Translation and Gender: Translating in the 'Era of Feminism'

6. Future Perspectives

6. Future Perspectives Recent work in cultural studies is introducing issues of gender into the discussions on colonialism (McClintock 1995), on orientalism (Lewis 1996) and examining them in the light of constantly changingpolitical affiliations (Funk & Mueller 1993). Gender thus remains fertile ground for research in the human sciences. New avenues of thought have been opened by the development of gay and lesbian studies and theoretical works that question the basic duality of gender. At the same time, contemporary explorations of cultural difference which effectively undermine any claim for the universal applicability of findings about gender can only lead to more productive and creative work. The perspectives for the study of gender and translation are tied to these developments and the plethora of possibilities they offer. Nonetheless , academic work is also affected by such constraints as funding, cultural acceptability of the topic and consensus on what constitutes academic research. Research perspectives may thus be restricted by dominant cultural assumptions, by academic priorities or power structures that determine what counts as scholarship in a certain place at a certain time. Given a relatively open-minded academic setting, however , research perspectives in the area of gender and translation are multiple, precisely because the field is quite unexplored. The following is a brief listing of such perspectives and a series of questions that may serve to prompt scholarly undertakings. Broad Historical Perspectives In translation studies it has been more customary to formulate prescriptive theoretical models than to study existing translations. The study of translations, especially translations of lengthy prose fiction, involves the juxtaposition of source and target texts, their comparison and the painstaking analysis of findings presented in the context of the changing relations between the cultures involved. As Ria Vanderauwera (1985:5-15) points out, such studies have been eschewed, not only because they require detailed examinations of long and complex texts as well as in-depth knowledge of the two cultures and their historical contexts , but also because the study of translations has not been considered as prestigious as the study of 'national literatures' or the production of more abstract theory. However, the work done by researchers such as Margaret Hannay and Tina Krontiris, Yopi Prins and Jane Batchelor 89 Translation and Gender shows that the study of women's work as translators and in translation can offer important new perspectives. Since so little of this type of comparatist work has so far been published, much remains to be done. In regard to historical perspectives on gender and translation, the following questions might be considered: • What roles have women played as translators? Contemporary critics tend to posit gender as an important fact in a person's life and work. How has gender affected the work of translators in the past? Have they resisted or undermined the dominant norms and orthodoxies of the societies they lived in, and if so, how did they do this? Does their work provide any non-canonical views of the cultural 'truths' and assumptions propagated by dominant cultural systems? How and why has their work survived over time, and what has been its influence? One might, for instance, consider the gender effect in Marie Bonaparte's French translations of Freud and enquire about the influence it had on the early reception of Freud in France. Similar studies of the translations of Thomas Mann by Lowe-Porter would doubtless yield interesting results. On a different note, the translations produced by numerous twentieth-century women writers — Marina Tsvetaeva, Marguerite Yourcenar, Monique Wittig— could be examined for the links between their twofold creative pursuits. While twentieth-century work may be most accessible, such analyses could be extended to any historical moment, and any geographical or cultural region. • How have womenfared in translation ?Have works by women writers been accorded different treatment from those of men? Can any difference be posited as a general maxim, or must it remain restricted to individual writers? Has translated literature by women had a different history than similar work by men? Were there moments when women's writing in translation made significant breakthroughs (the nineteenth-century novel, perhaps)? In which cultures did this occur , why and what were the effects? A delicate question, so far motivated by anecdotal information, might address the alleged improvement that translations of prize-winning women authors undergo. Toni Morrison's work in French and German translation is said to have undergone substantial change after she was awarded the Nobel Prize. Has this in fact been the case? And what are the...