Abstract
This article expounds the method followed by its author to produce a new translation of James Macpherson's Ossianic poetry in French. Through a systematic comparison with earlier translations (in particular Pierre Le Tourneur's 1777 version) various levels of signification are explored, and the article discusses possible ways of recovering the original idiosyncrasy and foreignizing effect of Macpherson's putative translations: which cultural artefacts were highlighted, which were played down, how stylistic features, such as semantic uniformity, unconventional tense or punctuation usages, syntactic disjointedness or phonetic patterns were smoothed away, and how these can be transferred into a French text. The essay also suggests possible indications of the impact of Gaelic literary or linguistic sources on Macpherson's English.
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