Feminist translation strategies: Different or derived?

Abstract

Summary This article explores the problem of difference in translation under the influence of deconstruction, with particular reference to four French‐Canadian feminist texts by Nicole Brossard and their feminist translations into English (two translations by Barbara Godard and two translations by Patricia Claxton). These translators claim to utilise innovative translation strategies in challenging certain conventional views on translation. It is because of their explicit rejection of traditional views on fidelity and their emphasis on the individualistic and creative nature of translation as expressed in metatexts that feminist translators’ work is seen as a threat to mainstream translation discourse. Equally, it is for precisely these reasons that feminist translators may make a contribution to contemporary translation studies, should their claims be substantiated in practice. But in my view, no critic to date has really questioned the basis upon which feminist translation rests: the contention that through the utilisation of innovative translation strategies a feminist translation becomes a deliberate mistranslation and extension of the source text, and that feminist translation, unlike conventional translation, constitutes difference and not derivation. If, following Derrida, all translation is transformation, we need to examine how feminist translation differs from conventional translation. And thus, my contention is, firstly, that in the texts analysed the feminist translation discourse is not substantiated by actual translation practice and secondly, that the unusual translation techniques used constitute a minor feature of the translations.