The Voice of the 'Translatress': From Aphra Behn to Elizabeth Carter

Abstract

Eighteenth-century women's writing activities have recently attracted a certain degree of critical interest, but attention has generally been focused on specific literary genres, such as autobiography, the novel, drama, and, more recently, poetry. Other genres, such as historical writing, reviewing, and above all translation have often been neglected or given only marginal consideration. Yet translation represented one of the very few cultural activities open to women in the early modern period.1 The main reason for this neglect seems to be the derivative nature of translation, which has always been perceived as marginal vis-a-vis original production. Furthermore, the notion of authorship is put in jeopardy by any act of translation, since the relationship between original author and translator can never be taken for granted. Douglas Robinson has recently emphasized the emergence of a phenomenon he defines as the 'feminization' of translation in sixteenth-century England. At that time women started to exploit the discourse of translation in order to find a public voice and at the same time to counter the widespread belief which equated publication with sexual licentiousness.2 According to Tina Krontikis, a woman translator 'could hide behind another author (usually male) and protect herself against accusations pertaining to ideas and content'.3 During the Reformation period women were encouraged to undertake translation of religious works, and this helped to create a greater flexibility in the field of female publication. However, the same religious motivations which allowed women to work on translation can be perceived as a means to prevent their venture into original literary production. As Sherry Simon points out: 'We are led to wonder whether translation condemned women to the margins of discourse or, on the contrary, rescued them from imposed silence.'4 Like any other literary activity, translation is the product of complex cultural and historical constraints and therefore it