Translations

- -_.- - ,Murphy , Colleen. Beating Heart Cadaver. Playwrights canada. 96. $13.95 Nothof, Anne, editor. Ethnicities: Plays from the New West. NeWest. 208. $18.95 Oliver, Kathleen. Swollen Tongues. Playwrights Canada. 80. $14.95 Stickland, Eugene. Two Plays. Red Deer. 168. $12.95 Taylor, Drew Hayden. The Baby Blues. Talon. 96. $13.95 Walker, George. East End Plays: Part I. Talon. 256. $'7.95 - East End Plays: Part II. Talon. 208. $'7.95 - The Power Plays. Talon. 208. $17.95 - Somewhere Else. Talon. 256. $18.95 - Suburball Motel. Revised edition. Talon. 320. $19.95 Warren, Dianne. Tile Last loumet} ofCaptain Harte. Nuage. 96. $12.95 Wilson, Jonathan. My Own Private Oshawa. Canadian Theatre Review 100 Wood, Tom. Claptrap. Simon and Pierre. 128. $15.95 Young, Dayid. Glenll. Revised 2nd edition. Coach House. 112. $17-95 Translations JANE KOUSTAS Upon the passing of Anne Hebert, the doyenne of Quebec literature, the Globe and Mail dedicated an entire page to her tribute. It asked her longtime translator, Sheila Fischman, to comment on Hebert's enormous contribution to Quebec and Canadian literature. There is no questioning the observations of one ofCanada's most influential and successful translators. Having translated seven of Hebert's novels, Fischman was indeed well placed to reflect on her impact. However, that the Globe and Mail turned to a translator illustrates yet again the importance of translation and English Canada's dependence on this process. Quebec literature remains translated literature and the regard de I'Aulre is, at least in part, that which has passed through the translator's lens. It is interesting to note ·the 'controversy' a year ago (Globe and Mail, 5 October 1999) over the Giller prize. The nomination of Anne Hebert and Nancy Huston, the first inclusion of francophone writers, was greeted with 'shock.' Equally surprising, however, is perhaps the fact that Hebert was shortlisted for 'her' Am I Dislurbing You?, Fischman's translation of Esl-ce que je Ie derange? The Globe article does make careful mention of the translator and her own status as 'a senior figure in her own right.' In her letter to the editor (6 October 1999), Linda Leith states that these nominations suggest well-deserved recognition of outstanding books as well as 'vision' on behalf of the jurors. They do, however, blur the distinction between the original and the translation. Nancy Huston's case appears more straightforward in that she herself translated, or rewrote as she would claim, L'empreinle de l'ange (spelled incorrectly in the Globe article as L.jL. Ltllt'.l(~ IN \.:ANA UA 1)1)1)1 L'inzprint). However, here too the status of the translation comes into question, as Huston was nominated for the French-language GovemorGeneral 's Award for this novel in 1998 and for the translation prize, and not the English-language award, in 1999. (This is reminiscent of the '993 outcry when Huston was awarded the French-language prize for Cantiques des plaines, her 'rewriting' of Plainsong, 'denounced' by some Quebec critics as a mere translation.) Similarly, what occurs when Marie-Claire Blais wins the W.O. Mitchell prize for novels such as Mad Shadows and A Season in the Life of Emmanuel, as the Globe article (31 May 2000) suggests? Here the translators' names are not even given. It is difficult to determine, and the present article will not attempt to do so, whether this blurring of the distinction between the translation and the original downplays or emphasizes the role of the translator. In the first case, this would suggest that no progress has been made since '947 when Gabrielle Roy won the GovernorGeneral 's Award for 'her' The Tin Flute in the absence of a French-language prize and became one of French Canada's most appropriated writers. Or does the second case, equating the translation with the original, elevating the former to the status of the latter, suggest, as it does for Linda Leith, that the inclusion of translations in major awards previously reserved for English-language literature represents a new, expanded vision? Alberto Manguel, one of the Giller jurors, seems to suggest that Quebec does not share the idea of inclusion. In 'The Power of Babel,' an...