ABSTRACT

Despite claims that translating her writing is “épouvantable,” Franco-Canadian author Nancy Huston produces more self-translations than nearly any other writer today. Critics have studied the uniqueness of her bilingual oeuvre, often focusing on themes of gender, exile, and globalization. The present essay considers translation as an organizing principle in two novels from the period in which Huston first began composing in English: Trois fois septembre (never published in English) and Plainsong (Cantique des plaines in French). Both novels center on the diary of a deceased character interpreted for the reader by a protagonist. I argue the relationship between the novels and these diaries can be understood as analogous to that between original and translation. The diary, like an original text, inspires and shapes the narrative while remaining inaccessible for the novel’s reader. Huston thus effectively blurs the border between translating a story and translation as story.

摘要

尽管有人声称翻译她的作品是“有利的”，但法裔加拿大作家南希·休斯顿产生的自译数量比当今几乎任何其他作家都要多。评论家研究了她的双语作品的独特性，通常侧重于性别，流亡和全球化主题。从休斯顿最早开始用英语写作的那两篇小说中，本文认为翻译是组织原则，《三位一体》（Trois fois septembre）（从未出版过英文）和《平原》（Cantique des plaines）法语）。这两本小说均以主人公为读者解释的已故人物的日记为中心。我认为小说与这些日记之间的关系可以理解为类似于原著和翻译之间的关系。日记就像原始文本一样，激发并塑造了叙事，但小说的读者却无法访问。因此，休斯顿有效地模糊了翻译故事和将故事翻译为故事之间的界限。