On Not Translating: Making History in the French Language Classroom

Abstract

Published in 1930 by Angus and Robertson, Souvenirs d’une Parisienne aux antipodes was proclaimed the first Australian book to be published in French. A collection of three autobiographical narratives, the book tracks Marie Niau’s life, from the siege of Paris (1870–71) to four years on a selection in the Daintree in the 1880s. Heralded by the mainstream press as worthy of a place in Australian archives yet labelled ‘a delightful little French reader’ elsewhere, the composite nature of the book and its multiple enunciative contexts confounded expectations where both language textbooks and historical narrative were concerned. Drawing on Paul John Eakin’s understanding of autobiography as narrative identity transaction and Claire Kramsch’s concept of multilingual subjectivity, this article focuses on the performative potential of the book in Australian classrooms with respect to learner identity and historical consciousness.