How Do You Translate Regard? Rewriting Gabrielle Roy

Abstract

In Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literary Fame, Andre Lefevre begins his chapter on translation by introducing the notion of 'the image of work of literature as projected by a translation.' This is introduced as a form of rewriting, translation points to the ways in which a literary work undergoes calculated 'manipulation' in the rewriting process, to subsequently appear in its revised form for the reader. Translation is able to 'project the image of an author and/or a series of works in another culture, lifting that author and/or those words beyond the boundaries of their culture of origin. Whereas Lefevre indicates two elements that shape the image of a word involved in the process of rewriting, namely, the translator's position vis-a-vis the work (the translator's ideology), and the type of discourse evident in the original text, this paper examines the author's active roles in rewriting. We are interested in the ways Gabrielle Roy - her authorial persona as well as her work - translates across the canons of French-Canadian and English-Canadian literature.