the ST message, and in the retention of many original proper names. But, as Toury points out:
If, on the other hand, the second stance is adopted, norm systems of the TC are triggered and set into motion. Shifts from the ST would be an almost inevitable price.
(Toury, 1995, p.56 )

There is a significant degree of acceptability in Ménard’s TTs, from the viewpoint of idiomatic TL usage and the alteration of some ST proper names to TC equivalents. As Toury points out:
…even the most adequacy-oriented translation involves shifts from the ST…the occurrence of shifts [is] a true universal of translation.
(Toury, 1995, p.57 )

Munday points out, therefore, that
…no translation is… totally adequate or totally acceptable.
(Munday, 2001, p.113 )

The Potter TTs thus manifest the influence of competing SC and TC norms, so that they are a ‘hybrid’ of adequacy and acceptability. This confirms Toury’s statement that
Actual translation decisions (the results of which the researcher would confront) will necessarily involve some … compromise between the extremes implied by the initial norm.
(Toury, 1995, p.57 )

Toury goes on to describe preliminary norms as consisting of two subordinate concepts, namely, translation policy and directness of translation. The former norm refers to the reasons governing the selection of particular texts for translation. The latter norm considers whether a TT is a direct translation or whether there is an intermediate language involved.

Toury next describes operational norms, which he sub-divides into matricial norms and textual-linguistic norms. The former norms consider such issues as whether the TT is a complete and unabridged rendering of its source (the Potter TTs are indeed complete); whether certain passages have been relocated or omitted, and whether the translator has used footnotes (there is no relocation and no use of footnotes in the Potter TTs, and hardly any omission). On the other hand, many translators (perhaps mainly of older texts) use footnotes and/or endnotes, often quite detailed, to explain and interpret/justify translation choices, talk about the original text and writer, etc. Perhaps future Potter translations, in decades/centuries to come, will be scholarly, annotated editions.

Textual-linguistic norms are the most time-consuming component of DTS research, as they are concerned with analysing individual items of the text. Toury describes these norms, saying that they
…govern the selection of material to formulate the target text in, or replace the original textual and linguistic material with…[they consist of] general norms of translation and particular norms which would apply to a particular text-type. Some of them may be identical to the norms governing non-translational text production, but such an identity should never be taken for granted…[this is why] no study of translation can or…should [assume that] the latter is representative of the target language.
(Toury, 1995, p.59 )

I have, therefore, in my findings, briefly compared Ménard’s TTs with comparable corpora of non-translational (original) French youth-oriented literature. As Toury says:
An interesting field of study is…comparative: the nature of translational norms as compared to those governing non-translational kinds of text production…this kind of study is vital, if translating and translations are to be appropriately contextualized.
(Toury, 1995, p.61 )

Individual translators may show varying degrees of compliance with norms:

[It is] not as if all translators are passive in the face of…changes [in norms]…Rather, many of them, through their very activity, help in shaping the process…Wittingly or unwittingly, they all try to interfere with the ‘natural’ course of events and to divert it according to their own preferences…Complying with social pressures to constantly adjust one’s behaviour to norms that keep changing is …far from simple, and most people…do so only up to a point.
(Toury, 1995, p.62 )

It could, therefore, be difficult to judge whether a particular instance of translational behaviour is normative, idiosyncratic, or even deviant. One must analyse a sufficient number of ST and TT coupled pairs to be confident of one’s hypotheses.

Toury sums up the intricacy of his model:

[there is a]…multiplicity and variation of norms…real-life situations tend to be complex…[one must] note this complexity to draw any justifiable conclusions…the only viable way out seems to be to contextualise every phenomenon, every item, every text, every act, on the way to allotting the different norms themselves their appropriate position and valence…
(Toury, 1995, p.63 )


Toury’s Norms as Providing a Methodology for my Research on Rowling translations

I began by studying the Potter TTs as independent entities, without reference to the STs, to guage their readability and acceptability. As Toury says:

…it is advisable to start by studying assumed translations, along with their constituents, in terms of their ACCEPTABILITY [Toury’s emphasis] in the system(s) of which they purportedly form part.
(Toury, 1995, p. 71 )

The essential activity in my DTS research was to analyse translation shifts, to discern how corresponding ST and TT segments were related, and to establish what this revealed about underlying normative influences:

…the study could proceed to facts which are observational in the ‘second order’, i.e. facts which need to be (re)constructed before they can be submitted to scrutiny, most notably the relationships which tie together the output and input of individual acts, the ultimate intention being to end up reconstructing the non-observables at their roots, particularly the processes whereby they came into being…it will normally be TT segments…which would be mapped onto segments of the ST. In the process of mapping, the status of the former as translational replacements would be established, along with what they may be said to have replaced, thus shedding light on problems as they may have presented themselves in the particular act which yielded the text under observation, and on their solutions. (my emphasis.)
(Toury, 1995, p.94 )

Individual pairs of replaced and replacing segments of the Potter corpus – ST segments and their corresponding TT segments – were thus analysed as to the likely norms which lay beneath them. Toury states that the ‘ultimate goal of studies into individual pairs of texts’ is to establish, for a corpus, the ‘norm of translation equivalence’ and the ‘underlying concept of translation’. (Toury, 1995, p.95).

Conclusion: Comparing and contrasting source texts and target texts, comparing source language usage with target language usage in (re)translations...

So, in what has been a very long posting, i've discussed, albeit in general terms, the theoretical background to DTS and to translating for younger readers, and the research methods which inform my ongoing Translation Studies research, in which I look at how works of literature have entered and re-entered other language communities and cultures, through translation and retranslation, over decades and centuries.

Revisiting Harry Potter's French incarnation.

I have been meaning for quite some time to post further articles to this blog on the recently-commenced discussion topic of the translations from English, into French, of the Harry Potter series of seven novels (1997-2007) by J.K Rowling. The French children's writer Jean-François Ménard was the author of these superb Rowling renderings into his native language.

Before I began to research the translations into English of the works of the French writer, Jules Verne (the subject of my first, forthcoming book Retranslation Through the Centuries: The Example of Jules Verne, due to be published later this year by Peter Lang), my initial interest was in children's literature, and what that concept really means, and to what extent works such as those of Rowling can be blandly labelled - perhaps unfairly - as 'children's literature'. Don't lots of adults - myself included - enjoy her works and even find them dark, challenging andmulti-layered? I was then interested, pre-Verne, in how certain so-called children's authors had been translated over the years into French - novelists as diverse as the aforementioned J.K. Rowling, Lemony Snicket, Frances Hodgson Burnett (she of Little Lord Fauntleroy, A Little Princess and The Secret Garden classic children's {and adults'?} literary fame), Anna Sewell, Mark Twain, Carolyn Swift and Louisa May Alcott, to name but some. This interest in translation of classic and popular fiction in both directions of the language pair English/French has been a long-standing one. It dates back essentially to 2005, when, on the completion of the taught elements of my MA in Translation Studies (French and English) at Dublin City University (DCU), I was seeking to develop a research topic for my MA dissertation. I read an article by Dr Eithne O'Connell, of DCU, on the meanings ascribed to the concept known as 'children's literature', an article published as part of a collection of articles produced in homage to the foremost translation theorist Peter Newmark some seven years ago. Around the same time, I read an article by translation theorist Jeremy Munday on Descriptive-Translation Studies(DTS _ Gideon TOury) methodolgies, on examining existing translations to describe the translation strategies evident, and to explain, probabilistically, their multiple underlying causal influences, especially the Toury-championed cause of norms of translation.
Now, Munday gave, in his article on DTS, what proved to be, for me, a very interesting example of Toury's Descriptive-Explanatory Translation Studies empirical research methodologies and findings, in action: he discussed the translation, into Spanish and Italian respectively, of the Harry Potter novels, and compared and contrasted the translation approaches and the varying norms of translation influencing the translators. He discussed, among many other issues, how the names of characters such as Dumbledore and Snape, and many others, were rendered into these Romance languages; whether the language use was idiomatic or otherwise; and whether the translation is overtly presented as such, as deriving from a preceding literary work. He then drew inferences as to the likely norms and other causes influencing the translation forms witnessed by him, e.g. such causes include a multiplicity of influences such as publishers' and ST author's input to translation, the translator's own style, agency and intervention into the text which may be a form of 'derived creativity'; norms of accuracy, idiomaticity, source-language-oriented translation strategies versus target-oriented renderings, or hybrids of both orientations, and so on.
These articles - Munday and O'Connell - together with reading authors like Toury (his 1995 monograph entitled Descriptive Translation Studies - and Beyond is a seminal, still highly influential scholarly tome), whetted my appetite to discover how Harry Potter had been rendered into the French language.
So began months - later, years - of fun reading the Potter books in English and then in French, and then comparing certain passages and features between the English source text and French target text. I ended up discussing - as previous postings have illustrated in this blog - Ménard's (the French translator) use of style, choice of creative names for characters, places, wizarding artefacts, and so on.
In this posting, then, I would like to go back to 'basics' - here, I summarise what the introduction to my dissertation on the Gallicization of Harry was concerned with.

1.1 Research Questions

The ‘Harry Potter’ novels by J.K. Rowling have enjoyed huge success since the publication of the first book in the series, in 1997. Because I enjoyed these novels so much, I began to reflect on how Rowling’s work has won over the children of the ‘computer game’ generation to the joys of reading. Not alone do these novels challenge young readers, but they have proved equally fascinating to adults. I began to ponder the reasons for this appeal to all age groups. I also became curious about how exactly Rowling’s novels had been translated into French, and what type of impact these translations might have had on a Francophone readership. I therefore decided to investigate the nature of the French translations of these books. The main questions I set out to answer are:
What is understood by the problematically- definable genre known as children’s literature? Does it consist of common textual features, similar characters and predictable plots? Or have contemporary authors such as J.K. Rowling transformed a marginalized genre, by challenging its possibilities and its readership’s demographic profiles?
The most important question was that of determining the nature of the translation of these novels from SL English to TL French. How closely did the French translator adhere to the authority of the ST? Can his rendering be regarded as ST-oriented in nature, and thus as an “adequate” translation in Toury’s (1995) conceptualisation of the term? Or is it, rather, based more on TT norms and thus more appropriately classified as an “acceptable” set of translations from the viewpoint of the Target addressees?[1] Or does it occupy the middle ground between adequacy and acceptability?

To answer such questions, the major part of this research consists of an analysis of a sample of the parallel corpus of STs and French TTs of the six Harry Potter novels published to date. This analysis aims to ascertain the types of translational shifts evident. This helps to reveal the norms of translation likely to have influenced the translator.
I have thus attempted to characterise the general orientation which was evident in these translations, through the lens of the individual norms adhered to, according to various theoretical models of translational norms, developed by such theorists as Toury (1995). All such models are inscribed within the domain of Descriptive Translation Studies, hereinafter referred to as DTS. This is a sub-domain of ‘pure’ translation studies, according to the Holmes/Toury ‘map’ of Translation Studies, as discussed by Munday
( 2001, p.10). Toury (1995) has proposed a methodology for DTS, defined by Munday (2001,p.108) as “a non-prescriptive means of understanding the ‘norms’ at work in the translation process and of discovering the general ‘laws’ of translation.”

Using polysystem theory, as developed by Even-Zohar (Munday, 2001:109), I also decided to examine the position of Rowling’s novels in the literary polysystems of the Anglophone SC and the Francophone TC.

1.2 Norms of Translation
This research thus aims to yield insights into the normative system affecting the translation of the Harry Potter novels into French – norms are understood here as the cultural values and beliefs about translation which influence the translation process.

1.3 Research Objectives and Benefits
The following are the principal aims and expected benefits of this research.
· Understanding should be provided as to how the ‘Harry Potter’ novels were strategically translated for French audiences. What were the evident translational shifts as isolated from a representative sample? What do these alterations on the journey from donor text to receptor text teach us about the normative factors operating beneath the surface of the translation process?
· How might we classify the Harry Potter novels as a literary genre?
· Can the Harry Potter texts be regarded as canonical?
· I ask if there is scope for an element of prescriptivism or translational quality assessment in Toury’s DTS model.
I also seek evidence of stylistic contrasts between English and French in the corpus being examined.
1.4 Research Summary

I thus intend to examine how the TTs function as translations, both on the microscopic level of individual textemes, and on the macroscopic level: are the TTs openly portrayed as translations; are they unabridged renderings; is the translator acknowledged; why was this series of novels chosen for translation, and are these translations marketed as children’s texts, or also as adult literature?
1.5 Reasons For Personal Interest In Literary Translation, and Personal Views of Literary Genre Boundaries

As a child, I enjoyed all forms of literature, including texts aimed at older readers. I also engaged in creative writing in my childhood and teens. This is why a topic such as the translation of so-called young people’s literature interests me. Coupled with my love for literature is a passion for French, thus making this dissertation topic an ideal personal choice.

I always considered literature for younger readers to include not only works written for children, but any text which caught the interest of a young reader. Therefore, I regard as ‘children’s texts’ any material consumed by younger readers, though it may not originally have been intended for that age group only, or even at all.

1.6 Does Children’s Literature Even Exist as a Valid Category?

I therefore feel that there should not be a strictly defined genre known as children’s literature, as people of all ages have always read a variety of subject matter, aimed at different ages. The fact that the Harry Potter novels are enjoyed by all ages is testimony to the fact that certain works contain multiple semantic layers. They appeal on different levels to different age groups and display features associated not just with young readers’ texts, but also with darker, disturbing texts which challenge adults.

Furthermore, works such as Rowling’s contain a high linguistic register and a depth of characterisation which presume an able child reader. They simultaneously address a more experienced reader, alert to their deeper symbolism. I therefore reject the category of a separate or inferior genre labelled children’s literature.
1.7 Chapter Outline

Following this Introduction, my opening chapter of the dissertation went on to describe the structure of the dissertation:
Chapter Two surveys the literature dealing with the core theoretical concerns of this dissertation. It discusses DTS, translational norms and translating for children. It presents the methodology used in analysing the ‘Harry Potter’ corpus, a method based on Toury’s (1995) model of DTS. I therefore provide a set of methodological tools for Chapter 3, which is the chapter presenting my Findings. Chapter Two also comments on certain themes and features of the Potter novels, explaining why they may be regarded as a ‘hybrid’ literary genre.

Chapter Three presents the findings of the comparative analysis of segments of the STs and TTs. It describes the translational shifts and offers hypotheses as to the norms thought to underlie them. It seeks to integrate these findings, in order to propose an overall concept of translation for the corpus.

Chapter Four is the concluding section. It evaluates the usefulness of Toury’s DTS model in analysing the corpus and in developing valid, useful findings. It suggests amendments to the DTS model to improve its usefulness. I conclude by suggesting areas for continued research in the domain of translational norms in contemporary youth fiction.

1.8 Conclusion

Having summarised the research aims and benefits, I now go on to discuss the major theoretical concepts of DTS, norms and so-called children’s literature, thus providing a conceptual framework for this study.

In a future posting, I will speak more about DTS, norms and children's literature in general. I hope that this posting has helped explain and contextualise my reasons for coming to Descriptive Translation Studies and literary translation studies in general.

Ultimately, Rowling Translation Studies led, for me, to Verne Translation Studies, but I continue to enjoy many different authors, eras and novels in both English and French.

Polish School in Dublin

In the last few weeks, I was lucky enough to start a new part-time French language teaching job in a city centre school here in Dublin, which caters mainly for Polish nationals, though it is not at all uniquely confined to the Polish community in Dublin. It is known as 'Szkola Polska' and as the Association of Polish Schools in Dublin. I am teaching beginners' French to two lovely groups of Polish children of primary-school-going age; all very friendly, enthusiastic, polite and participative. In short, adorable.
I am also teaching Junior Cert French there to two lovely Polish teenage girls and beginners' French to an adult young couple.
The school is housed in a renovated building across from the Rotunda Hospital in the city centre, a building which also houses a Medical Centre, again, mainly frequented by the Polish community but clearly hoping to extend its clientele, just as the school aims to extend its students to include non-Polish people also.
My Polish colleagues are very warm, friendly, gentle people. I have taken this opportunity to begin teaching myself the Polish language and, having listened to some tapes, I can now say some basic phrases in Polish, useful for greeting Poles, etc.
I continue to give grinds in French also. And to apply for teaching and third-level lecturing jobs in French and Translation Studies, especially in the UK universities.
I'm hoping, finally, that if the Polish school continues to grow, it will offer other languages such as Spanish, English as a Foreign Language, etc.

New Year, new beginnings.

I'm sure I echo the feelings of very many people when I say that I am relieved that the past year has come to a close. This New year, more than any previous one, I have a strong sense of being glad to make new beginnings, to glimpse new horizons and to nurture new hopes, and I feel a sense of blessed relief that a very difficult year, both personally and nationally, has come to an end.

The last few months in particular proved nightmarish on the personal front. I have been working very hard at formulating applications for academic posts in French and Translation Studies, but despite doing very well and coming very close to being successful in a number of interviews/presentations, I haven't quite made it just yet. For instance, I was told that I came a very close second at a recent interview and presentation for a French associate teaching fellowship in a UK university. Rather than being unduly disappointed at not getting the job, I have, rather, come to perceive that it is actually encouraging approbation to have done well at this competition. It means, surely, that I am slowly but surely approaching my target and doing the right things.

And so, I have resolved not to be disheartened as the present economic crisis means that so many other people, highly-qualified after many years of hard work at university, are struggling to find work - not just work directly related to their specialised professions, but indeed, work of any description.

This means that people are having to become more creative and resourceful, and more patient and accepting of current social and economic difficulties. Thus, while I shall continue to apply for academic posts, I shall also, this year, continue to think outside the box and embrace solutions to the job search which represent alternatives to the conventional expectation of a 'nine to five' full-time job. In my case, that means continuing to seek more hours giving private tuition in French, English and Translation Studies; continuing to seek substitute teaching, as thin on the ground as such opportunities may be, and continuing to plug away at my translating work for the North American Jules Verne Society and at my Translation Studies research.

I will live for the moment and make the best of things as they are, taking one day at a time, not sweating the small stuff and trusting that things are working out in their own unpredictable way. I seem to be trotting out a number of hackneyed phrases here, but I find that the most trite, clichéd truisms actually contain a wealth of wisdom.

I was recently devastated that a job I was about to take up as an English Language Teaching Mentor in Malaysia fell through; the UK-based company which had recruited me wrote to say that they had made a mistake in appointing me and that what they actually needed was, specifically, primary school teachers. My own experience is at secondary and university levels.
I find it hard to believe that the company could have signed contracts with me, and allowed the process to get this far, only to realise two weeks before my starting date that my profile was not what they were looking for.

But I feel that everything happens for a reason. I am quite content to continue working in areas more closely related to my qualifications, viz. French and Translation.

I recently found a lovely new studio apartment here in Dublin, with lovely neighbours and a charming landlady. So, as I said at the beginning of this posting, 2011 has all the allure of a fresh start. I am happy to be remaining in Dublin, near to my family, especially my disabled brother Neil, and to be continuing to concentrate on the subjects I love, teaching and researching Francophone-related topics in a city I call home.

The worries of the past few months have melted like the recent snow. And while the snow may return, I am determined that my anxieties will not resume!

It's all a question of perspective, of coping. And - dare I say it - of knowing when and how to be strong in the face of the minority of not-so-desirable characters we are all occasionally confronted with.

And what has really helped me over the past few months, of job-seeking and house-hunting, has been quite simply the wonderful care, support and help of close, trusted friends, whose presence reminds you, when times are hard, that yes, the world is a beautiful and kind, caring place despite occasional appearances to the contrary.

Friends like Krystyna and Cathy. who empathised with the dearth of academic opportunities and gave, and continue to give, much practical advice...

Jim, who rescued me from a horrendous 'apartment' and gave me a peaceful, comfortable home to share with him these past few months, while I searched for a suitable place to call home and set down new roots, something which is now a fait accompli.

My close family for moral and practical support. Including those loved ones who have passed on and to whom I pray.

For Irish people in general, 2010 has truly been an annus horribilis. But ... it's history!

And I truly believe that we are now collectively dusting ourselves off, bruised but unbroken, in order to return to hope, acceptance and new forms of prosperity which are less material but more lasting. Emotional, moral prosperity and stability, if that makes sense.

To quote one more cliché which I feel sums up the feeling of hope and recovery to which we Irish currently aspire:

The darkest hour is before the dawn.
Happy New Year!

Absence makes the heart grow fonder?

In my posting of today's date, the 10th November, 2010, about my recent first-time translation from French into English of a lesser-known, obscure literary work by Jules Verne,i've reverted to fulfilling the original mission of this blog, which is to discuss contemporary Translation Studies and especially literary translation.
It's a relief for me to be posting a translation-related article to the blog after an absence of several months.
The reason i've been away from this blog for those few months, since earlier in 2010, is that I have been busy applying for academic jobs in such areas as TEFL, TESOL, French and Translation Studies - not that there is currently a great deal on offer internationally, at present. Still, hardly a week goes by without there being at least one or two advertised academic posts in my above-mentioned specializations, mainly in French, and occasionally in Translation Studies and in TEFL/TESOL.
It's a difficult time to be a newly-minted PhD graduate seeking an academic post, at least in my own areas of the Humanities, viz. Linguistics, TEFL, French and Translation Studies. So the last few months since my graduation have been a busy and challenging period, but making academic job applications and being interviewed (if short-listed) is all valuable experience.
At the end of the day, though, bread has to be put on the table. Therefore - and as so many people in Ireland and elsewhere are painfully aware (given our current recession) - being 'between jobs' is not much fun!
However, i've been determinedly ploughing away with academic job applications, and i'm happy to report that there may finally be a glimmer of very hopeful, promising light on the horizon... Meaning that in the next couple of months, I will most likely be making postings to this blog, not from a computer in Dublin, but rather, from a quite distant part of the globe, and one which is exotic and exciting.
At least the wheels are in motion. I've been praying and working hard to get a post-PhD break within an educational career, and my prayers may finally have been answered.
Watch this space ...

An undiscovered side to Jules Verne: translating one of his lesser-known novellas

I N T R O D U C T I O N

A few months ago, I produced a first translation, from French into English,of a text by Jules Verne, entitled 'Jédédias Jamet, or the Tale of an Inheritance', consisting of three chapters of an unfinished novella or novel written by Jules Verne, most probably while he was still only in his late teens or early twenties. It is a text which he apparently intended to expand into a complete novel, but which he subsequently abandoned, before, of course, going on to much greater things in the literary world. The fact that Verne originally intended this work to become a complete novel, is attested to by the rough draft outline which he produced of the projected entire story, a summary which I also rendered into English. This foray into professional literary translation was accomplished at the behest of the North American Jules Verne Society, which is currently engaged in translating into English, for the first time, many of the hitherto lesser known works of the great 19th century writer, Jules Verne, whom I have, of course, spoken about in previous postings to this Translation Studies/literary blog.

These chapters were written, it seems, during a period when the young Jules Verne was, at his father’s behest, studying law in Paris with a view to eventually inheriting the family law practice in Nantes. However, the true ambitions of Jules Verne lay not in the legal, but rather the literary domain. Verne’s less than willing immersion in the legal world as a young man, probably explains one of the principal themes, and the mocking tone, of this short text which deals with questions of succession and inheritance, and offers a satirical portrait of the legal profession and of its sometimes greedy clients.
The central character, M. Jédédias Jamet, is a pillar of the small community within which he resides, viz. the town of Chinon in the Touraine region of France. Though he is a good father, husband, juror and member of the National Guard, he is depicted with supreme irony by Verne as an inept individual who lives in blissful ignorance of his own incompetence. For instance, his wildly erroneous predictions and instructions lead to the destruction by fire of several farms; the drowning of an unfortunate dog; the failure of numerous harvests; the killing of many hunters and the loss of much livestock.
Notwithstanding his gargantuan ineptness, he is revered by the locals; thus, the general populace equally becomes a target of Verne’s ridicule. Thus, after allowing a wretched canine to drown – yet cannily turning the error to his own advantage – does Jamet become ‘the oracle of the locality’, using his ‘rightfully acquired fame’ to dispense ‘excellent advice’.
Jamet is obsessed with neatness. He jealously guards, and preserves in mint condition, the coat he has inherited from his late father. Anything else that he might have acquired from the paternal estate has been cruelly denied him by the greed of others. Jamet thus appears as a rather pathetic figure, unjustly treated by fate. All he has inherited, at least from his father, is this coat, his ‘minimum legal entitlement’, a ‘mediocre legacy’.
On the other hand, Jamet considers that this is ‘the coat to which he owe[s] his happiness’ , in that he feels it helped him to win the heart of his spouse, Perpetua Tertullien. However, Verne, again satirising human greed, hints strongly that Perpetua’s family, in reality, consented to the marriage thanks to her suitor having become rich as a result of an inheritance from a cousin.
Jamet’s mathematical exactness in relation to his coat seems reminiscent of the obsessive-compulsive precision of that subsequent and much more famous Vernian automaton, Phileas Fogg, in Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). Thus does Jamet ‘attire … himself in his coat, in accordance with the rules of applied geometry of the thumb and index finger’ and, with a flick of his fingers, he rids the garment of ‘those microcosmic specks which he alone could discern’.
The heavily guarded coat is likened to a virginal daughter whose chasteness is jealously guarded by a vigilant mother (‘a dread-afflicted mother [who] keeps her daughter captive under her wing’). Nobody must place a ‘defiling hand’ on the ‘spotless’ garment. Jamet constantly fears for ‘the virginal lustre of his vestments’, and lives ‘in dread of any base or obscene fondling of the sole object of his thoughts’. This, as we shall see, is one of several sexual subtexts and uses of sexualised language, permeating the story.
The tale begins as Jamet receives a mysterious note advising him of the death of an uncle of his wife, viz. M. Opime Romauld Tertullien. This is a most unusual ‘death notice’ in that it is apparently written by the deceased himself, and fails to give the sender’s address, or the location of the bizarrely-named Church of Saint Collette the Hip Swayer, in which the memorial service is to take place. Following this cryptic communication, the narrator pauses to describe Jamet’s life and to offer flashbacks to significant previous events in his life, before recounting the consequences of the ‘mysterious parchment’ received by Jamet.
The notice causes Jamet to rush to the home of his solicitor in a state of feverish anticipation of a possible large inheritance, tempered by his fear that other relatives and claimants may deprive him of his hypothetical bequest. Jamet’s long and frenzied monologue to his solicitor (who listens to him while freezing in the cold water of his morning bath) strongly satirises mercenary natures; the greed, perhaps, of some of the potential heirs whom Verne probably encountered in his legal work. Perpetua, too, sheds brief crocodile tears for her late uncle but is much more concerned with inheriting the wealth of this successful businessman.
It seems, from Verne’s draft, that the remainder of this unfinished work would have recounted the tale of Jamet’s fruitless international journey in pursuit of the supposed inheritance. The journey would have been strewn with increasing mystery, obstacles and frustrations, and the story in its entirety would, it seems, have been as bizarre as its first three chapters.
There are, in fact, three inheritances referred to in this Tale of an Inheritance. Apart from the potential inheritance from Perpetua’s late uncle, there is the much cared-for coat which Jamet has acquired from his father, and there is also the inheritance which contributed to Jamet’s winning the approval of Perpetua’s family, viz. Jamet had become ‘wealthy as a result of an inheritance from one of his cousins, an intrepid aviator who had dropped himself from a height of three thousand metres’.
This short text is peppered with references of a legal, historical, religious and mythological nature. Footnotes have been provided seeking to explain these allusions, thus fulfilling the didactic duty of the translator. Legal references in this story include allusions to particular kinds of bailiffs, to succession law, to court orders for the seizure of debtors’ possessions, and to secured and unsecured loans. Religious and Biblical references include those alluding to Saint Colette, the Seven Deadly Sins, the story of Joseph in the Old Testament’s Book of Genesis, the priest Urbain Grandier, the character Holopherne in the Old Testament’s Book of Judith, and the Old Testament story of the Ten Plagues of Egypt. Mythological references are abundant, so that Verne grandiosely links characters and events in his text to such figures as Horace, Augustus, Plato and Diogenes, and to the walls of Carthage and the siege of Troy. Historical and literary references are to such persons as Henri II of Navarre, César Vichard de Saint-Réal and the writers Berquin and Molière.
There thus seems to be quite a hotch-potch of varied allusions which combine to give this ironic text a mock ‘learned’ air.
As the names which Verne chooses for his characters in other, later works, sometimes appear to hint, however obliquely, at personal traits (e.g. Fogg, Passepartout, Fix, Nemo, Conseil or Captain Speedy), I have used a footnote to speculate on what might be the significance of the name Jédédias Jamet (footnote number 1).
Finally – and as alluded to earlier in this Introduction – there are some bizarre scatological, and specifically sexual, allusions scattered throughout these chapters. For instance, Verne hints that Jamet’s marriage is now sexless, but that there was a time when Perpetua ‘would vouch for the fact that [Jamet] was never rushed under any circumstances’. Butcher detects a similar sexual undertone in Verne’s description of Phileas Fogg, in Around the World in Eighty Days, as someone who was ‘never in a hurry’, which is described by Butcher as a ‘blatant sexual reference’ (Verne, 1873/1995: 219). And as we have noted earlier, Jamet’s coat is likened to a daughter whose chastity is fiercely protected by a vigilant parent.
There are two references to excretion. Jamet’s son, Francis, is forced by his father to emerge from the bathroom ‘in an appalling state; luckily, his long childhood smock concealed, with due propriety, the offensive disarray of a certain activity, rudely interrupted!’. Jamet’s son is suffering from indigestion, while the family cat suffers from constipation. Then there is Jamet’s solicitor, Monsieur Honoré Rabutin, who, while taking a bath, was amusing himself by ‘making little cowpats.’
In sum, this is, in many ways, a bizarre, surreal text, which seems, superficially at least, to bear little resemblance to the themes of Verne’s later works. It may indeed have been intended as little more than a ‘canular estudiantin’, or student hoax, as J.D. has suggested.
On closer inspection, however, it can be seen that Jédédias Jamet, or the Tale of an Inheritance, would, if completed, have dealt with the quintessential Vernian trope of a long journey of exploration and discovery through different countries, undertaken by the central character in the company of a trusted valet. Furthermore, even these early chapters already contain themes which seem to ‘haunt’ Verne’s later, celebrated works: Jamet’s obsessive-compulsive, unhurried behaviour and his preoccupation with mathematical exactness seem to make him an early model for Phileas Fogg, though Fogg would hardly have shown the type of over-excitement manifested by Jamet when he receives news of his wife’s uncle’s death. In addition, the type of sexual and scatological undertones apparent in Jédédias Jamet have also been identified by Butcher (ibid) in such other Verne novels as Around the World in Eighty Days (op. cit.).
This unfinished Verne work is deserving of scholarly attention, as it offers some insight into the mind of the early writer that was Jules Verne while probably still in his late teens.

Obituary and profile and links to my former town of Carrick-on-Suir.

Hello again to all out there in blogland. It's been a while since I posted an entry to this blog. On this occasion, I want to briefly take a sidestep from my usual writings about Translation Studies-related matters, in order to bring to your attention a very professional blog about my native town of Carrick-on-Suir in Co. Tipperary, in the south-east of Ireland, situated midway between Waterford and Clonmel. The blog has been created by webmaster and Carrick native, Mr Robert Glascott, and it tells you a lot about my town, all it has to offer, photos, links, and of course, profiles of all its many clubs, and individual people, including my late father, Frank O'Driscoll. I set out hereunder a copy of my late father's profile on this site, as he was a wonderful man and brilliant father who inspired me in so many ways, including in my choice of a local government career and my later choice of a literary, academic career.
I also have posted my own profile from the site.
Please take a few minutes to have a look at the overall site, its photos, audio links, etc.
Carrick is a multi-talented, diverse community.
So here goes with the website link and the profile of my late, beloved father Frank O'Driscoll who we lost in 1994, and who is always with us in spirit, looking after my brothers and I as is my late mother, Nora..

Carrick on Suir Official Website



Home Carrick People People of Note

Frank O Driscoll - Town Clerk, Philanthropist, Linguist, Writer (J.F. O'Driscoll)

Frank (John Francis) O' Driscoll was born on 6th April, 1927, in William Street, Carrick-on-Suir. He was the eldest of the four children of Edward O'Driscoll, barber, and of his wife Alice (née Reck), dressmaker.

Frank excelled at school, especially in English and Latin, and following his Leaving Certificate in the mid-1940s, at a time when few people did the Leaving, he started work as a Clerical Officer in South Tipperary County Council, Clonmel, in about 1945. This was the beginning of a lifelong career in local government, spanning over 47 years. He was appointed Town Clerk of Carrick, his native town, in April 1971, where he served until his retirement in April, 1992.

His achievements as Town Clerk were many, and he was highly dedicated to the service and betterment of his native town. His time as Town Clerk saw the construction of much new local authority and private housing, including co-operative housing schemes, such as Clairin and Lissadell among many others; the provision of a new library and of the Sean Kelly Centre, new water supply facilities and remedial works to local authority housing in the town. He also brought the Town Twinning to Carrick (French town of Trégunc in Brittany) and made many visits to our French twin town over the years, as well as hosting many French visitors in his home at Woodland Heights.

Frank was also a very cultured man; he had a huge collection of rare, inherited books, including the works of such classic writers as Dickens, Shakespeare and many others, and was an avid reader, and lover of the English language and its literature.

He was also a gifted writer, who contributed many appreciations of notable Carrick deceased persons over the years to his local papers, and who also wrote the 'Carrick Notes' for many years. If Frank had not gone into local government, he would have made a gifted academic of English, or indeed a diplomat.

He studied French and Piano from his late forties onwards, on both a self-taught and class basis, and was highly dedicated to the study of these subjects.

He was a prominent and gifted member of the local Drama Society and Musical Society, and of the local Friary Choir, for many years. He was also a member of a local poetry group, and of the Lions Club and Social and Literary Club. Snooker was one of his great hobbies in the latter club. He was a sincere, kind, sociable, well-loved and cultivated gentleman.

After retiring from the local government service in 1992, he became Arts Officer with South Tipperary County Council, an ideal outlet for a man of his cultural and artistic leanings.

Tragically, his life was cut short at age 67 by his sudden death in May, 1994, just five months after the death from cancer of his beloved wife, Nora (née Slattery), formerly of Coolacussane, Dundrum, Co. Tipperary, Cork and London. Nora had been a State Registered Nurse and State Certified Midwife in London, Cashel and Carrick-on-Suir.

Frank and Nora were the loving and devoted parents of Kieran (Dublin), Neil (Kilkenny) and John (Carrick-on-Suir), by whom they will always be very sadly missed, though these sons are grateful and privileged for the years they had with Frank and Nora as their parents.

Frank's sister Mary (England) died in 2006, and his brother Henry (England) died in 2010. He is survived by his one remaining brother, Colm (Southampton, England). Frank's mother Alice actually outlived him, and died at age 96 in 1999.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam dilis.


Dr. Kieran O Driscoll - Academic Scholar, Lecturer and Author

Profile:

Dr. Kieran O'Driscoll, originally from William Street and Woodland Heights, Carrick-on-Suir, and now living in Dublin, is a mature graduate (aged 47) in French Studies, French and English literature and translation, Spanish, Translation Studies, Public Administration and International Marketing Communications, and a former local government official.

He is educated to doctoral level and has recently completed PhD research in French-English literary translation, graduating in 2010 with his doctorate from Dublin City University. He has also taught extensively, and has worked within the local authority service for over seventeen years, with extensive experience of customer service in such Departments of South Tipperary County Council, Clonmel, as Motor Taxation, Personnel, Rates, Registration of Electors, Housing, Accounts, Higher Education Grants and Freedom of Information. He has won a number of academic awards for scholarly achievements in French, Spanish, Marketing, and Translation Studies, in both Waterford IT and Dublin City University. Kieran's father Frank O'Driscoll RIP had also worked in local government for many years, and was Town Clerk in Carrick for over 21 years; Frank's profile is also on this site. Kieran's brother John, lives in Woodland Heights, Carrick, and his brother Neil, in Kilkenny.

When living in Carrick, Kieran was organist with the St Mollerans' Parish Choir from 1986 to 1996, and was also involved over the years with drama and musicals locally, with Meals on Wheels and church reading.

Kieran lived in Carrick up to the age of 41 (in 2004), whis was when he moved to Dublin to pursue his postgraduate studies of French translation as a mature student. He liked Dublin so much that he decided to sell his home in William Street in Carrick, in which he had lived with and cared for his beloved grandmother Lal for many years up to her death in 1999 at age 96. Kieran loves Dublin, but Carrick 'will always be part of me'.

When in Carrick, Kieran was educated in the Green School and the Monastery, and later in Waterford IT and the Institute of Public Administration, Dublin, by Distance Education.
Kieran took Special Leave without Pay from the local authority service, in 1998, to study languages and business, later resigning from the service to gain experience of teaching and academic research.

Kieran holds a First Class Honours Masters degree in Translation Studies (French and English) from Dublin City University (DCU), First Class Honours Bachelor of Arts degree (French, Spanish and Marketing) from Waterford Institute of Technology and Distinction in National Diploma in Business Studies (Languages and Marketing), W.I.T and he also holds PhD in literary translation, French to English, of the works of Jules Verne, the French science-fiction and adventure writer of the 1800s, a PhD awarded by DCU. Kieran has done much published professional literary translation (French to English) for the North American Jules Verne Society (NAJVS), and for European book fairs. He has given many lectures on his research and his conference papers and seminars are as follows:

Papers in conference proceedings

2007 ‘Around the World in Eighty Changes: Translating Jules Verne, 1873-2004’ Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the North American Jules Verne Society, 2007, Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, 7th-10th June, 2007.

2008 ‘Translating Jules Verne, and Forging the Verne Translator’s Identity: A Diachronic Study of Complex Emergence of the Text, and Interacting Causes of Translation’ International Conference on Forging Identities: Past into Present Identity Construction through language, culture and literature from the 18th to the 21st century in Ireland and Europe, Dublin City University, February 15th-16th, 2008.

2008 ‘A diachronic study of translations into English of Jules Verne’s Le Tour du Monde en Quatre-vingts Jours 1873-2004: multiple causation, non-linear dynamics of translation, and contesting the Retranslation Hypothesis through norm theory, Bourdieusian sociological perspectives and post-structural interpretation’. Translation in Second Language Teaching and Learning: International Translation Studies Conference, N.U.I. Maynooth and UCD, held at NUI Maynooth, 27th-29th March, 2008.

2008 ‘Retranslation causality – the example of Jules Verne as rendered into English’. Postgraduate Conference in Translation and Textual Studies, Dublin City University and Herriott-Watt University, Edinburgh, held at DCU, 5th-6th June, 2009.

2008 ‘Reinterpreting, renarrating, reframing Jules Verne’. Postgraduate Conference in Translation and Interpreting Studies, University of Manchester, 30th June-1st July, 2009.

2008 ‘Retranslating, renarrating, reframing, reinterpreting Jules Verne: examining retranslations of Around the World in 80 Days (1873) from 1873 to 2004 – reviewing multiple causation of retranslation decisions, with an emphasis on the efficient cause of translatorial agency and the formal cause of linguistic, literary and translational norms’. 2008 CETRA Doctoral Summer School in Literary Translation and Interpreting Studies, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, 18-30th August, 2008.

2008 ‘Reading literature in translation – pitfalls and possibilities: the example of Jules Verne’. 1st Postgraduate Conference on Comparative Literature, Dublin City University, 1st November, 2008.

2009 ‘Taking the child reader on an extraordinary journey into the world of Verne literature: studying translational adapted versions of Verne in English’. Eaton Science-Fiction Foundation Conference on Verne. University of Riverside, California, 28th-30th April, 2009.

Research seminars

2007 ‘Around the world in eighty changes: Translating Jules Verne 1873-2004’. Research seminar for postgraduate students and lecturers of the School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies (SALIS), held at Dublin City University, 8th March, 2007.
2008 ‘Around the world in eighty changes II: Translational sequels: Translating Jules Verne’s Le Tour du Monde en Quatre-Vingts Jours (1873) 1873-2004: Exploring multiple causation, complex emergence, and reading a gay subtext into the source novel’. Research seminar for postgraduate students and lecturers of the School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies (SALIS), held at Dublin City University, 28th February, 2008.

2008 ‘A journey to the centre of the extraordinary world of Jules Verne: Introducing classic literature to groups of readers with specific needs and expectations; studying adapted and abridged translations of Verne in English’. Research seminar for postgraduate students and lecturers of the School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies (SALIS), Dublin City University, 23rd October, 2008.

Reviews

Kieran is currently reviewing the edited collection Translation and Censorship (2009) for the journal Translation Ireland. Review accepted for publication by peer reviewers.

Kieran is also currently reviewing two further monographs (reviews commissioned) on translation studies-related topics, for future submission to journals.

External Guest Lectures

2009 ‘Translation as a bridge to the Other literary text’. Annual General Meeting of the Irish Translators and Interpreters Association. Irish Writers’ Centre, Parnell Square, Dublin 1, 26th May, 2009.

2009 ‘The Afternoon of a Faun: reading Mallarmé in his original French, prior to the act of poetic translation.’ International Translation Day, celebratory evening, Irish Translators and Interpreters Association, Irish Writers’ Centre, Parnell Square, Dublin 1, 30th September, 2009.

Further information:

Kieran is a qualified teacher of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) having achieved distinction in TEFL 60-hour certificate.

He has fluent French and Spanish. He holds a TEFL teaching qualification, and a Certificate of ‘Perfectionnement’ level in all aspects of French from IMEF, (Institute Montpéllierain d’Etudes Françaises), Montpellier, France. His M.A. and PhD qualify him to also lecture in Irish Institutes of Technology and within universities. He has taught French, Spanish, English and Translation Studies in several schools and colleges in Waterford and Dublin and would love at some stage to teach in France, as this is a country he loves.

He has published the following material, including a forthcoming book:

Books authored

Monograph recently accepted by Peter Lang and Co., scholarly publishers, London, based on my doctoral thesis, a book provisionally entitled Retranslation through the centuries: the example of Jules Verne. Due to be published later in 2010.

Chapters in books

‘Translating Founding Mick’ – essay for Royal Irish Academy’s 2008 republication of Jules Verne’s novel The extraordinary adventures of Foundling Mick, original title P’tit Bonhomme (1893)
‘Putting White to Rights: reinstating the reputation of the Victorian Verne translator, Stephen W. White’ IN Verne, J. 1873 The Tour of the World in Eighty Days. 1873/1874/2010. Choptank Press, MS, USA. This book’s contents may be viewed at http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/the-tour-of-the-world-in-eighty-days/7821661.

‘Introduction to republication of The Tour of the World in Eighty Days’ IN The Tour of the World in Eighty Days. 1873/1874/2010.. Co-authored with Dr Norman Wolcott. Choptank Press, St Michael’s, MD 21663, USA.

Articles in refereed journals

‘When less becomes more: studying an abridged, adapted translation from French into English of Jules Verne’s Around the world in eighty days (1873), revised for younger readers by John Webber in 1966’ IN Verniana, the online journal of Verne Studies, 2:1, 2010, at http://www.verniana.org/.

Articles in published conference proceedings

2009 ‘Around the world in eighty gays: retranslating Jules Verne from a queer perspective’. IN Translation and the (Trans)formation of Identities. Selected Papers of the CETRA Research Seminar in Translation Studies 2008. De Crom, D. (ed.).

And finally ...

Kieran would love to hear from anybody interested in communicating about Carrick, Verne, Translation, French or any topic under the sun! He has a blog on Translation Studies at http://www.fromlocaltolingo.blogspot.com/ where you can leave a message, or you can e-mail him at kieran.odriscoll3@mail.dcu.ie and he also has a Facebook presence.

End of Frank O'Driscoll's and Kieran O'Driscoll's profile on www.carrickonsuir.info