The Factors Governing the Availability of Maghrebi Literature in English: A Case Study in the Sociology of Translation
Abstract
The present article draws on a corpus of into-English translations of works by Maghrebi authors working in Arabic and French to study the channels by which they reach an English-language readership and the relative places of the two languages in the target literary and publishing polysystems. It examines the hurdles faced by Arabic-language writers in achieving international visibility, particularly the weakly structured nature of the source publishing sphere and the ethnographic frame that dominates their reception, and challenges chronologies of Arabic-to-English translation which foreground Naguib Mahfouz’s 1988 Nobel Prize win as a turning point. It demonstrates that the driving forces behind into-English translations of Maghrebi writers have rather been the enfranchisement of Maghrebi French writing in the French literary and publishing polysystems, particularly Tahar Ben Jelloun’s 1987 Prix Goncourt win, the rise of Francophone Studies within the Anglo-American academy, and the ethnographic frame that saw a cluster of «terrorism memoirs» translated in reaction to events in Algeria in the 1990s.
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Donadey, Anne and H. Adlai Murdoch. 2005. Postcolonial Theory and Francophone Literary Studies. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
Even-Zohar, Itamar. 1990. «The Position of Translated Literature within the Literary Polysystem». Poetics Today 11 (1): 45-51.
Forsdick, Charles and David Murphy. 2003. Francophone Postcolonial Studies: A Critical Introduction. London: Arnold.
Guthrie, Alice and Alexandra Büchler. 2011. Literary Translation from Arabic into English in the United Kingdom and Ireland, 1990 – 2010. Aberystwyth: Literature Across Frontiers.
Hamrouch, M’hamed. 2007. «Editer son livre au Maroc: Le parcours du combattant». Accessed September 16, 2015. http://www.bladi.net/livre-maroc.html.
Heilbron, Johan. 2010. «Towards a Sociology of Translation: Book Translations as a Cultural World System». In Critical Readings in Translation Studies, ed. by Mona Baker. London: Routledge, 304-316.
Khalifa, Abdel Wahab and Ahmad Elgindy. 2014. «The Reality of Arabic Fiction Translation into English: A Sociological Approach». International Journal of Society, Culture and Language 2 (2): 41-56.
Landers, Clifford. 2001. Literary Translation: A Practical Guide. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Laroussi, Farid. 2003. «When Francophone Means National: The case of the Maghreb». Yale French Studies 103: 81-90.
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Pinhas, Luc. 2005. Editer dans l’espace francophone: Législation, diffusion, distribution et commercialisation du livre. Paris: Alliance des éditeurs indépendants.
Rogan, Eugene. 2004. «Arab Books and Human Development». Arab Studies Quarterly 26 (2): 67-79.
Said, Edward. 1978. Orientalism. London: Penguin.
Salhi, Kamal. 2003. Francophone Post-colonial Culures: Critical Essays. Lanham, MA: Lexington.
Sapiro, Gisèle. 2008. Translatio: Le marché de la traduction en France à l’heure de la mondialisation. Paris: CNRS.
Seago, Karen. 2014. «Introduction and overview of crime (fiction) in translation». JOStrans 22: 2-14.
Thomas, Dominic. 2005. «Intersections and Trajectories: Francophone Studies and Post-Colonial Theory». In Postcolonial Theory and Francophone Literary Studies, ed. by Anne Donadey and H. Adlai Murdoch. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 234-257.
Toler, Michael. 2001. «The Ethics of Cultural Representation: The Maghribi novel in translation». The Journal of North African Studies 6 (3): 48-69.
Tunisia Factsheet, Frankfurt Book Fair. 2010. Accessed October 8, 2015. http://www.buchmesse.de/pdf/buchmesse/buchmarkt_tunesien_e.pdf.
UNESCO, 2005. «État des lieux du secteur du livre au Maroc». Accessed September 15, 2015. http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CLT/CLT/pdf/Cultural_Industries/Arab_States/Morocco/Etat_des_lieux_du_secteur_du_livreau_maroc.pdf.
Watts, Richard. 2005. Packaging Post/Coloniality: The Manufacture of Literary Identity in the Francophone World. Lanham: Lexington.
Al-Dabbagh, Ula. 2015. «Patrons and the translation of Arabic fiction into English: Guilty until proven otherwise». Theory and Practice in Language Studies 5 (4): 792-799.
Allen, Roger. 1987. Modern Arabic Literature. New York: Ungar.
Altoma, Salih. 1996. «Contemporary Arabic fiction in English translation: A chronological survey, 1947-1996». Yearbook of comparative and general literature 44. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University.
Altoma, Salih. 2000. «Arabic literary translation into English: Contemporary Arabic fiction». In Encyclopedia of literary translation into English, ed. by Olive Classe. London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 65-66.
Brisson, Thomas. 2008. Les intellectuels arabes en France. Paris: La Dispute.
Booth, Marilyn. 2010. «“The Muslim Woman” as Celebrity Author and the Politics of Translating Arabic: Girls of Riyadh Go on the Road». Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies 6 (3): 149-182.
Bullock, Katherine. 2002. Rethinking Muslim Women and the Veil. Challenging Historical and Modern Stereotypes. Herndon: International Institute of Islamic Thought.
Casanova, Pascale. 2002. «Consécration et accumulation de capital littéraire: La traduction comme échange inégal». Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales 144: 7-20.
Clark, Nick. «Britain now has fewer than 1,000 independent bookshops for the first time since records began», The Independent, 21 February 2014 (newspaper). Accessed September 15, 2015. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/britain-now-has-fewer-than-1000-independent-bookshops-for-the-first-time-since-records-began-9145189.html.
Daum, Pierre. 2013. «Editeurs et libraires en Algérie». Le monde diplomatique.
Donadey, Anne and H. Adlai Murdoch. 2005. Postcolonial Theory and Francophone Literary Studies. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
Even-Zohar, Itamar. 1990. «The Position of Translated Literature within the Literary Polysystem». Poetics Today 11 (1): 45-51.
Forsdick, Charles and David Murphy. 2003. Francophone Postcolonial Studies: A Critical Introduction. London: Arnold.
Guthrie, Alice and Alexandra Büchler. 2011. Literary Translation from Arabic into English in the United Kingdom and Ireland, 1990 – 2010. Aberystwyth: Literature Across Frontiers.
Hamrouch, M’hamed. 2007. «Editer son livre au Maroc: Le parcours du combattant». Accessed September 16, 2015. http://www.bladi.net/livre-maroc.html.
Heilbron, Johan. 2010. «Towards a Sociology of Translation: Book Translations as a Cultural World System». In Critical Readings in Translation Studies, ed. by Mona Baker. London: Routledge, 304-316.
Khalifa, Abdel Wahab and Ahmad Elgindy. 2014. «The Reality of Arabic Fiction Translation into English: A Sociological Approach». International Journal of Society, Culture and Language 2 (2): 41-56.
Landers, Clifford. 2001. Literary Translation: A Practical Guide. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Laroussi, Farid. 2003. «When Francophone Means National: The case of the Maghreb». Yale French Studies 103: 81-90.
Larson, Charles. 2001. The Ordeal of the African Writer. New York: Zed.
Lazreg, Marnia. 2009. Questioning the Veil: Open Letters to Muslim Women. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Leonhardt Santini, Maud. 2006. Paris librairie arabe. Marseilles: Parenthèses.
McLoughlin, Leslie. 2002. In a Sea of Knowledge: British Arabists in the Twentieth Century. Reading: Ithaca.
Mermier, Franck. 2005. Le Livre et la ville: Beyrouth et l’édition arabe. Arles: Actes Sud.
Morocco Factsheet, Frankfurt Book Fair, 2014. Accessed October 8, 2015. http://www.buchmesse.de/images/fbm/dokumente-ua-pdfs/2015/buchmarkt_marokko_2015_dt_51150.pdf.
Pinhas, Luc. 2005. Editer dans l’espace francophone: Législation, diffusion, distribution et commercialisation du livre. Paris: Alliance des éditeurs indépendants.
Rogan, Eugene. 2004. «Arab Books and Human Development». Arab Studies Quarterly 26 (2): 67-79.
Said, Edward. 1978. Orientalism. London: Penguin.
Salhi, Kamal. 2003. Francophone Post-colonial Culures: Critical Essays. Lanham, MA: Lexington.
Sapiro, Gisèle. 2008. Translatio: Le marché de la traduction en France à l’heure de la mondialisation. Paris: CNRS.
Seago, Karen. 2014. «Introduction and overview of crime (fiction) in translation». JOStrans 22: 2-14.
Thomas, Dominic. 2005. «Intersections and Trajectories: Francophone Studies and Post-Colonial Theory». In Postcolonial Theory and Francophone Literary Studies, ed. by Anne Donadey and H. Adlai Murdoch. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 234-257.
Toler, Michael. 2001. «The Ethics of Cultural Representation: The Maghribi novel in translation». The Journal of North African Studies 6 (3): 48-69.
Tunisia Factsheet, Frankfurt Book Fair. 2010. Accessed October 8, 2015. http://www.buchmesse.de/pdf/buchmesse/buchmarkt_tunesien_e.pdf.
UNESCO, 2005. «État des lieux du secteur du livre au Maroc». Accessed September 15, 2015. http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CLT/CLT/pdf/Cultural_Industries/Arab_States/Morocco/Etat_des_lieux_du_secteur_du_livreau_maroc.pdf.
Watts, Richard. 2005. Packaging Post/Coloniality: The Manufacture of Literary Identity in the Francophone World. Lanham: Lexington.
Pickford, S. (2016). The Factors Governing the Availability of Maghrebi Literature in English: A Case Study in the Sociology of Translation. CLINA Revista Interdisciplinaria De Traducción Interpretación Y Comunicación Intercultural, 2(1), 77–94. Retrieved from https://revistas.usal.es/dos/index.php/clina/article/view/14555
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