Cover not available
Article published In:
Translating Creolization
Edited by Desrine Bogle, Ian Craig and Jason F. Siegel
[Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts 2:2] 2016
► pp. 241–257

The role of literary translators in the West Indian literary field and the importance of Creole

| Universitat de Barcelona

Stemming from the belief in both the potential transformative power of art and the intellectual’s role in social struggles, this article foregrounds the figure of the literary translator as an intellectual that holds the potential to contribute to the advancement of Caribbean narratives through his or her ethically and politically motivated translations. The article uses Pierre Bourdieu’s theorizing to emphasize on the necessarily collaborative nature of the role of literary translators of West Indian literature. Furthermore, since most frequently than not Creole languages are an integral part of West Indian texts, this article pinpoints the translator’s ability to both discern and understand Creole as a crucial aspect for translations to be engaged and participate in regional ideological struggles.

Keywords: literary linguistics, Literary translation, West Indian Literature, Creole languages
Published online: 31 December 2016
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ttmc.2.2.04gra
References (30)
Bertacco, Simona
2014 “The ‘Gift’ of Translation to Postcolonial Literatures.” In Language and Translation in Postcolonial Literatures: Multilingual Contexts, Translational Texts, ed. by Simona Bertacco, 66–84. NewYork: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre
2003 Firing Back: Against the Tyranny of the Market 2 [orig. Contre-feux 2:Pour un Mouvement Social Européen]. Translated by Loïc Wacquant. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Cavagnoli, Franca
2008 “A Second Translation: Translating V.S. Naipaul into Italian.” Journal of Caribbean Literatures 5 (2): 201–210.Google Scholar
Diaz, Junot
2008 La Maravillosa vida breve de Óscar Wao [orig. The Wondrous Short Life of Oscar Wao]. Translated by Achy Obejas. Barcelona: Mondadori.Google Scholar
Edwards, Viv
2004 Multilingualism in the English-Speaking World: Pedigree of Nations. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fruner, Sara
2007 “Dig Her Text Deep to Draw My Text Out! Translating-Exploring Dionne Brand’s Land.” New Dawn, Journal of Black Canadian Studies 2 (1): 3–14.Google Scholar
Hodge, Merle
2007a Earl Lovelace and the Evolution of Voice in the History of the Novel in Trinidad and Tobago. PhD dissertation. The University of the West Indies.Google Scholar
2007b “The Writer in the Caribbean Language Situation.” In Writing Life: Reflections by West Indian Writers, ed. by Mervyn Morris and Carolyn Allen, 144–154. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers.Google Scholar
2011 “Language Use and West Indian Literary Criticism.” In The Routledge Companion to Anglophone Caribbean Literature, ed. by Michael A. Bucknor and Alison Donnell, 470–480. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
2013 “Personal interview.” November 7. 2013.Google Scholar
Hopkinson, Nalo
2005 “Fantastic Alternatives: Journeys into the Imagination. A Conversation with Nalo Hopkinson by Hyancinth M. Simpson.” Journal of West Indian Literature 14 (1): 96–112.Google Scholar
Lalla, Barbara
2005 “Creole and ‘Respec’ in the Development of Jamaican Literary Discourse.” Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 20 (1): 53–84. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2006 “Creole Representation in Literary Discourse.” In Exploring the Boundaries of Caribbean Creole Languages, ed. by Hazel Simmons-McDonald and Ian Robertson, 173–187. Mona, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press.Google Scholar
Lovelace, Earl
1996 Salt. London: Faber and Faber.Google Scholar
2013 “Reclaiming Rebellion.” Wasafiri 28 (2): 69–73. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Morris, Mervyn
1999 Is English We Speaking? – West Indian Literature. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers.Google Scholar
Nixon, Rob
1992 London Calling: V.S. Naipaul, Postcolonial Mandarin. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Pouchet Paquet, Sandra
2002 Caribbean Autobiography: Cultural Identity and Self-Representation. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Said, Edward W
2005 “The Public Role of Writers and Intellectuals.” In Nation, Language and the Ethics of Translation, ed. by Sandra Bermann and Michael Wood, 15–29. Princeton: Princeton University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Solomon, Dennis
1993 The Speech of Trinidad: A Reference Grammar. St. Augustine, Trinidad: The University of the West Indies, School of Continuing Studies.Google Scholar
Spivak, Gaatri Chakravorty
2003 Death of a Discipline. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
2005 “Translating into English.” In Nation, Language and the Ethics of Translation, ed. by Sandra Bermann and Michael Wood, 93–110. Princeton: Princeton University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tymoczko, Maria
2010 Translation, Resistance, Activism. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.Google Scholar
Venuti, Lawrence
1992 “Introduction.” In Rethinking Translation: Discourse, Subjectivity, Ideology, ed. by Lawrence Venuti, 1–17. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Walcott, Derek
1977 The Star Apple Kingdom. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.Google Scholar
2004 Another Life. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.Google Scholar
2012 Pleno verano: Poesía selecta. Translated by José Luis Rivas. Madrid: Vaso Roto Ediciones.Google Scholar
Warner-Lewis, Maureen
2001 “Language Use in West Indian Literature.” In A History of Literature in the Caribbean. Volume 2: English- and Dutch-speaking Regions, ed. by A. James Arnold, 25–37. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Winer, Lise
2009 Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press.Google Scholar
Youssef, Valerie
2009 “More than the Sum of Its Parts: Reflections on Caribbean Language in a Globalizing Age.” In Beyond Borders: Cross-Culturalism and the Caribbean Canon, ed. by Jennifer Rahim and Barbara Lalla, 59–76. Mona, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press.Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by 2 other publications

Grau-Perejoan, Maria
2024. Insular Contemporary Poetry in Dialogue: Glocal Alliances Against Mass Tourism. Island Studies Journal 19:1 DOI logo
Del Valle Idárraga, Mónica María
2017. Apuntes preliminares: El creol y la traducción literaria en el Gran Caribe. Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción 10:1 ► pp. 4 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 20 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.