Stratégies de la pseudo-traduction : Mérimée et Musset

Abstract

Musset and Mérimée made their début on the literary scene through pseudotranslation. Their choice calls for a study of the esthetic value of pseudotranslation during the romantic period and for a better understanding of its status with regards to other genres. For both authors, pseudotranslation functions both as a laboratory and a way to free themselves from the prevailing norms and systems, by translating as much as imitating a foreign literature. Such a manipulation of texts and authorial identity suggests three avenues of research. The search for novelty prevails on the threshold of the 1830s, which is a turning point for romanticism; this quest is underpinned by a desire to affirm the individuality of the author in the face of the “masters” of romanticism; finally, the gesture of pseudo-translation refers to an authorial poetics which is perpetuated in the later works of Musset and Mérimée.