Reimagining Translated Children's Literature
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Reimagining Translated Children's Literature: Gender and Physical Difference in Selected English Translations, Retranslations and Re-Editions of Le Avventure di Pinocchio and La Belle et la Bête. REBECCA CHARLENE WILLIAMS School of Modern Languages, Cardiff University A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. February 2021 Acknowledgements This thesis is the product of the effort, support and encouragement of several people to whom I am truly indebted. First and foremost, I extend my sincere thanks to my supervisors, Dr Cristina Marinetti and Professor Loredana Polezzi. Thank you for meticulously reading copious drafts of my work and helping me to navigate my way through what has been an intellectually stimulating and unforgettable journey. It has been a pleasure to work with you both. I would like to thank Dr Liz Wren-Owens, who has offered invaluable feedback at various stages of this research. Thank you for your constructive criticism and for providing a fresh perspective when I needed it the most. I also owe a great debt of gratitude to Dr Carlos Sanz-Mingo, Cathy Molinaro and Vanna Motta, who have nurtured my passion for foreign languages and translation since I was an undergraduate student and guided me to this point in my academic career. I am unreservedly thankful for your affectionate motivation and unwavering kindness. Last but certainly not least, I am eternally grateful to my family. I am truly fortunate to be surrounded by your unconditional love. To my parents: you have been a constant source of support throughout this academic voyage. Without you, I would have had neither the opportunity nor the confidence to complete this PhD. To my brothers, Matthew and Peter: your humour and warmth brighten up even the most challenging of days. To my grandparents: thank you for your continued encouragement and for simply being there. i Abstract Translated children's literature represents a cultural experience which intervenes in a child's perception of the world, and its social value is thus important to examine. The aim of this thesis is to understand how translated children's literature is deployed as a tool to communicate to young readers representations of gender and physical difference, two notions that are pivotal within contemporary discussions of identity. To do this, it engages with the theoretical conceptualisations of translation, retranslation, rewriting and re-editioning which are located in the field of Translation Studies. The thesis turns to two classical European children's tales – Le Avventure di Pinocchio (1883) [The Adventures of Pinocchio] and La Belle et la Bête (1756) [Beauty and the Beast] – to explore how processes of translation affect the construction, transmission and transformation of gender and physical difference in stories for children. It examines how translation can intervene in the way in which these notions are exhibited in these two popular children's tales, both of which have travelled diachronically and diatopically. Le Avventure di Pinocchio and La Belle et la Bête have been passed from generation to generation and from culture to culture since their inception, and they are thus ideally positioned to investigate how the child reader has been presented with notions of identity at different moments in time and in different cultural contexts. The analysis specifically considers how these two classics of children's literature have journeyed to and within Britain, carrying images of gender and physical difference with them. It aims to disentangle those images as they cross cultural, linguistic and temporal borders and are reshaped for young audiences in Britain over time. As its methodological approach, it uses retranslation, rewriting and re-editioning to unpack how translation can mediate in portrayals of gender and physical difference and how this, in turn, can shape children's narratives. ii Table of Contents Acknowledgments i Abstract ii Table of Contents iii List of Abbreviations x List of Figures xi Introduction 1-13 I. Classics of Children's Literature: In Britain and Beyond 2 II. Case-Studies Selected for the Thesis 4 III. The Analysis of Translations as a Methodological Tool 8 IV. Notions of Identity 10 V. Structure of the Thesis 11 CHAPTER 1 14-51 From Childhood to Children's Literature to Children's Literature in Translation: The Theoretical and Conceptual Framework of This Thesis 1.1 "Childhood": A Western Conceptualisation of the Notion 15 1.2 Children's Literature: The Creation of Classics 19 1.3 Children's Literature in Translation 24 1.3.1 Approaches to the Translation of Children's Literature: 26 Translation as Rewriting 1.3.2 Approaches to the Translation of Children's Literature: 28 Retranslation 1.3.3 Approaches to the Translation of Children's Literature: 31 Re-Editioning 1.3.4 Approaches to the Translation of Children's Literature: 33 The Role of the "Original" Text iii 1.4 Methodological Framework of the Thesis 35 1.5 Identity and Children's Literature 39 1.5.1 The Representation of Gender in Children's Literature and 42 Translated Children's Literature 1.5.2 The Representation of Physical Difference in Children's 47 Literature and Translated Children's Literature 1.6 Now to a Wooden Puppet and an Ugly Prince 49 SECTION I – LE AVVENTURE DI PINOCCHIO CHAPTER 2 52-69 An Italian Puppet in Britain: The Journey of Le Avventure di Pinocchio 2.1 Le Avventure di Pinocchio: The History of the Tale 53 2.1.1 Le Avventure di Pinocchio: A Tale of Intertextuality 58 2.2 Translations of Le Avventure di Pinocchio Selected for the 61 Thesis 2.2.1 Mary Alice Murray's The Story of a Puppet, or The 62 Adventures of Pinocchio (1892) 2.2.2 Re-Editions and Reprints of Mary Alice Murray's The Story 64 of a Puppet, or The Adventures of Pinocchio 2.3 Chapter Conclusion 68 CHAPTER 3 70-94 Representations of Physical Difference in Carlo Collodi's Le Avventure di Pinocchio and Mary Alice Murray's The Story of a Puppet, or The Adventures of Pinocchio 3.1 The Notion of Physical Difference 70 3.2 Representations of Physical Difference in Carlo Collodi's 75 Tale and the First Edition of Mary Alice Murray's Translation: Pinocchio iv 3.3 Representations of Physical Difference in Carlo Collodi's 84 Tale and the First Edition of Mary Alice Murray's Translation: Geppetto and Pinocchio 3.4 Representations of Physical Difference in Carlo Collodi's 86 Tale and the First Edition of Mary Alice Murray's Translation: il Gatto and la Volpe 3.5 Chapter Conclusion 93 CHAPTER 4 95-143 Representations of Physical Difference in the Illustrations of Carlo Collodi's Le Avventure di Pinocchio, Mary Alice Murray's Translation, and Its Selected Re-Editions and Reprints 4.1 Pinocchio: A Visual Metaphor for Physical Appearance 97 4.2 Physical Transformation: A Growing Nose and a Human 114 Body 4.3.1 A Visual Representation of Disability: il Gatto and la Volpe 129 in Carlo Collodi's Tale and the First Edition of Mary Alice Murray's Translation 4.3.2 A Visual Representation of Disability: The Cat and the Fox 134 in Re-Editions and Reprints of Mary Alice Murray's Translation 4.4 Chapter Conclusion 143 CHAPTER 5 144-167 Representations of Gender in Carlo Collodi's Le Avventure di Pinocchio, Mary Alice Murray's Translation, and Its Selected Re-Editions and Reprints 5.1 The Anthropomorphic Application of Gender: il Gatto and 147 la Volpe in Collodi's Text and the First Edition of Mary Alice Murray's Translation 5.2 The Anthropomorphic Application of Gender: The Cat and 155 the Fox in Selected Re-Editions and Reprints of Mary Alice Murray's Translation 5.2.1 A Visual Representation of Gender: The Cat and the Fox in 159 Illustrations of Selected Re-Editions and Reprints of Mary Alice Murray's Translation v 5.3 Chapter Conclusion 165 SECTION II – LA BELLE ET LA BÊTE CHAPTER 6 168-187 La Belle et la Bête: A French Tale for British Girls 6.1 La Belle et la Bête: The History of the Tale 169 6.1.1 The Role of Intertextuality in La Belle et la Bête 173 6.1.2 La Belle et la Bête: A Feminist Approach 176 6.2 Translations of La Belle et la Bête Selected for the Thesis 177 6.2.1 The First English Translation of La Belle et la Bête (1757) 180 6.2.2 Minnie Wright's Beauty and the Beast (1889) 181 6.2.3 Amelia E. Johnson's Beauty and the Beast (1921) 183 6.2.4 Angela Carter's Beauty and the Beast (1982) 185 6.3 Chapter Conclusion 186 CHAPTER 7 188-228 The Construction of Gender through the Attribute of Beauty in La Belle et la Bête and Its Selected English Translations 7.1 The Conceptualisation of Female Agency 189 7.2 Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont's La Belle et la Bête 192 and Its First English Translation 7.2.1 The Female Protagonist 194 7.2.2 The Eldest Sister's Husband and the Prince 200 7.2.3 The Complicated Relationship between Gender, Beauty 205 and Agency 7.3 Other Selected English Retranslations of La Belle et la Bête 206 vi 7.3.1 The Female Protagonist in Minnie Wright's Beauty and the 207 Beast (1889) 7.3.2 The Female Protagonist in A.E. Johnson's Beauty and the 215 Beast (1921) 7.3.3 The Female Protagonist in Angela Carter's Beauty and the 216 Beast (1982) 7.3.4 The Eldest Sister's Husband in A.E. Johnson's Beauty and 221 the Beast (1921) and Angela Carter's Beauty and the Beast (1982) 7.3.5 The Prince in Minnie Wright's Beauty and the Beast (1889) 223 7.3.6 The Prince in A.E.