Images of Canada through literary translation [2011] (2014)

MARÍA LAURA SPOTURNO Y AMANDA B. ZAMUNER

Translation, Transnationalism and World Literature. Essays in Translation Studies (2010-2014).

Edizioni Joker

Lugar: Nove Ligure; Año: 2015; p. 331 - 340

This paper sets to examine the images of Canada emerging from two anthologies published in Latin America in Spanish: one, jointly published in 1997 by a Canadian and a Cuban publishers; the other, in 2009, in Argentina by the Centro Cultural Canadá Córdoba (Canadian Cultural Centre from Córdoba). Our aim is twofold; on the one hand, to inquire about the cultural range of the Canadian literary tradition that has been included by the editor and, on the other, to explore the translator?s intervention in the capacity of intercultural mediator. Having the first aim in mind, paratextuality in both editions shall be explored. According to Genette, paratextuality constitutes a zone in the text in which different reading instructions are made explicit (8). In this sense and, following Baker, the paratext (introductions, prologues, interviews, epilogues) becomes an ideal space for the translator and also the editor to place their work and locate the reader within a specific space and time (133-135). As regards the second aim, we consider it important to evaluate the options and the discursive strategies made by the different translators in order to establish the type of translation method that was adopted. Thus, we shall be able to establish whether these translations follow either domestication or foreignisation rules (Schleiermacher 231-235; Venuti 100-118).