Lara Cain Thesis
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Reading Culture: the translation and transfer of Australianness in contemporary fiction Lara Cain B.A. (Hons) School of Humanities and Social Sciences Centre for Community and Cross-cultural Studies Queensland University of Technology Submitted in full requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2001 Key words: Culture, translation, identity, language, belonging, fiction, marketing, publishing, myth, Australia, France, United Kingdom. Abstract The dual usage of ‘reading’ in the title evokes the nature of this study. This thesis will analyse the ways in which people ‘read’ (make sense of/produce) images of culture as they approach translated novels. Part of this analysis is the examination of what informs the ‘reading culture’ of a given community; that is, the conditions in which readers and texts exist, or the ways in which readers are able to access texts. Understanding of the depictions of culture found in a novel is influenced by publicity and promotion, educational institutions, book stores, funding bodies and other links between the reading public and the production and sale of books. All of these parties act as ‘translators’ of the text, making it available and comprehensible to readers. This thesis will make use of a set of contemporary Australian novels, each of which makes extensive use of Australianness and Australianisms throughout its narrative. The movement of these texts from their cultures of origin towards wider Australia, the United Kingdom and France will provide the major case studies. The thesis will assert that no text is accessed without some form of translation and that the reading positions established by translators are a powerful influence on the interpretations arrived at by readers. More than ever, in the contemporary reading environment, the influence of the press and other ‘translators’ is significant to the ways in which texts are read, and to perceptions held by readers of the culture from which a novel originates. Table of Contents Keywords i Abstract ii Table of Contents iii Table of Illustrations vi Statement of Original Authorship vii Acknowledgments viii Introduction: We translate cultures not languages. 1 Definitions and key theoretical perspectives. 2 Why choose this corpus of novels? 14 What has gone before? 18 Practical applications of the thesis. 22 Chapter outline. 26 Chapter One: The Australian sunbakes while the English sunbathes. Translating culturally-specific language and identity in narrative. Introduction 30 1. Language and Identity 32 1.1 Speech genres 36 1.2 Intertextuality and heteroglossia 39 1.3 Variation and accent 41 1.4 Humour and word play 43 1.5 Popular culture 45 1.6 Vulgarities 49 1.7 Strategic choices and linguistic politics 52 2.Australian English 57 2.1 The Australian accent 58 2.2 Grammatical specificities 63 2.3 Lexical variation 64 2.4 Other Australian Englishes 66 Conclusion 72 Chapter Two: Some colonial dress-ups and a few low key speeches. Translating Australian approaches to nationalism and national mythology. Introduction 74 1. Australian nationalism 77 2. Myth and masculinity 90 3. Land, belonging and finding a ‘home’ 102 Conclusion 113 Chapter Three: That’s what Paradise is – never knowing the difference. Theoretical approaches to translation. Introduction 120 1. What is translation? 123 2. Theoretical approaches to translation 126 2.1 Descriptive vs theoretical translation studies 127 2.2 Fidelity 128 2.3 Style and form 131 2.4 Domestication and exoticisation 134 2.5 Some effects of translation theory on dealing with cultural specificities 137 3. Transfer and the literary polysystem 142 4. Problems and “best possible” solutions 149 Chapter Four: A good book makes you want to phone the author. Sites of authority: readers and authors as translators. Introduction 157 1. Paratext 159 2. What is an author? 164 3. What is a reader? 172 4. What is a translator? 177 4.1 Genre 179 4.2 Celebrity 182 4.3 Oppositionality 193 Conclusion 197 Chapter Five: Brisbane’s favourite son. The transfer and translation of Nick Earls’ Zigzag Street. Introduction 202 1. Australian texts in the United Kingdom 204 2. Paratextual effect: wider community understanding as translation 206 2.1 Eduction as translation 208 2.2 Publishing and the media as translation 211 2.3 Genre as translation 215 3. Cultural-specificity/Australianness in Zigzag Street 223 3.1 Language and myth 223 3.2 Author as local identity 225 4. Sites of authority/types of translation 237 4.1 Bookstores as translation 239 4.2 The author function as translation 242 4.3 The peritext: the publisher as translator 246 4.4 The epitext: the press as translator 249 Conclusion 252 Chapter Six: L’exploratrice des antipodes. The transfer and translation of Nikki Gemmell’s Cleave. 1. Australian texts in France 258 2. Paratextual effect: wider community understanding as a form of translation 263 2.1 Education as translation 264 2.2 Bookstores and publishing as translation 266 2.3 The media as translation 270 3. Cultural-specificity/Australianness in Cleave 274 3.1 Language and myth 275 3.2 Genre and the author as local identity 289 4. Sites of authority/types of translation 294 4.1 The author function as translation 296 4.2 Peritext: the publisher as translator 308 4.3 Epitext: the press as translator 313 Conclusion 319 Conclusion: Everything we know about cultures beyond our own has come to us […] through processes of transfer and translation. 323 Politics and translation 325 Economics and translation 331 Culture and translation 338 Future directions 341 Bibliography 344 Table of Illustrations Title of illustration Page number 1: Comparative examples of the author as celebrity. 188 2: Australian cover design of Luke Davies’ Candy. 218 3: United Kingdom cover design of Candy. 218 4: Publicity photo of Nick Earls on release of Bachelor Kisses. 230 5: Promotional poster design for After January. 230 6: Publicity photo of Nick Earls on release of Perfect Skin. 230 7: United Kingdom cover design of Nick Earls’ Bachelor Kisses. 241 8: Australian cover design of Bachelor Kisses. 241 9: Original Australian cover design of Nick Earls’ Zigzag Street. 248 10: Second reprint Australian cover design of Zigzag Street. 248 11: United Kingdom cover design of Zigzag Street. 248 12: Australian cover design of Nikki Gemmell’s Cleave. 309 13: French cover design of Cleave (Les Noces Sauvages). 309 14: Australian cover design of Sally Morgan’s My Place. 311 15: French cover design of My Place (Talahue). 311 16: Australian cover design of Fiona Capp’s Night Surfing. 314 17: French cover design of Night Surfing (Surfer la Nuit). 314 Statement of original authorship The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted for a degree or diploma at any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference in made. Signed:………………………… Date: ………………………….. Acknowledgments A project of this duration cannot be completed without the support and assistance of many. Throughout my work on this project I have considered myself extremely fortunate to have been surrounded by people, in both my personal and professional lives, who believed in the importance of my research and believed in my ability to successfully complete this thesis. It seems a prerequisite of the postgraduate experience to be plagued with self- doubt, so the wisdom of my colleagues, family and friends has been invaluable. Fundamental to the submission of this thesis was the guidance of my supervisors. For academic expertise, celebrity anecdotes and extended metaphors above and beyond the call of duty, I thank the Principal Supervisor of both my Honours and PhD theses, Dr Barbara Hanna. I also thank Mr Joe Hardwick for his advice and support as Associate Supervisor. Both individuals have given generously of their time in spite of other pressures and commitments (having observed the experiences of other postgraduate students, I know that this is a gift not offered by all supervisors). I add to this list of collegial supporters many past and present members of QUT’s soon to be dismantled School of Humanities and Social Sciences. I began my studies at QUT in 1994 with vague ambitions and no specific areas of interest. Within three years of undergraduate study, my fascination with literature and language had been fuelled by the excellent teaching and encouragement of those who are now my colleagues. I thank the department for supporting my Honours project and my move into PhD research. The difficult position of researching international marketing and publishing concerns from Australia was made easier by a number of parties. Access to a sufficiently wide range of interviews, reviews and publishing anecdotes could not have been achieved without the help of publicists and other representatives of publishing houses. Further to this, the authors of the novels analysed in this thesis have been extremely helpful – I particularly thank Nick Earls whose continued support of this project has been invaluable. The School and Centre at QUT must be acknowledged for financially supporting a greatly useful international research trip. During my time in the United Kingdom, the academic and support staff of the Sir Robert Menzies Centre for Australian Studies and the Australian Studies section of the University of Wales, Lampeter, offered me insight, advice and the opportunity for public presentation of my findings at that stage. I also thank my interviewees in France for their contribution to the project. Finally, I must thank my family for being my friends and my friends for being like family. I have an exceptional support network in my private sphere and I could not have survived the past three and half years with any semblance of sanity intact without my personal associates.