University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations Spring 4-29-2020 The Translator-Function: Translating Bande-Dessinée for the Anglophone Reader Ryan C. Gomez Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/fll_etds Part of the European Languages and Societies Commons, French and Francophone Literature Commons, Language Interpretation and Translation Commons, Modern Languages Commons, Modern Literature Commons, and the Translation Studies Commons Recommended Citation Gomez, Ryan C.. "The Translator-Function: Translating Bande-Dessinée for the Anglophone Reader." (2020). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/fll_etds/138 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. Ryan Christopher Gomez Candidate Foreign Languages and Literatures Department This thesis is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Thesis Committee: Dr. Francis Higginson, Chairperson Dr. Marina Peters-Newell Dr. Stephen Bishop i THE TRANSLATOR-FUNCTION: TRANSLATING BANDE DESSINÉE FOR THE ANGLOPHONE READER by RYAN CHRISTOPHER GOMEZ BACHELOR OF ARTS, LINGUISTICS & FRENCH UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, 2015 THESIS Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts French The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico May 2020 ii DEDICATION In memory of my grandfather, Edwin Sandoval, who always believed in me. This thesis is dedicated to my parents, Connie and Hector, and my brother, Nathan, who have always encouraged me to pursue my passions inside and outside of academia. Without my family’s support, my parents’ values, and my brother’s friendship, I would never have had the strength or courage to persevere. I am forever grateful for their guidance, their love, and for always doing their best to never let self-doubt get the better of me. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my sincere thanks to my thesis committee chair, Dr. Pim Higginson, whose thoughtful and thorough guidance was indispensable in the writing process, even from great distances. He persistently encouraged me to expand my thought without sacrificing concision and pushed me to elevate the quality of my writing to meet the potential he saw in project. His initial and continued enthusiasm for the project propelled my work in more ways than I can express. Thank you for your honest and patient guidance, without which this thesis would not have been possible. I would like to show my deep gratitude to Dr. Stephen Bishop, whose detailed suggestions on my writing and manuscript formatting played a vital role during the revision process. His teaching, encouragement, and humor has made my experience at the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures truly positive. I am indebted to Dr. Marina Peters-Newell not only for her valuable contributions on my committee but also for her professional pedagogical leadership and the many opportunities that she has given me to succeed in my teaching at UNM. Her constant support and kindness have made teaching French at FLL my favorite job to date. The valuable lessons I’ve learned under her direction will forever stay with me going forward in my professional life. I would like to pay special regards to Dr. Pamela Cheek, whose guidance and inspiration throughout my academic study has been a blessing. I would never have even considered pursuing a postgraduate degree in French if it weren’t for her encouragement years ago, and her belief in me ever since has widened the possibilities I can see for myself in the future. I wish to thank all of my colleagues and fellow TAs in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures for their caring professionalism. It has been truly a pleasure to work and learn alongside such intelligent and kind people, especially Hannah Garver, Cole Carvour, David Barnes, Kaela Thomas, Marisa Minnick, Marie Bellec, and Teresa Caprioglio. Their camaraderie has been crucial in persevering throughout this program. I wish to thank Motomi Kajitani and Anna Shkireva for being the two best officemates I could have ever asked for. Their kindness, warmth, and willingness to share their expertise has always made time in the office a pleasure. A very special thanks to Christine Ellis, not only for her support in all things academic but most importantly for her friendship. Through her encouragement and her candor, she has never let me see myself as anything less than I am. Our solidarity means more to me than I can express. A sincere thank you to my dear friends outside of academia, especially Rachel and Monica Romero, Rachel McAlister de Abreu, Laura Loewenstein, Rachel Smotherman, Liz Beson, Savannah Caffy, Rowan Christie, and Anna Schaffer. Your friendship and support mean the world to me. Lastly, I wish to acknowledge the support and great love of my family: my mother, Connie; my father, Hector; my brother, Nathan; my grandmother, Isabelle; and my aunt, Marti the Great. They keep me going on, and this work would not have been possible without their love and support. Thank you. iv The Translator-Function: Translating Bande-Dessinée for the Anglophone Reader Ryan Christopher Gomez Bachelor of Arts, Linguistics & French Master of Arts, French ABSTRACT The principal aim of this thesis is to examine the unique position of the translator by examining the products of translation (French-language bandes-dessinées and their English translations) and considering critical literary and translation theories. I will demonstrate the unique position held by translators and their work through the proposal of what I call the translator-function. Translation, I contend, is worthy of critical literary consideration rather than simply being a necessary function within the market forces of global literary industries. Translation figures perform essential and sometimes transformative functions in the transmission of literary and cultural information from one language to another, while oscillating between the positions of reader and author in very distinctive ways. The concept of the translator-function will assist in conceiving the translator’s role and thus be formulated through a consideration of the translator’s various roles in negotiating a source text’s language, visual elements, influences, contexts, and target readership. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................. vii INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1—Situating the Translator: Persepolis ............................................ 16 Historical Understandings of the Process and Products of Translation ........ 21 The Translator’s Shifting Roles: The Case of Persepolis ............................. 30 The Relationship between Text and Image in Translating Persepolis .......... 41 The Translator’s State of Flux: Reader and Author Roles ............................ 48 CHAPTER 2—The Cultural Turns: Translating Hergé ..................................... 53 Stereotypes and Visual Space in Translating Hergé ...................................... 61 Equivalence and the Cultural Turn of Translation Studies ........................... 66 The First Cultural Turn: Stereotypical Criminal Characters ......................... 79 The Second Cultural Turn: Racial Stereotypes and Caricatures ................... 84 The Third Cultural Turn: Reduction of Criticisms ........................................ 93 The Stake of Translation in Hergé ................................................................. 101 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................ 104 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................ 109 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Panel 64A1 from English translation of Persepolis ................................... 44 Figure 2. Panel 64A1 from original text of Persepolis ............................................. 45 Figure 3. Panel 1A1 from Tintin en Amérique .......................................................... 63 Figure 4. Panel 1A1 from Tintin in America ............................................................. 64 Figure 5. Panel 1A1 from Tintin en Amérique with my own English gloss .............. 64 Figure 6. Panel 5C3 from Tintin en Amérique .......................................................... 85 Figure 7. Panel 5C3 from Tintin in America ............................................................. 85 Figure 8. Panel 19B2 from Tintin en Amérique ........................................................ 88 Figure 9. Panel 19B2 from Tintin in America ........................................................... 88 Figure 10. Panel 16D2 from Tintin en Amérique ...................................................... 95 Figure 11. Panel 16D2 from Tintin in America ......................................................... 95 Figure 12. Panel 34B2 from Tintin en Amérique ...................................................... 99 Figure 13. Panel 34B2 from Tintin in America ........................................................