Cover not available
Article published In:
Translation in Society
Vol. 2:2 (2023) ► pp.235–252

Translation and mountaineering, a first case study

Nea Morin and Janet Adam Smith between collaborative translation and cordée féminine

ORCID logo | University of Oxford
This article argues for a dialogue between translation and mountaineering studies and provides examples of how the two could successfully interact. It contributes to literary translator studies and translation history by bringing to the fore the careers of translators and mountaineers Janet Adam Smith and Nea Morin and by establishing links between their collaborative translation and cordée féminine, arguing that they played an active role as agents of both the literary and the mountaineering fields. Moreover, it provides instances of how the awareness of translation processes can expand and deepen the analysis of gendered dynamics in mountaineering non-fiction. Finally, it shows how mountaineering studies can benefit from translation studies in order to become more aware of its dissemination processes and international dynamics, and how translation studies can benefit from mountaineering studies to more fully comprehend and capture the depth of its involvement, dependence, and interaction with the non-literary world.
Keywords: translation history, collaborative translation, translator studies, gender studies, mountaineering literature, women mountaineers, life-writing, Annapurna, cordée féminine , feminist translation studies
Article outline
  • Mountaineering and literature
  • Collaborative translation and cordée féminine
  • Introducing Nea Morin and Janet Adam Smith
  • The Annapurna example
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 30 May 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tris.22016.sar
References (44)
References
Adam Smith, Janet. 1987. “Nea Morin (in memoriam).” The Alpine Journal 92 (336): 290–292.Google Scholar
. 1996 [1946]. Mountain Holidays. Wales: The Ernest Press.Google Scholar
Barcott, Bruce. 1996. “Cliffhangers: The Fatal Descent of the Mountain-Climbing Memoir”. Harper’s, August: 64–69.Google Scholar
Baumgarten, Stefan, and Jordi Cornellà-Detrell. 2018. “General Introduction.” In Translation and Global Spaces of Power, edited by Stefan Baumgarten, and Jordi Cornellà-Detrell, 1–8. Bristol, Blue Ridge Summit: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Berkobien, Megan. 2020. (E)co-Translation: Toward a Collective Task. PhD diss. University of Michigan.
Bland, Caroline, and Hilary Brown. 2013. “Women as Cultural Mediators and Translators.” Oxford German Studies 42 (2): 111–118. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2022. Women and Early Modern Cultures of Translation: Beyond the Female Tradition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Brown, Hilary. 2018. “Women Translators in History: Towards A ‘Woman-Interrogated’ Approach.” In Fémininvisible. Women Authors of the Enlightenment. Übersetzen, schreiben, vermitteln, edited by Angela Sanmann, Martine Hennard Dutheil de la Rochère, and Valérie Cossy, 27–51. Lausanne: Centre de Traduction Littéraire de Lausanne.Google Scholar
Connor, Jeff. 2019. “Nea Morin – Hard Days for a Lady.” UKC. Accessed 23 April 2023. [URL]
Cordingley, Anthony, and Celine Frigau-Manning, eds. 2017. Collaborative Translation: From the Renaissance to the Digital Age. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Deane-Cox, Sharon. 2014. Retranslation: Translation, Literature and Reinterpretation. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Driscoll, Christopher M. 2020. “Sublime Sahib: White Masculine Identity Formation in Big Mountain Climbing.” Culture and Religion 21 (1): 43–57. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Evans, Denise. 2023. Waypoints to Eternity. Porthmadog: Delfryn Publications.Google Scholar
Flaubert, Gustave. 2011 [1856]. Madame Bovary. Translated by Adam Thorpe. London: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Frohlick, Susan. 1999–2000. “The Hyper-Masculine Landscape of High-Altitude Mountaineering.” Michigan Feminist Studies 141: 81–104.Google Scholar
Goodfellow, B. R. 1949. “ Climbs of My Youth (review).” The Alpine Journal 57 (279): 270.Google Scholar
Herzog, Maurice. 1951. Annapurna. Premier 8000. Paris: Arthaud.Google Scholar
. 1952. Annapurna: The First Conquest of an 8000-Metre Peak. Translated by Nea Morin, and Janet Adam Smith. London: Jonathan Cape.Google Scholar
Jansen, Hanne, and Anna Wegener. 2013. “Multiple Translationship.” In Authorial and Editorial Voices in Translation, edited by Hanne Jansen and Anna Wegener, 1–42. Québec: Éditions québécoises de l’oeuvre.Google Scholar
Kaindl, Klaus, Waltraud Kolb, and Daniela Schlager, eds. 2021. Literary Translator Studies. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Krakauer, Jon. 1996. Into the Wild. New York: Villard.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Richard. 1983. Mountain Experience: The Psychology and Sociology of Adventure. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Moraldo, Delphine. 2013. “Gender Relations in French and British Mountaineering: The Lens of Autobiographies of Female Mountaineers, from d’Angeville (1794–1871) to Destivelle (1960–).” Journal of Alpine Research. Revue de géographie alpine 101 (1). [URL]. DOI logo
. 2014. “Analyser sociologiquement des autobiographies. Le cas des autobiographies d’alpinistes français et britanniques.” SociologieS. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2020. “Women and Excellence in Mountaineering from the Nineteenth Century to the Present.” The International Journal of the History of Sport 37 (9): 727–747. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Morin, Nea. 1968. A Woman’s Reach: Mountaineering Memoirs. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode.Google Scholar
O’Brien, Sharon. 2011. “Collaborative Translation.” In Handbook of Translation Studies, edited by Yves Gambier, and Luc van Doorslaer, Volume 21, 17–20. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ortner, Sherry. 1999. Life and Death on Mount Everest: Sherpas in Himalayan Mountaineering. Princeton: Princeton UP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Osborne, Carol A. 2004. “Morin [née Barnard], Nea Everilda (1905–1986).” In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Accessed 15 May 2022. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ottogalli-Mazzacavallo, Cécile, and Eric Boutroy. 2020. “Manless Rope Team: A Socio-Technical History of a Social Innovation.” The International Journal of the History of Sport 37 (9): 791–812. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Paker, Saliha. 2002. ‘Translation as Terceme and Nazire: Culture-bound Concepts and their Implications for a Conceptual Framework for Research on Ottoman Translation History.’ In Crosscultural Transgressions. Research Models in Translation Studies II: Historical and Ideological Issues, edited by Theo Hermans. 120–143. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
Rak, Julie. 2021. False Summit: Gender in Mountaineering Nonfiction. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2022. “Mediation, Then and Now: Ang Tharkay’s Sherpa and Memoires d’un Sherpa .” Primerjalna književnost 45 (3): 125–144. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Robinson, Victoria. 2008. Everyday Masculinities and Extreme Sport: Male Identity and Rock Climbing. Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar
Roche, Clare. 2013. “Women Climbers 1850–1900: A Challenge to Male Hegemony?” Sport in History 33 (3): 236–259. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Simon, Sherry. 1996. Gender in Translation: Cultural Identity and the Politics of Transmission. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Susam-Sarajeva, Șebnem. 2006. Theories on the Move: Translation’s Role in the Travels of Literary Theories. Amsterdam: Rodopi. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tharkay, Ang. 1954. Mémoires d’un sherpa. Introduction by Basil P. Norton. Translated by Henri Delgove. Paris: Amiot-Dumont.Google Scholar
. 2016. Sherpa. The Memoir of Ang Tharkay. With Basil P. Norton. Foreword by Tashi Sherpa. Translated by Corinne McKay. Seattle: Mountaineers Books.Google Scholar
Thorpe, Adam. 2011. “Madame Bovary: the Everest of Translation.” The Guardian, 21 October 2011. Accessed 23 April 2023. [URL]
Tulle, Emmanuelle. 2022. “Rising to the Gender Challenge in Scotland: Women’s Embodiment of the Disposition to be Mountaineers.” International Review for the Sociology of Sport: 1–20. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vivier, Christian, Sébastien Laffage-Cosnier, and Jean-Yves Guillain. 2020. “Annapurna 1950 : respect de l’éthique de l’alpinisme ou mise en scène politique ?” Modern & Contemporary France 28 (3): 271–290. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wigglesworth, Jennifer. 2022. “The Cultural Politics of Naming Outdoor Rock Climbing Routes.” Annals of Leisure Research, 25 (5): 597–620. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Williams, Cicely. 1973. Women on the Rope: The Feminine Share of Mountain Adventure. London: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar