Translating Canada

Telling Canada’s “Story” in German

Telling Canada’s “Story” in German: Using Cultural Diplomacy to Achieve Soft Power Luise von Flotow University of Ottawa The focus of this chapter, and of this book, is the translation of Canadian writing into German. Three distinct elements are involved, of which the most important is “storytelling.” Stories travel through translation; they are the raw material of the translation process. However, we are not concerned here with producing literary criticism of Canadian writing, so our interest in the “source texts” will be limited. We are dealing instead with translation and reception: we want to understand why certain texts are selected for translation and why others are left aside. Which aesthetic, economic, or ideological considerations enter into the selection process? In what condition do Canadian stories arrive in the target language, German? And how are they read once they have been translated into the new cultural environment? Our third focus—with which we will start our overview—is on the use of stories by national governments and agencies in the service of cultural or public diplomacy: that is, as an instrument in gaining “soft power.” In October 2001, Adrienne Clarkson, then the Governor General of Canada, DQGKHUZULWHUKXVEDQG-RKQ5DOVWRQ6DXOOHGDQRIÀFLDOGHOHJDWLRQRQDVWDWH visit to Germany. In the delegation of about forty people, there were twenty “culture workers”: writers, poets, visual artists, actors, about half of whom were francophone: for instance, two writer-translators (Émile Martel and Daniel Poliquin), a dramatist (Michel Marc Bouchard), a literary critic (Pierre Cayouette), DQGDSRHW 3LHUUH0RUHQF\ 7KHÀOPGLUHFWRU$WRP(JR\DQDQGWZRDFWRUVZKR are often associated with him, Don McKellar and Arsinée Khanjian, as well as academics and even wine growers were also part of the group. The focus was clearly on cultural exchange, an apparent attempt to further reinforce interest in Canada in a country that has had Canadian books on its bestseller lists and an extensive network of academics involved in Canadian Studies for more than twenty years. The strong francophone participation that marked this venture may have been related to a previously published anthology of Canadian writing translated into German, Anders schreibendes Amerika: Literatur aus Quebec 1945– 2000 (Baier and Filion 2000), a collection of VKRUWÀFWLRQIURP4XHEHFDVZHOODV UHFHQWVWDJLQJVRIFRQWHPSRUDU\GUDPDIURP4XHEHFLQ%HUOLQDQG&RORJQH VHH Jandl in this volume). Since the early 1980s, Canada has become a cultural success in Germany and Austria,1 with Germany outranking every other country in terms of its great LQWHUHVWLQ&DQDGLDQÀFWLRQLQWUDQVODWLRQ2 While this fascination is undoubtedly related to the strong Canadian Studies initiatives at German universities, there are many other factors in such a success story. They include Canadian government initiatives, which have made available extensive and repeated travel and translation grants for authors such as Margaret Atwood, Barbara Gowdy, Michael Ondaatje, Anne Michaels, and many others. But many of the reasons for the success also seem to lie with the German-speaking audience for whom Canada became a popular tourist destination throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Among the decisive factors were the emergence of green politics, a romantic notion of pristine Canadian nature, a broad, middle-class reading culture that is very interested in other (especially anglophone) cultures, the idea of Canada as an attractive North American alternative to the United States, and narrative topics in Canadian writing that are not plagued with the weighty themes and post–World War II soul searching of much contemporary German literature. In other words, when German-speaking readers read Canadian stories, they gain access to the engaging aspects of North American storytelling, set in an HQYLURQPHQWWKDWWKH\FRQFHSWXDOL]HDVEHLQJFORVHUWRQDWXUHDQGWKH\ÀQGD pleasant alternative to both contemporary German prose and the increasingly GLIÀFXOWSROLWLFDOÁDYRXURIWKH8QLWHG6WDWHV In the following section, I examine a number of aspects of cultural policy as initiated by the government. Such policy is used by many countries, including Canada, to create interest in their products in a highly competitive global market. I also explore nation branding as a more recent facet of this promotional form of diplomacy. 1. In 2000, the Austrian weekly magazine 3URÀO announced a “goldenes Zeitalter der kanadischen Literatur” (“a golden age of Canadian literature”). 2. The funds allotted to foreign publishers by the Canada Council for the Arts over the past decade have largely gone to German publishing houses. Germany...