Translating Heterophony in Olive Senior's Stories
Orality is one of the main features of Caribbean literature and an important aspect of Olive Senior's texts. This study will be based on my own experience of the translation of Olive Senior's stories into French. Maria Tymoczko argued that post-colonial literature and translation can both be regarded as a "carrying across". Translators, however, cannot simply be expected to transport language without being burdened with a mixture of cross-cultural, as well as foreign, elements. All textual elements are "fixed", whereas cross-references vary according to the audience; as a consequence, cultural disjunctions cannot be muted or obscured, but neither can they be foregrounded. This is when colloquialisms and exoticism collide. "Decoding operations" may lead to "re-encoding familiar tones" and result in "defamiliarization", creating cultural distance, but welcoming what sounds alien. The versatility of cultural cross-references can create confusion in the minds of the target text readers. The author's jubilatory manipulation of language finds its utmost expression in the voice that the mind's ear is supposed to hear. Consequently, the translator's creativity aims to fabricate new layers of texts aiming at reproducing heteroglossy, heterology and heterophony, appealing to the senses in order to invite new reader responses.