Uniwersytet Mikoaja Kopernika Wydzia Filologiczny Katedra Filologii Angielskiej

Maciej Jarzbski
Nr albumu: 233732

Praca magisterska na kierunku filologia; specjalnoci: filologia angielska

Contributions and limitations of the feminist approaches to translation

An analysis of the Polish translations of Judith Butlers Gender Trouble and Jeanette Wintersons The PowerBook

Osignicia oraz ograniczenia feministycznych teorii przekadu

Analiza polskich przekadw Gender Trouble Judith Butler oraz The PowerBook Jeanette Winterson

Praca wykonana pod kierunkiem Dr Moniki Linke w Katedrze Filolgii Angielskiej UMK

Toru 2011
Prace przyjmuj i akceptuj Potwierdzam zoenie pracy dyplomowej

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data i podpis opiekuna pracy

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data i podpis pracownika dziekanatu

Table of Contents

Introduction ..... Chapter I - The concept of feminism and its place in translation studies Introductory note . 1.1 Feminism - a brief introduction .... 1.2 Translation - the feminist approach .. 1.3 The place of women and translation in literary history . 1.4 Difference in language usage between the sexes .. Chapter II - Theoretical foundations of the feminist approaches to translation Introductory note . 2.1 The cultural turn 2.2 Translation as rewriting 2.3.1 Venuti - the cultural and political aspects of translation 2.3.2 Venuti - the shadowy existence of the translator ... 2.4 Derrida - the influence of deconstruction on translation studies .. 2.5 Gender in translation - the feminist perspective ... 2.6 Feminist translation strategies according to Luise von Flotow . 2.7.1 Supplementing ... 2.7.2 Prefacing and Footnoting ... 2.7.3 Hijacking 2.8 Feminist translation strategies according to Franoise Massardier-Kenney . 2.8.1 A query about feminism in translation ... 2.8.2 Strategies in feminist translation practice .. 2.8.2.1 Author-centred strategies 2.8.2.2 Translator-centred strategies ... Chapter III - Feminist translation strategies in the context of English-Polish translation Introductory note.. 3.1 Feminist translation strategies in the Polish translation of Judith Butlers Gender Toruble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity .. 3.2 The shortcomings of the Polish translation of The PowerBook by Jeanette Winterson

3 4 5 10 14

17 17 18 20 21 22 23 25 27 29 30 31 33 34 35 39

43

44 52

Conclusions . References ... Streszczenie . Appendix I - Gra w przekad by Karolina Krasuska .. Appendix II - Kobieta nie istnieje by Olga Tokarczuk ...

59 61 65 67 71

Introduction

This thesis focuses on the feminist approaches to translation and their applications in the context of English-Polish translation. The aims of this project are to provide an exhaustive, critical analysis of feminist translation practices and to investigate whether the Polish language can be identified as receptive to feminist translation strategies. The analysis is based on the two different feminist approaches to translation developed by Luise von Flotow and Franoise Massardier-Kenney. The feminist approaches to translation are the offspring of the recent developments in translation studies and contemporary feminist thought. It can be noticed that translation and feminist studies share some common concerns, for instance, the rejection of hierarchical, gendered roles, and the distrust of traditional views on fidelity. Furthermore, they also question such aspects as the supreme authority of the original text and the translators invisibility. Feminist theorists claim that a juxtaposition of feminist theories and translation studies can be productive for both disciplines. Recent academic studies on feminist translation have mainly focused on the introduction of the feminist translation practices as well as their contributions and limitations in the context of translation studies. The work is organized as follows. It commences with Chapter I The concept of feminism and its place in translation studies, then it moves on to Chapter II Theoretical foundations of the feminist approaches to translation, and ends with Chapter III Feminist translation strategies in the context of English-Polish translation. Moreover, it contains such elements as: the introductory part, a table of contents, conclusions, references, a summary, and two appendices including the preface and the afterword to the Polish translation of Gender Trouble. Chapter I concerns the presentation of the concept of feminism, its brief history, and its place in translation studies. Firstly, it provides a concise definition of feminism and presents its areas of interest. Then, it briefly touches upon an encounter between translation studies and feminist theories. Finally, it refers to the place of women and translation in literary history.

Chapter II is devoted to the theoretical foundations the feminist approaches to translation as well as a selection of subtopics related to the issue. This chapter includes a collection of summaries of the selected theories developed by major figures in translation studies, such as Venuti, von Flotow, Derrida, Lefevere, Bassnett, or Simon. It focuses on the issues such as the cultural turn, the concept of rewriting, the invisibility of the translator, the influence of deconstruction on translation studies, the place of gender in translation, and feminist translation strategies. Chapter III constitutes the most significant part of the project. It is devoted to the investigation of the receptiveness of the Polish language to feminist translation strategies introduced by Luise von Flotow and Franoise Massardier-Kenney, broadly discussed in Chapter II. The analyzed texts include two influential and innovative texts of contemporary feminism and their Polish translations; Judith Butlers Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity and Jeanette Wintersons The PowerBook.

Chapter I The concept of feminism and its place in translation studies

Introductory note Simone de Beauvoir, a French writer and feminist, in her book The Second Sex wrote, One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman (de Beauvoir 1972: 267). These famous words imply that the socio-cultural situation demand from women to conform to certain standards of femininity created by the patriarchal system. In the 60s, AngloAmerican feminism revisited de Beauvoirs idea and expanded it including the language issue. The big question was to what extent language is a tool of communication and to what extent a tool of manipulation of the patriarchal society. Angela Dworkin in her essay Androcentrism in Linguistics wrote, The patriarchy is alive and well and flourishing in linguistics (http://specgram.com). The idea that language reflects mens power and social superiority disregarding the womens world became central to feminist sociolinguistic studies. Previous linguistic knowledge together with such basic didactic materials as dictionaries and grammar textbooks have been questioned and criticized as androcentric. According to Marguerite Duras, feminist literature is a limited translated writing originating in the Dark Ages, in which women were imprisoned in a phallocentric language system. During the Medieval Times in Europe, translation provided women with the only opportunity to enter the world of literature. (Simon 2005: 2) The lack of possibilities to write and publish novels or poems made translation the only written form allowing women to express emotions and feelings. Hence, the womens process of writing demands incorporating translation of male language into female one. This stage of translation is absent in male writing since language that men use to communicate is deeply rooted and has been developing throughout ages in the phallocentric system. Peter Barry writes, the female writer is seen as suffering the handicap of having to use a medium (prose writing) which is essentially a male instrument fashioned for male purposes. (Barry 2002: 126)

The feminist theories have made a significant contribution to translation studies. The number of feminist translations of texts of all sorts is constantly increasing. This growing concern over the field of translation is considered by some as yet another step in the womens pursuit of equality, others emphasize the need for a closer study of gender-related issues. According to Susanne de Lotbinire-Harwood, a Montreal-born writer and translator, translation may be a perfect transmitter of feminist culture and politics. She points out that her work as a translator is strongly influenced by the rapid development of feminist culture and an abundance of works by a number of literary theorists and critics. The issue of differences in the linguistic choices of feminist and non-feminist translators in the process of translating a text is a fascinating, however rarely discussed, subject. Sherry Simon points out that [t]ranslation studies have been impelled by many of the concerns central to feminism: the distrust of traditional hierarchies and gendered roles, deep suspicion of rules defining fidelity and the questioning of universal standards of meaning and value. Both feminism and translation are concerned by the way secondariness comes to be defined and canonized; both are tools for a critical understanding of difference as it is represented in language. (2005: 8)

1.1 Feminism a brief introduction Chambers Dictionary defines feminism as a belief or movement advocating the cause of women's rights and opportunities, particularly equal rights with men, by challenging inequalities between the sexes in society (http://chambersharrap.co.uk). This simple definition of feminism is probably the most straightforward one, but it definitely gets to the heart of the matter. Susan Osborne reports that [t]ogether with sex, drugs and rock n roll, feminism sprang into life in the late sixties and seventies attracting acres of media attention and generating a tremendous energy that translated into real change in many womens lives (2001: 7). However, the roots of womens liberation date back to the late eighteenth century when the revolutionary enthusiasm in France exerted

significant influence on writers such as Mary Wollstonecraft whose Vindication of the Rights of Women is seen as the foundation text of modern feminism. According to some commentators, nowadays we live in a post-feminist world where women have achieved equality with men, where a womens movement is no longer needed. Susan Osborne argues that this seems fairly far-fetched as, even in the Western world where campaigns

for equality have been strongest, there is still a discrepancy between the average wages for men and women. Feminism's field of study has expanded considerably since the revival of the womens movement in the sixties. Conferences, debates, dissertations and websites flourish on the subject. Academics throughout the world through lectures, research and publications contribute to the visible expansion in feminist literature which hit the bookshelves in the late 20th century and continues to do so. (Osborne 2001: 7-8) Angela McRobbie believes that [w]hat feminism may have lost in terms of public visibility as a protest movement, is more than compensated for by more hidden activities taking place behind the scenes. She emphasises the wide range of different feminisms that have emerged from different geographical locations in the last 20 years. (2009: 153) Today, the feminist framework includes, among other things, a whole range of diverse variants such as: amazon, anarchist, black, Christian, eco, gender, lesbian, liberal, Marxist, postmodern, radical or separatist.

1.2 Translation - the feminist approach However controversial it is, among various approaches to translation, the feminist one appears to be one of the most fascinating and progressive. From the historical perspective, translation has been perceived as a second-class activity restricted to reproducing a text; [t]his is associated with misogynist stereotypes of women, and it can therefore be argued that translation is described in gendered terms, negatively related to women (Andone 2002: 130). It is a fact that women have been marginalized and excluded from public life for centuries. At the very beginning, feminist translation focused primarily on the status of the translator and of translation. Andone points out that [t]ranslators and women have historically been the weak figures, translators in relation to writers and women in relation to men (2002: 137). According to Sherry Simon, feminist translation theory aims to identify and critique the tangle of concepts which relegates both women and translation to the bottom of the social and literary ladder (2005: 2). Lori Chamberlain also emphasizes the marginal status of women and translation in the literary hierarchy. Moreover, Chamberlain notes the analogy between translational relations and gender stereotypes. Terms such as les belles infidles reflect the depreciation of both women and translation. According to twentieth century descriptions of translators, their task is to

penetrate (rape, as Chamberlain puts it) the text in order to discover its meaning, which makes her argument valid. Andone points out that [p]atriarchy and logocentrism have much in common and they meet in translation. The original is the natural, the truth and the paternal authority, whereas the translation, the woman, is secondary, an imitation. (2002: 138) Feminist translation focuses on reframing the notion of fidelity, which has run through the history of translation in the western world over the years. Feminist translation understands fidelity as a movement directed toward the writing project a project which requires the joint participation of both the writer and the translator. (Simon 2005: 2) Feminist translators work involves the translation of two types of texts. The first type concerns texts written by feminist writers. Despite their experimental and challenging language, they can easily be part of the feminist project. As far as the second type is concerned, it involves texts written outside the feminist discourse. Due to the differences in the language of men and women as well as the clash between the translator and the author, such non-feminist texts pose a real challenge to feminist translators; [t]he feminist translator is caught between the need to express herself and the need to represent another. (Andone 2002: 138) Feminist translation theory attempts to make the masculine less visible and the feminine more visible in language. According to Andone, feminist translators try to create the possibility of a different language, so as masculine language is no longer a dominant one. (Andone 2002: 138) According to feminist theory, translation is discussed as a productive process departing from its conventionally assumed reproductive character: [l]anguage is a means of creating meaning, and meaning is created in order to reveal feminine identity. (Andone 2002: 130) Feminist translation redefines such fundamental concepts as equivalence, fidelity and the invisibility of the translator. It is not the original that occupies the central position. Feminist theory employs the aforesaid notions in order to rework meaning so as to reverse the system of social and cultural domination of men. (Andone 2002: 130) In medieval times in Europe, translation became the only instrument by means of which literature was accessible to women. Although they were in an inferior position to men, this opportunity helped them to challenge the norm and, eventually, make their

voice heard. The lack of possibilities to write and publish novels or poems made translation the only written form allowing women to express emotions and feelings. This status quo continued till the 19th or even 20th century. Moreover, the field of translation appeared to be a powerful tool of expression among many social and political movements. (Simon 2005: 2) Some sources say the discipline of translation studies was born in quite peculiar circumstances in the 1840s in the North of the United States of America. It was in 1840 that a religious movement called Millerism (named after its forefather William Miller) was founded. Millers claim was that the end of the world was looming large. Therefore, during his huge gatherings, he started instructing people how to prepare for the impending doom. The Day of Judgment was said to occur in October 1843. The followers of Millerism prepared themselves and waited praying for the imminent end. It came as a shock to them when they realized that October passed and nothing happened. At that point came the Great Disappointment and all the believers accused Miller of deception and misinformation. In order to save his face, he tried to shift the blame on those who misinterpreted Gods prophecies, from which he drew his knowledge. (von Flotow 1997: 41-42) According to Julia Evelina Smith, a strong believer in Millerism and a welleducated woman, the disappointment of October 1843 was not caused by the wrong interpretations, but by the mistranslation of the Bible. Therefore, Smith decided to make an effort to translate the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into English literally, and point out all the flaws of the King James Version used by William Miller. The decision regarding the publication of Smiths translation was preceded by many years of an extremely painstaking struggle for womens rights. More precisely, she fought for the right to vote and because of her dedication her name became famous. Her sheer determination to publish her work was an outcome of her desire to show that a woman is capable of doing what has been beyond the competences of men to render the Bible, unaided, from the original languages. Eventually, Smiths bible was well-received and praised for its faithfulness and trustworthiness. (von Flotow 1997: 42) Radical feminist writers in the 20th century introduced some new experimental practices into writing. Since then, they have explored and sought new themes as well as innovative ideas. Furthermore, women writers have gained more confidence in using new lexemes, phrases, metaphors, to communicate their thoughts and feelings in an

entirely different manner. These feelings, in most cases, refer to some negative images, full of bitterness, fear, and depicting lack of hope. The womens desire to find a new identity was expressed by one of the most important German radical feminist thinkers Verena Stefan. She noticed that although she endeavoured to delineate new experiences, she was unable to do it because the language in which she did it was patriarchal and outdated. Hence, the female writers commenced to experiment with language. (von Flotow 1995: 15) Mary Daly, an American radical feminist writer, is one of many highly influential women who examined language through the lens of patriarchy and feminism. One of her concerns is that the lexical items reflecting the strength and uniqueness of women are losing their importance. Dalys aim is to emphasize and regain their importance by encouraging radical feminists to incorporate them in their writing. According to Daly, women live in exile in patriarchal language; punning expresses their pain, but it is also a way to fight back. A writing project based on linguistic deconstruction in which wordplay has an important role, however, requires more than solidarity and exhortations for women to develop writing experiments. It also requires hard work from writers and readers alike. (von Flotow 1997: 47-48) Daly focuses primarily on such aspects as linguistic innovation, her own invention of words, and the renewal and rehabilitation of gynocentric terms that, as she puts it, have been lost in patriarchal translation (von Flotow 1997: 48). Daly, in her book Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism (1978), divides words into three categories: Big, Old and New. In the preface to her book, she points out that Big Words refer to those used in her book, which she addresses to big, strong women who are multiply mobile. The term Old Words concerns all the ancient words which carry some gynocentric meanings, whereas the term New Words refers to those linguistically innovative vocabulary items, as well as those old ones which are unearthed, and invade the patriarchal dictionary with their freshness. (Daly 1978: xiv) Second-wave feminism has exerted a significant influence on feminist translation. Von Flotow suggests that [i]t has endowed both Quebec feminist writers and their translators with the authority and the means to disregard Authority. With authorship and patriarchal language demystified, the feminist translator can dare to be a resistant, aggressive and creative writer who not only tampers with the HE/Man

aspects of conventional language, but intervenes in the text in many other ways. (1991: 81) This new school of thought was developed within the Anglo-French cultural dialogue in Canada. It has viewed translation as the combination of a practising theory and a theorising practice from which to examine cultural and ideological issues. (Simon 2005: viii) Olga Castro in her article (Re-)Examining Horizons In Feminist Translation Studies: Towards a Third Wave? describes Canadian feminist translation as a school of work and thought that defends the incorporation of the feminist ideology into translation because of the need to establish new ways of expression that make it possible to free language and society from their patriarchal burden. (Castro 2009: 3-4) The Canadian feminist translators such as, Barbara Godard, Susanne de Lotbinire-Harwood, Marlene Wildeman or Luise von Flotow as well as their male colleague Howard Scott, have done a masterful job translating avant-garde literary texts written by French-speaking women authors from Quebec into English. Based on the post-modern theories of language, these pieces of writing were distinguished by their consci(enti)ous criticism of the misogynistic conventions of patriarchal language and by developing a parallel feminist literary culture. According to Castro, [f]rom these texts the Canadian translators conceive translation as a continuation of the process of creating and disseminating meanings within a contingent network of discourses. (2009: 3-4) In order to retain the gender marks of the original texts, the feminist translators attempted to develop new methods of expression. They had to cope with French grammatical gender, which requires specifying the sex of the referents, and with English neutrals and epicenes. Therefore, for instance, the French word auteures was rendered as authers rather than authors, which is the generic form. (Castro 2009: 4) Von Flotow systematized later these strategies as supplementing, prefacing, footnoting and hijacking the text (1991: 74-84). Their main aim became the defence of the visibility of the translator. These strategies also became popular outside Canada. For example, Suzanne Jill Levine employed them in order to produce English transaltion of oppressively male, narcissistic, misogynistic and manipulative postmodern novel by the Cuban author Cabrera Infante. Castro comments that [Levine] deliberately chooses to become a subversive scribe who rewrites the text in a faithfully unfaithful subversive manner. (2009: 4) Within the last two decades, a controversial issue of gender and language stirred the debate among many literary critics. The Anglo-American feminist researchers are

divided into those who are interested in the sociological problems of women, historiography and the subject of the construction of gender in different cultural contexts, and others who are focused on the issue of gender and language and the relation between feminist writing and the body. According to the feminist approach, such matters as the opposition between the world of men and women, male and female features, patriarchal and matriarchal relationships should be rejected. (Wilt 2003: 25) Furthermore, the view that a female translation of a text is inferior to its male original was also rejected. Feminists questioned the principle which says that an original text is inviolable. The view that the creativity of the translator equals the creativity of the author of the source text was well reflected by the style of writing developed by feminists from Quebec, who employed such writing practices as: wordplay, the use of neologisms, the analysis of the words etymology, and deconstruction. These feminist translation practices were associated with a specific style of writing in a specific ideological and cultural background and further developed. (Pisarska and

Tomaszkiewicz 1996: 56-58) Masculine identity remains the established norm and the point of reference to compare both sexes. There is a tendency to see the woman as a sort of negative reflection or complement to the man, a marginal figure (Andone 2002: 131). From the historical and cultural perspective, both the woman and the translator have been placed in the marginal position. The original, in comparison with the translation, is seen as a unique creation of higher value than its equivalent in some other language and culture. (Andone 2002: 131)

1.3 The place of women and translation in literary history It was not until the 19th century that women living in the Western world gained greater freedom to express themselves in the field of literature. Before that time, their lives centred around the domestic responsibilities of home and family with no possibility to participate publicly in any kind of cultural activity. Since women were mostly excluded from authorship, they found their chance of public expression in translation, which allowed women to take part in literary culture without openly challenging either tradition or male domination of that culture. It provided an opportunity to be involved in text production and to manifest some degree of creativity. (Andone 2002: 131)

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Oana-Helena Andone refers to Elaine Showalter, a feminist and an American literary critic, who divides the artistic emancipation of women into several phases. Her analysis suggests that it is translation that made a significant contribution within these stages. (2002: 131)
She distinguishes between three developmental phases in womens art: feminine, feminist and female. The feminine stage is characterized by dissimulation and imitation, because at this stage women try to adapt to the patriarchal system by adopting a male profile. In the feminist stage they try to deconstruct the male system by means of rebellion, whereas the female stage implies the creation of an autonomous culture. Translation seems to have crossed all these stages in which women pretend to obey the norm and tradition in order to gain access to power and create their own culture. (Andone 2002: 131-132)

Luce Irigaray, another well-known feminist, claims that womens subordination to the patriarchal perception of femininity has only served the purpose of making the feminine visible. The women, who felt oppressed, assumed strategy which was based on the concept of double meaning. The oppressors stereotypes are confirmed, but at the same time it provides a dissenting view for those who recognize the stereotypes. (Andone 2002: 132) Considering several factors, feminine identity and translation can be juxtaposed. On the one hand, translation pushed women into the marginal position. On the other hand, it gave them opportunity to express themselves and enter the literary world. Moreover, translation affords the means of insinuation and of introducing new values into a culture that women have made use of to challenge the norm and have their values accepted at the centre of the literary stage alongside with masculine values. (Andone 2002: 132) Therefore, translation can be regarded as a perfect means of introducing and constructing new meaning, at the same time disregarding the existing inequality of opportunity between the sexes (Andone 2002: 132). It was in the 16th century that translation was, for the first time, employed by women to realize their own goals. In order to achieve their ends, they wisely chose subject matters, played with the interpretations of historical figures and the images of women in the popular fables, introduced new genres into the mainstream culture, or demanded the right to translate drawing attention to the educational value of translation. At that time, the only two literary fields in which women could express themselves involved religion and domestic matters. The choices they were given could not challenge the dominant positions of men in social life. As for translation, it was yet another acceptable field for women, as long as it was motivated by their faith. (Andone

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2002: 132) Translation was open to women because even then it was considered a less active and hence less masculine activity than original composition. It reflected the reproductive, passive role to which women were already confined (Andone 2002: 132). The Lutheran Reformation induced a major change in the womens rights concerning Holy Scripture. They could read, interpret and even disagree with the mens interpretations. As they gained more independence, they commenced publishing their translations of religious works, which gave them a legitimate voice and a means for making this voice heard. (Andone 2002: 133) In order to gain respectability and not to fall into social disgrace while translating or writing secular works, women had to show their deep devotion to religious duties and practices. Furthermore, their religious commitment brought them some more intellectual benefits, for instance, the opportunity to study foreign languages. As early as the sixteenth century, Anna Cooke Bacon justifies her study of Italian with the duty to translate the sermons of a famous contemporary theologian. (Andone 2002: 133) Through translation, women entered some new spheres of interest. Such genres as romances became popular choices for translation, especially among more confident and courageous women. Andone notes that [t]he most famous in this respect is Margaret Tyler who became known not for a religious work but for a Spanish romance, A Mirrour of Princely Deeds and Knighthood (1578) by Diego Ortunez de Calahorra. (2002: 133) Margaret Tylers translation made a great contribution to a wider popular appreciation of chivalrous romances, which by many men in the Renaissance were regarded as morally unacceptable. According to Tina Krontiris, Tylers work, especially her preface to the translation might be seen as a feminist manifest and the boldest criticism of patriarchal ideology by a woman writer up to that time and one of the few female authored documents before the eighteenth century to deal with the problems of the literary woman whose imaginative voice is inhibited by patriarchal divisions of genre and gender. (Krontiris 1992: 45) Moreover, the Tylers version of the aforesaid Spanish romance presents translation as an inferior literary activity of secondary importance. Once again, this shows the division of traditional active and passive roles where men can express

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themselves through writing, whereas women are restricted to translation of the literary works created by men. According to Andone, [Tyler] pretends to agree with the patriarchal norm that men should create whereas women should translate in order to explain her choice of genre and subject matter. (2002: 133) This daring act of feminine defiance was crucial at that point since Tyler decided to translate works considered inappropriate for women, and introduced new perspectives of judging female characters. Andone notes that [t]raits which did not correspond to the female image of the time were first introduced through another culture, i.e. by means of translation. (2002: 134) There are also other cases of translation where the rendition of meaning contributed to changing the negative images of female figures. Mary Herberts feminist interpretation of Robert Garniers play Antonie (1595) perfectly suits this group. Taking into consideration the ideology and culture of the 16th century, her rendition conveys rather subversive message. According to Andone, [t]he play questions the convention definitions of masculine and feminine virtue and opposes the established association of female sexuality with loose morals. (2002: 134) Both Margaret Tyler and Mary Herbert are two female translators who dared to question the existing standards and broaden the range of genres available to women. Their contribution, in the long term, had a large impact on changing the way womens roles in society were perceived. They demonstrated great courage and determination in promoting female figures, with whom other women could identify with. However, as Andone puts it, most woman translators have made indirect and essentially defensive use of translation. A woman translator could hide behind another author (usually male) and protect herself against accusation pertaining to ideas and content. Translation required women to develop a self-effacing strategy of expression by which to make their voices heard. (2002: 134) In the 17th century, Aphra Behn translated the poem La Montre (The Lovers Watch), originally written by Balthazar Bonnecorse. Her version appeared to be twice as long as the source text. Moreover, she went down in the pages of history as the first woman to write an essay on translation. In the essay An Essay of Translated Prose, she challenged the word-for-word approach to translation, and at the same time she supported free translation, which according to her contributed greatly to improving the comprehension of the text among the target audience. Her theory that it is essential to

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adapt in order to convey the sense of the original served the purpose of including in the text her own royalist beliefs as well as some references to English society. (Andone 2002: 134) Due to the patriarchal nature of a society, it strongly favoured the education of men. As far as the education of women is concerned, it was severely limited, and women were discouraged from participation in the public sphere. Consequently, women turned to translation as a humble alternative. Since translation was regarded as a secondary, reproductive activity, associated with misogynist stereotypes of women, their work as silent, passive, transparent translators was tolerated because it did not threaten the male-dominated establishment. Historical views of women find a parallel in the similarly degraded position of translation. (Andone 2002: 134-135)

1.4 Difference in language usage between the sexes Due to the fact that language is a key tool in translators work, sex-related differences in language use are certainly involved in the process of translation. According to most linguists, all languages are mutually translatable and anything that can be said in one language can also be expressed in others in some way or other. (Andone 2002: 135) Generally, the way languages are constructed, allows its users to express new thoughts by means of any language. However, since the development of vocabulary in every language is conditioned, to some extent, by the priorities of its culture, certain ideas might be easier to express in some languages than others. All significant concepts to a culture have lexical representations in language. In view of the fact that the potential for expression among languages is identical, however, there are considerable differences between the actual means of expression, it seems that it has important implications for translation. The author states that [e]ach language carves up universe differently. Even when two words mean the same thing in two languages, the semantic load of these words differs. (Andone 2002: 135) Attitudes towards women are frequently reflected by some gender differences in the use of a language. Sociolinguists has studied sex-related differences in speech and identified the gender pattern, i.e. sociolinguistic variables used preferably by men or by women. However, gender patterns are not as consistent in practice as they are in theory. Sometimes gender differences are slight, but there is little doubt that they do exist. (Andone 2002: 135)

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The issue of sex-related differences in translation raise questions concerning the relation between social stereotypes and linguistic forms, as well as the way the human mind processes language. Andone points out that [t]he human mind does not address reality, but a model of reality it constructs. There is an increased awareness that different peoples models of reality may converge or diverge. (2002: 135) According to Sandra Harding, the position of female discourse is portrayed in the dominant patriarchal discourse as devalued or inferior (Lefevere and Bassnett 1990: 84). Within feminism, two approaches concerning the issue of women and language have emerged. One is more radical and perceives conventional language as an important reason for womens oppression since it is the language that teaches women their subordinate place in the society, while the other views conventional syntax and the established literary genres as an obvious way to fuel the patriarchal system. Therefore, it became essential for women to develop not only a new language, but also new literary forms which would allow them to write about their own experiences. (Andone 2002: 136)
Many radical feminists have viewed language as an instrument of oppression which needed to be reformed or, if possible, completely replaced by a new and more feminine language. Thus they started attacking language itself rather than the messages carried by language. Writers tried out new words, new spellings and new grammatical structures in an attempt to move beyond the conventions of patriarchal language. (Andone 2002: 136)

This theory suggests that language used by women will exert considerable influence on their creativity and revolutionary way of thinking. One of the most crucial aspects of experimental feminist writing involved the deconstruction of language starting from words alone to syntax to other formal elements. (Andone 2002: 136) According to Oana-Helena Andone, an analogy might be drawn between the way in which translators and women are placed under the same social pressures. Their response involves adjusting a previously existing act of communication for their own purposes. Consequently, they assist in the negotiation of meaning between the producer of the source-language text and the reader of the target-language text who exist in their respective cultural frameworks. (2002: 136) In womens writing, a process of negotiation concerns the issues of what is public and what is private, what is permitted and what is prohibited, as well as the

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beliefs of women and society. In translation, a transaction takes place between producers and receivers of texts. In terms of the character of this process, translation is very much like womens writing. (Andone 2002: 136) Interestingly, Andone states that sex-related differences exist not only in speaking and writing, but also in reading. Since each act of reading involves interpretation, it might be seen as an act of translation. Certainly, we engage our beliefs, knowledge and attitudes in the process of reading. However hard we may try to remain impartial, every translation will to some degree manifest our own mental and cultural attitudes. Andone suggests that [d]ifferent readings of a source text lead to different styles in target texts. The style is an essential part of the message to be conveyed and stylistic effects are also traceable to the identity of the text producer, regardless of whether the producer is an author or a translator. (2002: 137) Stylistic variations do not emerge from the language system itself, but rather from particular social roles. Historically, completely different roles and discourses have been ascribed to men and women. Andone argues that this might be the reason for sex-related differences in translation. (2002: 137)

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Chapter II Theoretical foundations of the feminist approaches to translation

Introductory note Chapter II elaborates on all the significant theoretical foundations of the feminist approaches to translation as well as some subtopics related to the issue. The discussed theories and practices provide a relevant knowledge of the feminist approach later used in the purpose of analysis. This chapter includes a collection of summaries of the selected theories developed by major figures in translation studies, such as Venuti, von Flotow, Derrida, Lefevere, Bassnett, Munday, Simon and others throughout the years. Feminist translation theories combine the most recent development in translation studies with contemporary feminist thought. It has revised some of the traditional misconceptions of translation theories, for instance, the supreme authority of the source text, the prominent role of fidelity in the translation process as well as the invisibility of the translator. However, feminist approach has to face some significant limitations such as the view on translation as intervention and too much attention drawn to the manipulation over language. Feminist translation theories, throughout the years, have been mostly analysed in terms of its introduction and contributions to translation studies. As for its theoretical limitations, they have become of secondary importance in research.

2.1 The cultural turn Susan Bassnett and Andr Lefevere, two eminent translation studies scholars, in their introduction to the collection of essays titled Translation, History and Culture firmly reject some of the previous translation theories, such as the translation shift approach, functional theories of translation, discourse and register analysis approaches. According to Bassnett and Lefevere, these theories have moved from word to text as a unit, but not beyond (Bassnett and Lefevere 1990: 4). Moreover, they assumed that "neither the word, nor the text, but the culture becomes the operational unit of translation"

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(Lefevere and Bassnett 1990: 8). Their primary focus concerns the interaction between translation and culture, in particular, the way in which culture influences and constrains translation. This shift from traditional translation linguistic-based theories to cultureoriented approach has been termed by Mary Snell-Hornby in her essay in the same collection as the cultural turn(Munday 2001: 127). Starting in the 1980s, a number of the major developments in translation studies have greatly contributed to the cultural turn. Since then, the cultural perspective have become a significant field of translation studies. The proper method and the correctness of translation, as traditionally sought by translation theorists, have been challenged by a descriptive approach, in which the focus is shifted to the way translations operate in the world as well as the responses they evoke. Simon notes that [t]his shift emphasizes the reality of translations as documents which exist materially and move about, add to our store of knowledge, and contribute to ongoing changes in esthetics. (2005: 7) Moreover, due to the cultural turn, translation started to evolve as a discipline related to other modes of communication. It has also became more culturally-conscious writing practice. According to Sherry Simon, this new approach defines translation as a process of mediation which does not stand above ideology but works through it (2005: 7). The aforementioned shift in translation studies set a good foundation for feminism to enter this field. Simon claims that [f]eminism has been one of the most potent forms of cultural identity to take on linguistic and social expression over the last decades (2005: 7). In the 1970s, feminists claimed that a liberation from language should be the first step in womens liberation. The encounter of feminism and translation studies was possible due to a common intellectual and institutional context. Simon points out that [a]s fields of inquiry which emerged during the 1970s and gained increasing institutional recognition through the 1980s, translation studies and feminist thought are similarly grounded in the dynamics of a period which gave strong prominence to language. (2005: 8)

2.2 Translation as rewriting Andr Lefevere, one of the most important translation theorists of the second half of the twentieth century, in his book Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literary Fame (1992) examines the relation between translation and culture. His work

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constitutes a kind of a bridging link to the cultural turn. The scope of his research concerns mainly some certain aspects that have a systemic impact on the reception, acceptance or rejection of literary texts. He addresses issues such as power, ideology, institution and manipulation. (Munday 2001: 127) According to Lefevere, such positions of power provide people with a great opportunity to rewrite literature and manipulate the public consumption. Munday suggests that [t]he motivation for such rewriting can be ideological (conforming to or rebelling against the dominant ideology) or poetological (conforming to or rebelling against the dominant/preferred poetics). (2001: 128) Lefevere considers the issue of ideology to be the most crucial one, which in this respect refers to the translators ideology, or the ideology imposed upon the translator by some patronage. Throughout the years, he collected a number of fascinating examples of various English translations. For instance, the word penis have been rendered as membrum virile, nose, leg, handle, life-line or anything else, frequently followed by footnotes with justification. According to Lefevere, the use of euphemism in these translations reflects a strong influence of the dominant ideology at a particular time in a particular society. (Munday 2001: 130) Another example he discusses concerns
... the diary of Anne Frank, a young Dutch Jewish schoolgirl in hiding with her family during the Second World War. Anne Frank had begun to rewrite the diary for possible publication before her family was arrested and sent to a concentration camp, where Anne died. Levefere describes how the 1947 Dutch edition of the diary prepared in conjunction with (and rewritten by) Annes father Otto doctors the image of the girl by, for example, omitting paragraphs relating to her sexuality. Unflattering descriptions of friends and family are also cut as are sentences referring to several people who collaborated with the Germans, the latter omissions made at the request of the individuals named. (Munday 2001: 130)

What he does next is to examine the German translation written by Anneliese Schtz, a friend of Otto Frank. This version contains not only errors of comprehension, but also alterations to the image of Germans and Germany. Due to the fact that Annes original words might have been regarded as offensive by Germans, and consequently, could have hurt sales, her words were rewritten in accordance with prevailing ideology. (Munday 2001: 130-131)

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2.3.1 Venuti - the cultural and political aspects of translation Translators always approach the text with a number of certain presuppositions that they wish to share with the readers. Undoubtedly, considering them a cognitive tabula rasa is a mistake. According to Nida, language is not used in a context less vacuum, rather, it is used in a host of discourse contexts; contexts which are impregnated with the ideology of social systems and institutions. Because language operates within this social dimension it must, of necessity reflect, and some would argue, construct ideology (Nida 1961: 3). Susan Bassnett and Andr Lefevere in their preface to Lawrence Venutis book The Translators Invisibility write:
Translation is, of course, a rewriting of an original text. All rewritings, whatever their intention, reflect a certain ideology and a poetics and as such manipulate literature to function in a given society in a given way. Rewriting is manipulation, undertaken in the service of power, and in its positive aspect can help in the evolution of a literature and a society. Rewritings can introduce new concepts, new genres, new devices, and the history of translation is the history also of literary innovation, of the shaping power of one culture upon another. But rewriting can also repress innovation, distort and contain, and in an age of ever increasing manipulation of all kinds, the study of the manipulative processes of literature as exemplified by translation can help us toward a greater awareness of the world in which we live. (Venuti 1995: vii)

Venuti believes that the domain of translation studies needs to be extended to include the value-driven sociocultural perspectives. He describes translation as a normgoverned activity and, at the same time, contests Tourys value-free model. Venuti claims that [n]orms may be in the first instance linguistic and literary, but they will also include a diverse range of domestic values, beliefs, and social representations which carry ideological force in serving the interests of specific groups. And they are always housed in the social institutions where translations are produced and enlisted in cultural and political agendas (1998: 29). According to Venuti, the ones who are in power to decide what to censor and what to promote include governments, politically motivated institutions as well as the groups and social institutions within the publishing industry, namely the publishers and editors who select the works, commission the translators and frequently suggest the translation method. As for the publishing, this group includes also the literary agents, marketing and sales teams and reviewers. There is considerable responsibility on the part of the reviewers; their comments reflect and to some degree determine how translations are read and received in the target culture. Each of these groups operates within the dominant cultural and political systems of their 20

time and place. As for the translators, undoubtedly they are part of that culture, which they can either accept or rebel against. (Munday 2001: 146)

2.3.2 Venuti - the shadowy existence of the translator Traditionally, translation has been viewed as a transparent and impersonal activity which is expected to recover, with blind faithfulness, the original meanings of an author. Contemporary theories of language are beginning to force through the idea that translators should come into voice in the translated texts. At the same time, according to Rosemary Arrojo, an increasing awareness of the impact of gendered related issues to the production of meaning and knowledge is beginning to encourage a promising union between feminism, postmodernism, and the emerging discipline of translation studies. (1994: 147-148) Norman Shapiro writes: I see translation as the attempt to produce a text so transparent that it does not seem to be translated. A good translation is like a pane of glass. You only notice that its there when there are little imperfectionsscratches, bubbles (Shapiro in Venuti 1995: 1). Venuti in his book The Translators Invisibility uses the term invisibility in order to illustrate the translators situation and activity in contemporary Anglo-American culture (1995: 1). According to Venuti, the fact that translators put their invisibility cloaks on is conditioned by two mutually determining phenomena. The first requires from the translator the ability to translate fluently into English so that the product is an idiomatic and readable TT, which creates the illusion of transparency. (1995: 1) The second refers to the typical way of reading and evaluating translations in the target culture. As Venuti points out:
A translated text, whether prose or poetry, fiction or nonfiction, is judged acceptable by most publishers, reviewers, and readers when it reads fluently, when the absence of any linguistic or stylistic peculiarities makes it seem transparent, giving the appearance that it reflects the foreign writers personality or intention or the essential meaning of the foreign textthe appearance, in other words, that the translation is not in fact a translation, but the original. (1995: 1)

Therefore, the translators invisibility might be considered a peculiar self-annihilation, the practice which undoubtedly reinforces the secondary status of translation in AngloAmerican culture. Besides, the illusory existence of the translator is reflected in the ambiguous and unfavourable legal status of translation, both in copyright law and in actual contractual arrangements. (Venuti 1995: 8) According to the legal regulations in

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force, the translator is subordinated to the author, whose exclusive rights include the right to control the publication of the translation during the term of the copyright for the original text. Due to the priority given to the foreign writer in controlling the translation, the translators authorship is never granted full legal recognition. (Venuti 1995: 9) Venuti concludes that the issue of invisibility today raises such troubling questions about the geopolitical economy of culture that a greater suspicion toward translation is urgently needed to confront them (Venuti 1995: 313). He believes that translation, however utopian it may sound, has the power to make a difference not only within a domestic, but also within an international cultural context (Venuti 1995: 313).

2.4 Derrida - the influence of deconstruction on translation studies Among others, deconstruction has been one of the theories validating the feminist approach to translation. For the last twenty years in post-structuralist and deconstructionist discourses, the authority of the author/original has been significantly undermined giving the translator more freedom in manipulating the text. (von Flotow 1991: 80) Von Flotow suggests that [t]he entire post-structuralist project of questioning master-narratives, challenging definitive truths, and exploring relativity in meaning has forced translation to become a creative endeavour (1991: 80). According to Rosemary Arrojo, who played the major role in introducing deconstruction to translation studies in the early 1990s, as we regard translation as a form of transformation, we finally begin to move beyond the old stalemates which have paralysed reflection on the area for at least two thousand years. (Arrojo in Wallmach 2006: 5) While rendering, abounding in ambivalencies, ambiguities and multiple meanings, Derridas writings, translators have repeatedly stressed the need for creativity and experimentation in their prefaces, hence paving the way for new directions in translation practice (Von Flotow 1991: 80). Kim Wallmach points out that [w]hile not offering a specific translation theory of its own, deconstruction is a useful tool not because it necessarily defines another approach, but because it deepens and broadens the conceptual framework by which the very field itself is defined (2006: 4). According to Derrida, the process of deconstructing a discourse involves demonstrating how it undermines the philosophy it asserts, or the hierarchical oppositions on which it relies (Derrida in Graham 1985: 150). Jacques Derrida as well

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as other deconstructivists use translation in order to transcend the limits of language, writing and reading. Moreover, Derrida suggests that the process of translating texts brings one as close as possible to a proper essence of diffrance which constitutes a fundamental core of his entire philosophic enterprise. (Derrida in Graham 1985: 150) Wallmach claims that [t]he act of deconstructing or interpreting a text is not seen as recovering some deeper given objective meaning which controls and unifies the texts structure, but as exposing what is usually suppressed, namely the infinite possibilities, the free play of meanings. (2006: 4) Derrida provokes the reader and the translator to think and rethink every decision concerning constructing a meaning for the text. According to his instructions, in order to catch the nuances of those subtle differing supplementary meanings and tangential notions lost in the process of transcription, each naming gesture should be followed by a footnote, a note in the margin, or a preface. (Wallmach 2006: 4)

2.5 Gender in translation - the feminist perspective One of the major contributions of the cultural turn in translation studies was that it has moved translation from purely linguistic analysis towards the study of translation at the interface with other disciplines. According to Sherry Simon, the process of combining these areas has been rather complex. In her book Gender in Translation: Cultural Identity and the Politics of Transmission (1996), she expresses her criticism towards translation studies theorists using the term culture in a way that presents reality as obvious and unproblematic. Simon analyzes translation from a gender studies perspective. She focuses on a language of sexism in translation studies, in particular, the representations of dominance, fidelity, faithfulness and betrayal. According to Simon, two typical images can be distinguished; the 17th century image of les belles infidles, artistically beautiful but unfaithful translations into French, and Steiners male-oriented image where translation is presented as penetration. (Munday 2001: 131) Munday points out that [t]he feminist theorists see a parallel between the status of translation, which is often considered to be derivative and inferior to original writing, and that of women, so often repressed in society and literature (2001: 131). This claim is central to feminist translation theory, since it attempts to identify and critique the tangle of concepts which relegates both women and translation to the bottom of the social and literary ladder (Simon 2005: 1). On the basis of this theory, she formulates the concept

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of the committed translation project. From the feminist perspective, fidelity is to be directed toward neither the author nor the reader, but toward the writing project a project in which both writer and translator participate. (Simon 2005: 2) In order to support her idea, she provides examples of Canadian feminist translators from Quebec who strongly assert their identity and ideological standpoint in their translation practices (Munday 2001: 132). For instance, Barbara Godard, a theorist and translator, believes that feminist translation should focus on the process of re-reading and re-writing, which aims at leaving the visible signs of the manipulation of the text (Godard 1990: 50). Both theoreticians of women's discourse and of feminist translation ground their reflection in issues of identity and difference, otherness being framed linguistically in terms of gender as well as of nationality of language and gender, women's troubling relationship with language, have emerged as a central preoccupation of feminist theory and in the translation of women writers. (Godard 1990: 43). Godard suggests that in feminist translation, "difference" is no longer considered "a negative term," and translation becomes what she calls a "transformance." According to feminist theory, difference is a major factor in thought processes and in critical activity. Womanhandling the text in translation involves replacing the self-effacing, invisible translator. The feminist translator marks ones presence in italics, in footnotes, even in a preface becoming an active participant in the creation of meaning. (Godard 1984: 15). As Godard tries to show, the idea of translation as production is at odds with the long-dominant theory of translation as equivalence and transparency which describes the translator as an invisible hand mechanically turning the words of one language into another (Homel and Simon 1988: 50). Another example provided by Simon concerns the preface to one of the translations written by another committed feminist translator, Suzanne de LotbinireHarwood. She openly declares that a primary motive behind her translation strategy is political. In her preface, she writes, my translation practice is a political activity aimed at making language speak for women. So my signature on a translation means: this translation has used every translation strategy to make the feminine visible in language (de Lotbinire-Harwood in Simon 2005: 14). One of the aforesaid strategies, the way of using linguistic markers of gender, is discussed by Simon in her book. The selected examples has been taken from de Lotbinire-Harwoods translations. For instance, in

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the word one, Lotbinire-Harwood suggests using a bold e in order to put the emphasis on the feminine. Another example concerns the way of rendering French droits de l'homme which stands for HuMan Rights. M in HuMan is written in capital letter to draw the readers attention to the implicit sexism. Moreover, LotbinireHarwood coins a neologism auther (as opposed to author) to translate the French auteure. (Simon 2005: 20) Simon also focuses on such issues as the mistranslation of French feminist theory, and feminist translation of the Bible. As mentioned in Chapter I, she refers to the feminist Suzanne Jill Levine who cooperated with a Cuban novelist Guillermo Cabrera Infante in creating a feminist translation of his sexist novel La habana para un infante difunt. Simon analyzes the way Levine tackled and manipulated a male discourse of Infantes original work. (Munday 2001: 132) In the conclusion to her book, she writes, contemporary feminist translation has made gender the site of a consciously transformative project, one which reframes conditions of textual authority. (Simon 2005: 158)

2.6 Feminist translation strategies according to Luise von Flotow Feminist translation theory rejects the notion that the source text represents a truth that mirrors reality and the view that the translator takes an authentic text and produces an inauthentic translation in return. Many feminist translators employ practices derived from experimental feminist writing in their work. Feminist translators correct the texts that they translate in the name of feminist truths. However, even if these changes occur in the name of ideology, women translators react to the stereotypical positions of authority assigned to the masculine figures by reinstating the female figures and by reducing the male elements in translation. (Andone 2002: 139) The feminist approach to translation seeks to question the authority of patriarchal language and attempts to develop ideals which are free of patriarchal influence. Such practice poses a considerable difficulty for the readers since these ideals are frequently coined in innovative language in terms of vocabulary and syntax. In order to be clearly understood, many of these texts require criticism and explanation in the source language and culture. Therefore, translating them can be quite problematic. (Andone 2002: 139)

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In feminist translation, traditional notions of equivalence are challenged by the construction of meaning through translation. Von Flotow suggests that [t]o produce equivalent texts is to reduce both the source text and the target text to the acceptable level, thus producing in-different texts. (1997: 44) According to feminist translators, the appropriateness of ways of reading and writing should be disrupted. Furthermore, they are less concerned with the final product and its equivalence with or fidelity to the original than with the processes of reading, rereading, rewriting and issues concerning cultural and ideological differences. (Andone 2002: 140) Owing to experimental feminist writing, the issue of gender in language has gained greater attention. As a result, translators has been confronted with the resulting theoretical and practical challenges. Andone comments that [i]n order to translate puns, wordplay and apparently incoherent syntax, translators often develop methods similar to those used by the source text writers. (2002: 140) This requires from them to go beyond translation in order to complete their work. They have to compensate for the differences between feminist and patriarchal languages by introducing puns, grammatical dislocation and syntactic rupture. Feminist writers frequently use distinctive humour and irony in their texts which may also be difficult to render in some languages. Moreover, some languages create a need to coin new vocabulary items or recuperate some long lost words which describe feminine aspects of reality. (Andone 2002: 141) According to Luise von Flotow, feminist writing abounds in wordplay on cultural issues and invented words. Translation of such texts means a great challenge for the translator, primarily due to the fact that the cultural situations are different and there is usually no immediate linguistic relationship that can be applied. (1997: 16) Undoubtedly, the confrontation of the notion of equivalence and feminist experiments with language gives space for the translators' creativity. Andone points out that:
... when nouns and adjectives in a language have to be gender-identified because the grammatical norm requires it, feminist writers can overcome the gender requirement and subvert the system by applying other norms. Similarly, when the syntax of a given language is too restrictive for womens experiences and realities, the writer can disrupt it. Translator can do the same with the norms of the target language, but it may not be possible to render the places where the power relations are disrupted in the source text on a one-to-one basis in the target text. Moreover, the translator may even make passages more or perhaps less ambiguous in the target text than in the original. (2002: 142)

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Therefore, the final impression on the readers would be that the text is roughly equivalent. The impression of equivalence of the two texts is lost if we exclude their effect and function of reception. (Andone 2002: 142) One may describe the feminist style of translation as resistant and non-fluent. However, feminist translators developed their style for the purpose of revealing the presence of the translator as the mediator between two cultures and languages. Such a translation method is partial but becomes less subversive by drawing attention to the text as a product of both author and translator. The traditional view on translation requires translators to be objective and refrain from exposing their own vision of reality in the translated text, whereas the feminist approach to translation encourages translators to include their ideological convictions and rewrite the source texts in their translations. (Andone 2002: 142) Experimental translations which are taken to the extreme level and at the same time assert their feminist project might easily alienate readers. Authors such as Nicole Brossard, Helene Cixous and Barbara Godard represent a radically feminist and experimental style of writing. Fisher points out that [t]hese writers used new words, spellings, grammatical constructions, metaphors and images in an attempt to move beyond the conventions of what they saw as patriarchal language detrimental to womens wellbeing. (2010: 74) According to von Flotow, feminist translation abounds in numerous strategies. However, in her article Feminist Translation: Contexts, Practices and Theories, she focuses on three of them supplementing, prefacing and footnoting, and "hijacking." Feminist translators, following the example of feminist writers, have given themselves permission to make their work visible, discuss the creative process they are engaged in, cooperate with and challenge the writers they translate. (1991: 74)

2.7.1 Supplementing Von Flotow points out that patriarchal language and its institutions prevail in conventional language, regardless if it is English, French or any other language. Translators who render Qubcois feminist texts into English have had to turn the critique of one language into the critique of another. Howard Scott in his essay on translating Bersianik confirms this view. (von Flotow 1991: 74) His aim was not to present the English reader what Bersianik says about French, but rather adapt her

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message to English, and focus on the sexist nature of the English language. (Scott 1984: 5-6) Undoubtedly, it involves considerable interference with the text. Walter Benjamin in his essay Die Aufgabe des bersetzers (1921), presents supplementing as one of the most positive aspects of translation. According to von Flotow, it is indispensable while dealing with apparently untranslatable texts. The translator compensates certain losses by intervening in, and supplementing another part of the text. As for feminist writings, the original text is also supplemented in terms of its critique of language, which is transferred to the context of English language and thus becomes comprehensible to an English-speaking readership. Benjamin suggests that the source text is supplemented by its translation, matured, developed, and given an afterlife. Supplementation produces the same effect in feminist translation. The only difference is that the feminist translator is conscious of her political role as a mediator, whereas Benjamin seems to conceive of a translation, or any work of art for that matter, as apolitical and not primarily destined for an audience. (von Flotow 1991: 74) Barbara Godard has decided to employ another strategy in her translation of the title of Nicole Brossards L'Amer. Due to the fact that the French word from the title is a neologism which contains at least three terms: mre (mother), mer (sea), and amer (bitter), it poses a real challenge for the translator. The first part of the book focuses on the issue of the patriarchal mother. It presents the woman confined to reproduction, her suffocation in the unrecognized labour and her subsequent tendency to smother her own children. Von Flotow illustrates that Godard, supplementing the untranslatable wordplay of the title, whose effect rests on the e muet, and the sound associations in French, includes a kind of explication de texte in her version. Her title becomes The Sea Our Mother + Sea (S)mothers + (S)our Mothers to finally end with: (1991: 7576)

Figure 1. Barbara Godards translation of the title of Nicole Brossard's L'Amer. (von Flotow 1991: 76)

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The English title These Our Mothers in the presented form includes the sour and smothering aspects of patriarchal motherhood in addition to the connotation of mer and mere, complementing the lack of silent e in English. (von Flotow 1991: 76) Furthermore, wherever Brossard uses the French word histoire, the English His-story appears (von Flotow 1991: 77).

2.7.2 Prefacing and Footnoting In the recent years, feminist interventions have also employed other forms. It has become nearly routine for feminist translators to comment on their work in a preface, and to emphasize their active presence in the text in footnotes. The traditional view of modest, self-effacing translator, who produces a smooth, readable translation of the source text has been rejected. As Godard has put it, the feminist translator ... flaunts the signs of her manipulation of the text. Womanhandling the text in translation means replacing the modest, self-effacing translator. The translator becomes an active participant in the creation of meaning. (Godard 1984: 15) Godards translation strategies distinguish her from a conventional translator. Von Flotow describes her as the author's accomplice who preserves the strangeness of the original text, and attempts at the same time to convey its multiple meanings otherwise lost in translation. This strategy has a strong didactic value. For instance, in the preface to Godards translation of Nicole Brossard's L'Amer, she explains the problematic and untranslatable wordplays such as the play with the silent "e" in French, and focuses on their interpretation. According to Godard, it is removed from the title L'Amer to underline the process of articulating women's silence and moving toward a neutral grammar." (1983: 7) Moreover, she indicates her supplementing activities graphic modes, wordplays more familiar to anglophone feminists, and in a final pedagogical move draws attention to other aspects of the text which the secular (i.e. non-academic English reader) might miss: in this case, contemporary French philosophical discourse that is inscribed in the text. (von Flotow 1991: 77) Throughout the book, Godard also uses footnotes giving references to literary intertexts such as Camus L'tranger or Rousseau's Confessions d'un promeneur solitaire (von Flotow 1991: 77). In the translation of another Brossards novel Amantes, Godard renders the title as Lovhers. She provides the book with an even longer translator's preface, in which she

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both contextualizes and interprets Brossard's text, and reflects on her translation. (von Flotow 1991: 77) The title itself illustrates the challenges faced by the Anglophone translator attempting to capture the subversive use of language to critique a malecentred society. (France 2000: 301) Marlene Wildeman's English translation of Brossard's La Lettre arienne is another example of a book that was prefaced and marked by the translator's interventions. Interestingly, throughout the text, Wilderman provides the footnotes indicating cases of intertextuality not mentioned by the author in the source text. For instance, Ie corps certain is attributed to Barthes' The Pleasure of the Text. Wildemans footnotes are so precise that she even gives the page numbers in the English version of Barthes' text where this concept is developed. Von Flotow points out that [p]age references to texts by Djuna Barnes, Gertrude Stein, Luce Irigaray, Mallarm and others are given throughout, while neither authors nor their works, let alone page references, are directly cited in the source text. (1991: 77) Besides, Brossards numerous associations are explained in lengthy translators notes. Similarly, ambiguous neologisms such as essentielle are discussed, first in the preface, and then elaborated in footnotes. Wildeman's approach, supported with scholarly research, gives feminist translation an educational value. Here the issue of the targetted readership becomes very important. (von Flotow 1991: 77)

2.7.3 Hijacking Von Flotow borrowed the term "hijacking" from a Montreal journalist and translator David Homel who has strongly criticized Susanne de Lotbinire-Harwood for her excessive interference in the translation of Lettres d'une autre by Lise Gauvin. Homel claims that the translators interference is so intrusive that we may call it hijacking the authors work. De Lotbinire-Harwood in her preface writes that her intention was to make her presence felt. Throughout her translation, she frequently breaks into Gauvin's work explaining what he really meant. Moreover, she sometimes suggests replacing the English word with the French equivalent. Homel criticizes the translator for her excessive footnoting and a narrow didactic approach. He suggests that Gauvin's text has become an "informal textbook on contemporary Quebec culture and been ideologically reworked (i.e. feminized) losing the author's original intention. In response to Homels objections, de Lotbinire-Harwood replied that her translation was targeted at a North

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American readership, including colleges and universities, and that she closely cooperated with Gauvin on the English version, which means that she had the authors permission to correct the text. (von Flotow 1991: 78) De Lotbinire-Harwoods work of "correction" concerned primarily deliberate feminizing of the target text. In her preface, she clearly states that what she did was a political intervention:
Lise Gauvin is a feminist, and so am I. But I am not her. She wrote in the generic masculine. My translation practice is a political activity aimed at making language speak for women. So my signature on a translation means: this translation has used every possible translation strategy to make the feminine visible in language. Because making the feminine visible in language means making women seen and heard in the real world. Which is what feminism is all about. (de Lotbinire-Harwood 1990: 9)

The translation strategies utilized by de Lotbinire-Harwood challenge conventional translation practice of being transparent and silent. One of her strategies involves using the word Qubcois-e-s instead of the generic Qubcois which occurred in the original. It is a source-language feminization tactic which she discusses in her preface. She also avoids using other male generic terms in English even though they appear in French. Besides, she puts the female element first in expressions like women and men, her or his, and uses inverted quotation marks to emphasize some of the absurdities of conventional English, for example, the reference to women as masters of the kitchen. (von Flotow 1991: 79) As von Flotow concludes, the translator "has in fact 'hijacked' the text, appropriated it, made it her own to reflect her political intentions. In 1991, Columbia University awarded de Lotbinire-Harwood the prize for the translation of FrenchCanadian literature, which further proves the validity of her strategies. Although the translator worked closely with the author on her translation, their collusion appears to be of secondary importance due to the fact that the translator broke with convention by writing on her own right. (von Flotow 1991: 79)

2.8 Feminist translation strategies according to Franoise Massardier-Kenney Franoise Massardier-Kenney together with Carol Maier in their article Gender in/And Translation point out the destabilizing effect that translation can have on the idea of woman as a unified concept since gender definitions prove to be neither universal nor absolute manifestations of inherent differences but relatively local, constantly changing

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constructions. (1996: 10) They suggest that a closer investigation of translation might help to rethink gender and gender identity, by rejecting definitions which seemed natural to the translator and by attempting to focus on whatever definitions of gender is presented in the source text. Moreover, they believe that translators experience can help them in examining the complexities of the bond that translation has with gender. Massardier-Kenney and Maier prefer to use terms like woman-identified and gender rather than the term feminist, which is, as they claim, problematic for anyone wanting to interrogate the very category of gender. Their objection concerning feminism stems from the argument that it imposed specific definitions ignoring the fact that the source text might work from a different set of definitions. They explain that specific text meanings are not deposited in a text, but they are rather constructed through the interactions between a source text and a reader. Therefore, they suggest that the use of feminist or woman appears to be an ambiguous point of departure for translation practice. (Massardier-Kenney 1997: 55) Massardier-Kenneys research on gender has brought to her attention the fact that what is defined as the feminine or as woman tends to be presented not only as different but also as something of lesser value. According to the author, [t]his devalued difference ... is present in a variety of contexts, even though the definitions at work in these contexts may differ. (1997: 56) Prominent feminists such as Braidotti or Butler have recently pointed out that the notion of gender ignores the radical asymmetry in the formation of the masculine and the feminine and thus ... masks the power imbalance between the two terms. (Massardier-Kenney 1997: 56) In her article Towards A Redefinition of Feminist Translation Practice (1997), Massardier-Kenney explores the ways in which translation can be applied to serve this devalued feminine, especially since there is a large group of translators and translation scholars who label themselves and their work as feminist. She suggests that the use of the terms feminist and feminine is often confused and inadequate, so it might be helpful to redefine them to reflect their complexity. According to Massardier-Kenney, a redefinition and careful use of these terms can describe a translation practice that is militant in its focus on the fact that the speaking/writing subject (whether author or translator) is a woman (i.e. a devalued difference), whether woman refers to a set of cultural constructions or to presymbolic, essential differences. (1997: 56) Such a position is supported by feminists like Luce Irigaray, who accept the psychoanalytic

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explanation of the formation of the subject. (Massardier-Kenney 1997: 56) Recent feminist writing and research projects have included discussions by a number of Canadian critics and translators such as Barbara Godard and Suzanne de Lotbinire-Harwood. Their research have been placed in the context of French translation. (Massardier-Kenney 1997: 56) According to Nicole Brossard, [t]he question which translation raises as does writing is that of choice. What signifier to choose to activate a surface of multiple signifieds that vibrate invisible and effective in the space of consciousness. (Godard 1983: 197) De Lotbinire-Harwood claims that the primary aim for the feminist translator is to make the feminine visible in language (1989: 9). Massardier-Kenney points out that de Lotbinire-Harwoods words concerning rewriting texts in the feminine or making the feminine visible refer to the translation of source texts which are consciously aimed at expressing the feminine, for instance, the texts of Nicole Brossard that allow the translator to work from a source text written from a gynocentric perspective. Similarly, Godards discussion of feminism and translation refers to the field of French feminism which deals with feminine difference as its central issue. (1997: 56-57)

2.8.1 A query about feminism in translation Massardier-Kenney raises a significant question whether one can attempt to make the so-called feminine subject visible in language without positing set definitions and by working with texts which are not necessarily ... feminist, either because they were written before feminism developed or because they come from a cultural context in which feminism is not a viable strategy. (1997: 57) According to Fraser, feminism can be described as the examination of the ways in which social identities are constructed and of the process that excludes women as a group from social institutions and discourses. Therefore, the goal of making the feminine subject visible in language may mean a host of different strategies that derive either from the translators or the authors own subjectivities. (Fraser 1992: 3 in Massardier-Kenney 1997: 57) Massardier-Kenney suggests that von Flotows Feminist Translation: Contexts, Practices and Theories only proves that using the term feminist to describe translation strategies without prior redefinitions might be problematic. She claims that if we focus on the explanation of these strategies, we find that it is not the strategies themselves that are feminist, but rather the purpose they serve. Von Flotows definition

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of supplementing, which compensates for the differences between languages or constitutes voluntarist action on the text (1991: 75), appears very similar to the old translation strategy called compensation. Furthermore, as Jean Delisle (1993) puts it, such voluntarist action on the text was also specific to medieval translators, long before the feminist movement was born. Massardier-Kenney concludes that what is feminist then is the use to which this strategy is put in order to emphasize the womans point of view that was present in the source text and that the translator is determined to carry over. (1997: 57) Massardier-Kenney makes the same comment on the other two strategies proposed by von Flotow (1991), as she points out, prefacing and footnoting have been used widely for purposes other than feminist ones. As far as hijacking is concerned, she considers it a feminist one since it involves feminizing the target text purposely. Besides, the term hijacking itself suggests an act which involves physical violence by which the source text is taken hostage with the aim of feminizing it. According to Massardier-Kenney, propagating the use of metaphors like hijacking will only contribute to obfuscate further what making the feminine visible in language means and prevent translators from reflecting upon the actual process of feminizing a text. (1997: 57-58)

2.8.2 Strategies in feminist translation practice Massardier-Kenney suggests that feminist translation practice should start from accepting the fact that the concept of the feminine, apart from being extremely complex, is a constructed category. Moreover, she implies that in order to achieve the aim of making the feminine visible in language, feminist translators should realize that they are adapting existing translation strategies rather than creating new ones. Massardier-Kenney focuses on the major strategies that have been or can be adapted to serve a feminist agenda (see Table 1.), and categorizes them as author-centred and translator-centred. Author-centred strategies include recovery, commentary and resistancy, whereas translator-centred strategies include commentary, use of parallel texts and collaboration. (1997: 58)

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Table 1. Author-centred and translator-centred strategies.

Author-centred Strategy 1 Strategy 2 Strategy 3 2.8.2.1 Author-centred strategies Recovery Commentary Resistancy

Translator-centred Commentary Parallel Texts Collaboration

Massardier-Kenney describes author-centred strategies as attempting to make the reader comprehend the source text. She also points out that strategies can be categorized in a number of different ways, for instance they can focus on the reader, source literature or target literature. However, Massardier-Kenney suggests that the categories termed author-centred and translator-centred are particularly useful within a feminist framework because they highlight the importance of women as producers of texts (be it as authors or translators). Structuralists could dismiss the concept of author due to the fact that the authors at that time were always gendered as males and it had took a considerable period of time before the critics pronounced them dead. MassardierKenney points out that within the discourse of women authors, which has just begun, the term author refers not to the old universal category of the man of genius but rather to the producer of the text. Furthermore, we should focus on translator-centred strategy, rather than on reader-centred strategy since the specificity of the translators practices and motivations requires a more thorough examination, especially in translation studies. (1997: 58-59) Massardier-Kenney begins her discussion of author-centred strategies from recovery. This strategy is based on the widening and reshaping the canon. The author suggests that in order to define what feminist means in the context of translation, we should start from womens experience and employ translation to provoke a rethinking of the canon from which womens experience has been excluded. Historically, the archaeological work of finding, publishing and translating nineteenth-century French texts written by woman authors who were previously excluded from the canon has proved to be a rich and important field of enquiry. Massardier-Kenney points out that the works of two major women authors, Germaine de Stal and George Sand, have been rediscovered and their contribution both to a tradition of women writing and to French Romanticism and Idealism has been established through the publication of 35

translation of their works. Massardier-Kenney mentions the most significant ones; the translation of Madame de Stals Corinne by Avriel Goldberger (1991), the group translation of George Sands autobiography Story of My Life edited by Thelma Jurgrau (1991), as well as the French and English version of Franoise de Graffignys Letters of a Peruvian Woman (1992). The translation and publication of these writers have resulted in the revision of French literary history. Massardier-Kenney believes that there is still much to be done. However, some particular works of these authors that show their concern over sensitive issues such as gender and race have been neglected. (1997: 59) For example,
... the essay on women by George Sand, Letters to Marcie, is unavailable in a modern edition and its translation into English has been delayed even though some of her minor novels have come out. Similarly, an engag short story by Madame de Stal, Mirza, was all but unknown until the 1990s. In Spanish, the work of a major author like Rosa Chacel, for instance, has only recently started to be translated into English. (MassardierKenney 1997: 59)

Massardier-Kenney points out that although many anthologies of women authors have recently been published, still there are many Hispanic women writers whose works remain untranslated and unread. (1997: 59) Apart from making a conscious effort to extend the canon by the translation of women authors, Massardier-Kenney refers to another feminist translation strategy which she calls commentary. She explains that this strategy involves using the metadiscourse accompanying the translation to make explicit the importance of the feminine or of woman/women (either in terms of structural constraints or in terms of womens agency) in the translated. Venuti has remarked that a number of translators nowadays are rejecting the view of transparency and start insisting on making their work visible through accompanying their translations with prefaces or afterwords. Such practices provide translators with a good opportunity to reflect on both the translation strategies they used and the significance of the writer whose work they introduce to the target language. (Massardier-Kenney 1997: 60) For instance, the afterword of a recent translation by Carol Maier of Rosa Chacels Memoirs of Leticia Valle attempts to acquaint the contemporary reader with Chacels work and to put her into some context by discussing her relation to gender issues. Due to the authors refusal of any efforts to define and create a feminine identity, the translator decides not to direct a discussion to a sole subject of women issues. (Maier 1994: 187 in Massardier-Kenney 1997: 60)

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In this case the translator uses her afterword not only to emphasize the importance of gender in Chacels text, but also to illustrate that words like feminist might be less international than some critics and translators acknowledge (Maier 1994: 189 in Massardier-Kenney 1997: 60). Massardier-Kenney points out that this type of metadiscourse shows that translation creates authority for the writer translated, and that it is the translator who is responsible for introducing and marketing a particular image of the writer. (1997: 60). The use of such metadiscourse provides the translator with a possibility to counteract the immediacy of the target text and the feeling of familiarity which a translated text evokes to some extent. These two factors frequently lead us to forget about the difference that the source text presented. According to Spivak (1992), there is the danger of a false sense of familiarity with a foreign text or author, in particular, with the translations of Third World texts that clearly focus on women writing. She claims that in this case, the feminist bond existing between translator and author must not be used to bridge the culture gap. (Massardier-Kenney 1997: 60) Venuti (1995) proposes an approach to translation which he calls resistancy. His resistive translation involves making the translators work visible through linguistic means which create a defamiliarizing effect and work against easy fluency. According to Venuti, [t]he more fluent the translation, the more invisible the translator, and, presumably, the more visible the writer or meaning of the foreign text. (1995: 1-2) Massardier-Kenney points out that this strategy can be applied mainly to modernist and post-modernist source texts that already question the linguistic/literary conventions of their source languages. However, according to Massardier-Kenney, it can also be fruitfully adapted to serve the objectives of feminist translation. Resistancy has proved to be an effective strategy while translating experimental feminist authors like Monique Wittig, whose texts challenge the (patriarchal) linguistic conventions of French. Due to the fact that Wittig openly rejects the structure of her native French, the feminist translator of her texts is faced with a task of challenging, for instance, the norms of standard English. (1997: 60-61) Likewise, the strategy of resistancy can be employed to render the works of Quebec feminist writers who, as von Flotow puts it, were creating work that was highly experimental, and constituted efforts to attack, deconstruct, or simply bypass the conventional language they perceived as inherently misogynist. (1991: 72)

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However, if we look at some pre-contemporary texts which do not use stylistic innovations to incorporate gender perspectives, it appears that the concept of resistancy needs to be adapted to deal with such texts. Massardier-Kenney suggests that when texts do not invite stylistic tactics of estrangement. The matter surrounding the translation can become an integral part of the text and contribute to its resistancy, pushing against its automatic insertion in the target culture. (1997: 61) Kwame Anthony Appiah, a cultural critic, has developed the notion of thick translation, which according to Massardier-Kenney, can also be creatively applied in the context of feminist translation. Appiah refers the term thick translation to a translation that seeks with its annotations and its accompanying glosses to locate the text in a rich cultural and linguistic context in an attempt to draw attention to how various other people really are or were. (1993: 817) He draws a direct link between this understanding of the uniqueness of other cultures and a pedagogical project that attempts to develop within students a new appreciation of and respect for people of other times and cultures. Therefore, the concept of thick translation could be a useful tool in this feminist context since it would allow the translator to point out the importance of what is women-identified in terms of literary production. MassardierKenney admits that Appiahs argument that this type of translation can be described as academic appears to be valid, because it is associated with literary teaching, in particular aimed at seeking the reasons why people have spoken or written the way they have. She points out that this academic mode of translation does not treat the text as a thing made only to be brought and devoured but as a gendered, linguistic, historical, commercial and political event. (1997: 61) Massardier-Kenney claims that one of the main tasks of the translator is understanding the motivations of other times and other people. Annotation is one of the means to fulfil this task, but one can also resort to the aforesaid kind of meta-translation discourse. Massardier-Kenney mentions Maureen Aherns translation and editing of Rosario Castellanoss works as a perfect example of thick translation. In her introduction, Ahern concentrates on the characteristic features of Castellanoss style as a Mexican woman writer. (1997: 61) She attempts to explain Castellanoss feminist strategies as well as her use of intertextuality while discussing how her own selection of translation strategies is influenced by Castellanoss feminist ideology and by the significance of the exploration of the other, whether that other be woman, indigenous

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culture, language, silence, or writing itself (Ahren 1988: 8 in Massardier-Kenney 1997: 62). Aherns thick translation focuses particularly on such aspects as the ways in which Castellanos rewrites the myth of La Malinche, a figure frequently portrayed as a traitor to mexico and as a monster, the analysis of Costellanoss mastery and parody of Mexican bureaucratic circles, and Castellanoss critique of racial and cultural oppression of the indigenous people in Chiapas. The rich context is reflected both in the source text and in the translation. (Massardier-Kenney 1997: 62) According to Massardier-Kenney, translations of transparent older texts like Germaine de Stals Mirza, but also more contemporary ones written in a similar way, make the text engaging to the reader. Besides, they can also provide the context in which a particular work was written since that context may pose a problem of understanding for modern readers. (1997: 62) As Massardier-Kenney points out, for instance, ... elaborating the cultural context of Mirza is crucial if we are to avoid simplifying the ideological complexity of Madame de Stals situation. Madame de Stal wrote a negrophile piece of fiction in which the issues of gender and race merged, but a description of the historical context helps the modern reader understand the inevitably Eurocentric character of the text and the fact that it was perceived as radical by her contemporaries; it also helps the reader understand the authors use of traditionally male empowering textual strategies, such as a frame narrative where an aristocratic white male narrator presents and mediates the story of the African title character Mirza. (1997: 62) In order to understand the value of the text and experience a discomfort resulting from the presence of elements which have been assimilated by the contemporary Western discourse of racism and sexism, the reader should read, apart from the source text, the whole discourse that accompanies the translation. (Massardier-Kenney 1997: 62)

2.8.2.2 Translator-centred strategies Author-centred strategies attempt to make the source text accessible. We can call them this way even if the translator reconstructs the cultural context of the author. The second type discussed by Massardier-Kenney involves translator-centred strategies. The first strategy, commentary, coincides closely with that discussed previously, but it serves a different purpose here. The metadiscourse that constitutes part of the thick translation strategy should not only bring the text closer to the reader, but also explain the factors that affect the work of the translator as well as the motives behind the translation.

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Massardier-Kenney points out that the feminist translator must describe her motives and the way they affect the translated text in order to avoid reproducing a textual power structure which genders the translator as the male confessor of the text. Lori Chamberlain in her seminal essay Gender and Metaphorics of Translation (1988) illustrates how the metaphorics of translation are heavily influenced by gender differences. (1997: 63) However, the feminist translator can apply standpoint theory and acknowledge her positionality, ... identity politics and the awareness of the necessary losses that such politics inevitably entails (Bauer and McKinstry 1991: 4), or can take an equal responsibility for her own ideological/psychological agendas as well as those of the source text. (Massardier-Kenney 1997: 63) According to Massardier-Kenney, such discussions of the stakes that translators have in making their translations should be part of any feminist thick translation if a feminist approach is going to mean more than moving into new territory and acting exactly as the male tradition has acted. On the one hand, it may seem that such practice weakens and relativizes the translator status, but on the other hand, it can also elevate the translator who is considered both as super-reader and as author. It also promotes the feminist aim of challenging universal categories in the translation project. Furthermore, it can be incorporated into a larger project aimed at examining the way translators make choices and how the notion of gender affects these choices. DiazDiocaretz provides an excellent example of the type of documentation and self-analysis a feminist translator can produce. She believes that [a]uthors consciously writing from a woman-identified perspective, who are creating texts in order to widen the semantic possibilities for the female speaker, call for the translators additional cooperation. (Diaz-Diocaretz 1985: 156 in Massardier-Kenney 1997: 63) For example, her strategies used in the translation of Adrienne Richs text, whose writing is characterized by an assertion of sexuality, were conditioned by the need to emphasize the presence of sexuality and to avoid making Richs text conform to the accepted standards of Spanish culture and language. Massardier-Kenney comments that in this case the translator lucidly acknowledges her desire to expand the possibilities offered by the target language in order to make room for what she sees as a womans voice. (1997: 63) Another strategy that may fit well with a feminist approach involves the use of parallel texts. Massardier-Kenney explains that these are texts in the target language which are similar to the source text in terms of situation in which they have been

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produced. She points out that the term parallel texts is used rather ambiguously in the literature. Therefore, she suggests to restrict the definition of parallel texts to texts in the target language that were produced in a similar situation or that belong to the same genre as that of source text. If we think of parallel texts, we usually associate them with training in specialized translation. However, every literary text can be perceived as specialized since it belongs to a specific genre, period or style. Besides, it has some specific features which are reproducible in the source as well as in the target language. (1997: 64) The use of parallel text have been discussed by several literary translators. Frequently, these discussions point to gender as a decisive factor. Richard Philcox, in his preface to Crossing the Mangrove, comments that in order to find a parallel voice in English he turned to writers like Faulkner, Naipaul and Garcia Marquez, but eventually he found it within a feminist framework. The translator admits that he was surprised by the fact that it was Virginia Woolf who appeared to be the most compatible parallel to Maryse Cond. Similarly, in her afterword to Memoirs of Leticia Valle, Carol Maier refers to the texts of Anas Nin and Anne Frank which provided her with the kind of voice of a young woman that she needed. Massardier-Kenney points out that Maiers attentiveness to the importance of gender, if not feminism, in Rosa Chacels text makes her unravel the strands of a tradition of women writing. Massardier-Kenney mentions also her own example, when she sought a model for the tone of Mirza, in order to diminish the historical distance between the text and the contemporary readers, she turned to Romantic texts with descriptive passages and dialogues, as well as works written by other women writers. She focused on capturing any possible intertextuality that ties instances of women writing, however, without assuming a specific criture feminine. Her choice was Mary Shelleys Frenkenstain since it provided a glossary of Romantic terms used by a woman writer who also wrote about an outsider (in the sense of a creature who does not belong to the realm of the normal). Massardier-Kenney remarks that de Lotbinire-Harwoods claim that in order to translate feminist writers and rewrite texts in the feminine, we need some feminist intertextual knowledge is also true for the translation of non-feminist woman writers, because it also requires a knowledge of women writers in the target language even if their work has not yet been conceptualized as a tradition. Therefore, choosing parallel texts on the basis of the factor of gender is one of the ways to improve a feminist translation. (1997: 64)

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The last strategy that may be employed by a feminist approach is collaboration. This strategy involves working with one or more translators and/or with the author on a given text. Massardier-Kenney believes that this practice can contribute positively to promoting the idea of translation as cooperation with the text, the author and other translators. She points out that some very interesting cases of translator/author cooperation can be found in Diaz-Diocaretz (1985) and in Levaine (1991). As for the examples of collaboration among translators, they can be found in Kadish and Massardier-Kenney (1994). (1997: 65) According to Massardier-Kenney, collaboration in the context of feminist translation means that while the translator claims her agency in the metadiscourse surrounding the translation and the awareness of creating a tradition, she can also avoid the traditional dichotomy between two subjectivities (author/translator) which seek control of meaning. Collaboration with other translators requires a constant negotiation of meaning, because the translators involved in the task are constantly confronting their interpretations of the same text. Massardier-Kenney presumes that it is the connection between an interest in understanding how the discourse constructs/deconstructs gender and this idea of negotiation, of the desire to avoid a strict separation between author/translator, writer/reader, translator/scholar and source text/target text that could be used to define the feminist approach in translation. Not surprisingly, there are many cases of translations or editions devoted to a feminist cause that have been produced and published collaboratively. Massardier-Kenney emphasizes the need for documenting the ways these collaborations work and encourages translators to discuss the very fact of their collaboration. (1997: 65) The key issue in the feminist approach to translation, according to MassardierKenney, is not whether it rests on author-centred or translator-centred strategies, but the fact that it leads us to reconsider the object of translation not as a text to serve or to master, but as a cultural event to re-present. Feminist translators agree that this representation entails an elusive notion of the feminine. Therefore, we need to examine the ways of in which gender is connected to or disconnected from the text, as well as how it is related to the specific way of representation claimed by feminist translators. (1997: 65)

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Chapter III Feminist translation strategies in the context of English-Polish translation

Introductory note This chapter is an endeavour to analyze how feminist translation strategies, previously discussed in Chapter II, are or can be implemented in the translation of English texts into Polish. The analyzed examples are taken from two highly influential and progressive texts of contemporary feminism and their Polish translations; Judith Butlers Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity and Jeanette Wintersons The PowerBook. The main motivations behind this selection were that both of these texts have introduced some innovation into their language and ideas, they pose a great challenge for the translator, and have been rendered into Polish. Luise von Flotow and Franoise Massardier-Kenney based their discussions of feminist translation strategies on examples taken mainly from English translations of works originally written in French or Spanish. The experimental feminist writing that developed in Quebec in the 1970s, especially works of writers such as Nicole Brossard or Barbara Godard, generated the need to make them available to Anglophone readers. The translations of these texts has frequently been undertaken in the name of feminist solidarity, and with the aim to challenge and subvert patriarchal language. However, due to the experimental character of these writings, the translators often had to cope with untranslatable wordplays that stimulated the development of openly interventionist translation practices, which one may consider distorted and unethical. Nevertheless, the experimental Quebec texts and their translation have made a significant contribution to the treatment of translation theory in contemporary discourse on cultural transfer. It may seem that Poland created rather favourable conditions for a feminist movement to develop, but in fact its development has progressed much slower than in the Western countries. The collapse of communism seemed to open up various kinds of freedoms, including greater freedom for women. According to Agnieszka Graf, [a]s

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citizens, women shared the general euphoria about new freedoms and democracy. But as women, they experienced economic and political marginalization, even scapegoating. Within a few years, women were shown their place pushed out of positions of power, deprived of many social services, discriminated against at work, often quite brutally. The public sphere was rapidly masculinized. (Daniloff http://www.bu.edu) Throughout the years, it has been struggling with a number of historical, political, economic and social obstacles that have prevented the formation of a strong feminist movement in Poland. For a good part of the last two decades, feminists in Poland were viewed as naive enthusiast of western ideas, at first sight irrelevant to Polish culture, or a fossil from the former communist times. Polskie Stowarzyszenie Feministyczne, the first official Polish organisation which openly declared its feminist agenda, was founded in 1981. The reasons for this situation include long periods of foreign domination which resulted in forced unity and reinforced traditional roles for women, the significant role of the Catholic church; a communist legacy of distrust of feminism and centralized forms of organization; suppression of women's interests in the Solidarity movement; and the limited opportunities for women created by political and economic policies during the current transition. (http://www.sciencedirect.com) Agnieszka Graff, a Polish writer, translator and feminist, points out that Polish feminism is largely a post-1989 phenomenon. Its younger, with a sense of urgency and mission. (Daniloff http://www.bu.edu) Nowadays, it may be noticed that this fledgling movement is gradually growing in power; the number of feminist scholarly and literary works is increasing and a larger selection of Polish translations of classical or recent feminist literature is becoming increasingly available.

3.1 Feminist translation strategies in the Polish translation of Judith Butlers Gender Toruble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity Gender Trouble (1990) by Judith Butler has become a highly influential work of postmodern/poststructural feminist theory, and an essential text for those interested in the study of gender, queer theory as well as the politics of sexuality in culture. At the time Butler published Gender Trouble, the book achieved great success and was considered revolutionary. The book offers the reader a powerful critique of heteronormativity and of the role of gender in the modern world. The most significant and influential idea in Gender Trouble has been that of gender performativity.

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In one of the interviews, Judith Butler said, when Gender Trouble is translated, it produces a problem of vocabulary (http://www.egs.edu). Undoubtedly, this revolutionary work poses a great challenge for the translator, who has to cope not only with the complex issue of building identity, but also with vocabulary items coined by the author in order to name new concepts. Butler puts strong emphasis on experimenting with new vocabularies, because, as she puts it, new words help us conceptualize our social existence in a different way (http://www.egs.edu). However, it is not a brand new vocabulary that permits us to build a new reality. According to Butler, a new vocabulary lets us see that life has always been more complex than traditional categories allow. The Polish version of Judith Butlers Gender Toruble was translated by Karolina Krasuska, a lecturer at the Postgraduate Gender Studies IBL PAN and at the Faculty of American Studies Center at the University of Warsaw. The book was originally published in 1990, whereas its Polish translation came out in 2008. The translation by Karolina Krasuska is enriched by a brief preface written by Olga Tokarczuk, who provides the reader with an overview of the key issues guiding the book and attempts to place them in the context of contemporary Poland. The translator concludes the book with an afterword entitled Gra w przekad. Uwikani w pe was very well received by Polish critics and readers, and ushered in a debate on the subject of gender. Despite the fact that Karolina Krasuska does not label translation strategies she applies feminist, her translation practices correspond to the strategies proposed by von Flotow and Massardier-Kenney, broadly discussed in Chapter II. What immediately catches the reader's attention is the Polish title of the book. The original books full title is: [1] Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity

The Polish translators equivalent of the original title is: [2] Uwikani w pe: Feminizm i polityka tosamoci

Krasuska rendered the first part of the title using quite a controversial phrase. In her afterword, we find an in-depth explanation of her choice. According to the translator, the word uwikani implies that we deal with something which is not a part of our nature, but rather a product of human activity. Moreover, Krasuska decides to use the male generic form uwikani instead of uwikane in order to draw the readers attention to the problem of the so-called generic function of masculine forms. She

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points out that most people in Poland perceive this form as universal for a mixed gender group. Besides, she adds that the use of the form uwikane would favour women over men, and thus undermine the feminist idea of gender equality. Her choice seems to reflect well the complexity of gender discourse. As for the word pe, which constitutes the second element of the main title, the translator explains that in this case it covers both sex and gender, and treats them as a whole. However, she later discusses the two notions and her solution to the problem of their Polish equivalents. The fact that the Polish title requires elaboration in the afterword illustrates how troublesome and complex the notion of gender really is. The original subtitle Feminism and the Subversion of Identity refers to the concept of subversion, which is one of the most salient terms in the newspeak of post-structuralist discourse. However, it has been rendered in the Polish version as polityka tosamoci, which may appear more gentle and less revolutionary. The original title contains also an allusion to the similarly named John Waters classic film Female Trouble (1975) starring the drag queen Divine. This aspect is not present in the Polish translation. Nevertheless, Krasuskas title successfully captures the central idea of the original title. In the original, Judith Butler makes extensive use of footnotes, which sometimes makes for difficult reading. However, the complexity and the philosophical nature of the authors ideas justify such a style of writing, which is fairly common for feminist writers. Krasuska also provides footnoting of some social and cultural concepts which may not be familiar to the Polish readers. For instance, she provides an explanation of the notion of drag: [3] Drag, przy caym jego historycznym, a take teatralnym zakotwiczeniu i zoonoci, mona obecnie okreli w skrcie jako zainscenizowane przebranie albo osob w tym przebraniu wykorzystujce (w przerysowany sposb) akcesoria okrelone kulturowo jako mskie lub kobiece [przyp.tum.]. (2008: 14) [Drag, considering its historical as well as theatrical background and complexity, in short, may be described as an arranged costume or a person wearing it using, in an exaggerated way, the accessories identified by the culture as masculine or feminine.] (my translation) Other examples involve such notions as passing; [4] Uchodzenie za kogo [przyp. tum.]. (2008: 20) innego, szczeglnie w odniesieniu do rasy

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[The term used to describe someone who is different, especially, with reference to race.] (my translation) or Act Up: [5] Organizacja Act Up (Aids Coalition to Unleash Power) powstaa w 1987 roku w Nowym Jorku, by zmieni podejcie do AIDS zarwno powszechne postrzeganie choroby, jak i polityk firm farmaceutycznych. Wywodzca si z Act Up organizacja Queer Nation, zaoona w 1990 roku, stawiaa sobie za zadanie przeciwdziaanie homofobii poprzez zwikszenie widzialnoci osb o nieheteronormatywnej seksualnoci w sferze publicznej [przyp. tum.]. (2008: 22) [The Act Up organisation (Aids Coalition to Unleash Power) was founded in New York in 1987 to change attitudes to AIDS, both the way it is widely perceived, as well as the pharmaceutical industrys policy. Queer Nation, an organization founded in 1990 by AIDS activists from ACT UP, set itself the task of countering homophobia by increasing the visibility of people of nonheteronormative sexuality in the public sphere.] (my translation) Unfortunately, there are no exact equivalents of the terms such as drag or passing in Polish, which makes the use of footnoting even more relevant. In the Polish version, the translators footnotes accompany the ones written by the author. According to the arguments discussed in the previous chapter, Krasuskas translation can be treated as an example of what Massardier-Kenney labels thick translation (1997: 61). Such a richly annotated text, on the one hand, might be considered difficult to read, but on the other hand, provides the reader with the necessary cultural context to fully comprehend the concepts of the original. According to von Flotow, it is a common practice for feminist translators to mark their presence in the text by adding footnotes. The Polish translator of Gender Trouble did not restrict herself only to provide her own annotations to the book, but she also decided to reflect on her work in the afterword, which she titled Gra w przekad. The most crucial part of her afterword concerns the problematic issue of

translating into Polish the two somewhat slippery notions of sex and gender. Krasuskas commentary helps the reader realize the complexity of these two terms, and the difficulty that she had to face while dealing with Butlers text. The translator begins her afterword with a brief overview of the Polish translations of the term

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gender, which is the central concern of the book. She says:

Gender bywao przekadane i funkcjonuje w jzyku polskim na wiele sposobw, od abstrakcyjnej pciowoci, ktra pojawia si w pierwszym tumaczeniu tekstu Judith Butler w Polsce, a po gender, ktry sygnalizuje wybitn obco owego konkretnego dyskursu o pci. Pomidzy nimi mamy jeszcze inne propozycje: po pierwsze rodzaj, czyli brawurow, lecz nie do koca skuteczn prb zapoyczenia terminu gramatycznego, a zatem skalkowania teoretycznego posunicia anglosaskiego; po drugie najbardziej rozpowszechnion pe kulturow, ktra czasem mieni si pci spoeczn i w kocu radykaln pe, ktra to podpowiada, e mwimy o starej kategorii, tylko na nowe sposoby. Nic dziwnego, e w tym baaganie niemal kady genderowy tekst zaczyna si explicite bd implicite od decyzji, jak w kopot (trouble) tekstowo zaegna jak nagi jzyk, jak konsekwentnie pisa o relacjach pci, by widoczny by ukon wobec konstrukcjonistycznego mylenia. (2008: 264) [The term gender has been translated and interpreted in Polish in a number of ways, from the abstract term pciowo (sexuality), which appeared in the first Polish translation of Judith Butlers text, to gender, which indicates the profound foreignness of the gender discourse. Some other options fall in between. First of all, rodzaj (grammatical gender), a daring, but rather ineffective, attempt to borrow a grammatical term, which meant copying the idea proposed by the English theorists. Secondly, pe kulturowa (the cultural gender, also called the social gender) which is the most common translation. Finally, we have pe (sex), which is a radical term suggesting that we talk about the old category, but in new ways. Taking into consideration such a terminological mess, not surprisingly, almost every text focusing on gender begins with deciding, either explicitly or implicitly, how to solve this trouble, how to bend the language, how to remain consistent when writing about gender relations, so as to emphasize the constructionist thinking.] (my translation)

The above passage illustrates that the notion of gender poses a challenge not only in terms of the complexity of its relations, but also, as Krasuska points out, in terms of the lack of an exact equivalent in the target language. Each new translation is an invitation to debate about its accuracy. It seems that the Polish translator is dissatisfied with the previous translations of the term. Since Butlers book, to a large extent, is based on the analysis of the categories of sex and gender, it is extremely important to find the most accurate translations of these terms in the target language. The translator comments on this problem as follows:
Sex/gender bywa diad, kiedy Butler odnosi si do dyskursu anglo-amerykaskiego, gdzie, jak wiemy, rozrnienie to wprowadzono. Najskuteczniejszym tumaczeniem wydaje si utarta pe biologiczna oraz pe kulturowa, z tak umiejscowionymi przydawkami, ktre sugeruj, e chodzi o dwa odrbne, cho od siebie zalene, wymiary. Do owego dwudzielnego systemu nale te odpowiednio przymiotniki: kobiecy/mski, eski/(biologicznie) mski. Jednak takie mylenie jest dla Butler tylko jednym z punktw wyjcia i krytykuje ona jego puapki w pierwszej czci ksiki. (2008: 265)

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[The two notions sex/gender are considered a diad when Butler refers to the AngloAmerican discourse, where, as we know, this distinction was introduced. The most common translations pe biologiczna (sex) and pe kulturowa (gender) appear to be the most accurate. The place of the attributes in the noun phrases suggests that we talk about the two separate, however interdependent, dimensions. This dual system also includes such adjectives as: kobiecy/mski (feminine/masculine) and eski/mski (female/(biologically) male). Nevertheless, for Butler, this type of thinking is not the only point of departure for her discussion. She criticizes its pitfalls in the first part of her book.] (my translation) Mamy tu raczej do czynienia z pci, ktra jest kulturowa, a bywa konstruowana jako bdca spoza kultury: autentyczna, pierwotna, naturalna, rdowa, sowem biologiczna. Zatem jeli pozwoli sobie na skrt mylowy: chodzi raczej o biologiczn pe, gdzie biologiczno jest przygodn cech, a nie odrbn istot. Dlatego te w tekcie polskim najczciej pojawia si kulturowa pe i biologiczna pe, z tak umiejscowionymi przymiotnikami, sygnalizujcymi ich odmienne charakterystyki, a nie klasy. (2008: 266) [We are rather dealing here with gender which is cultural, but sometimes is constructed as a concept which is outside of the culture, which is authentic, original, natural, source, which is, in a word, biological. Therefore, taking a mental shortcut, we mean biologiczn pe (biological gender), where its biological nature is an acquired quality, and not a separate concept. For this reason, kulturowa pe (gender) and biologiczna pe (sex) appear in the Polish text most frequently. The attributive position of the adjectives which premodify the noun pe indicates that their qualities are different, but they belong to the same category.] (my translation)

Skillfully using the nuances of meaning resulting from the word order of the attribute towards the head noun, Krasuska translated the Butlerian notions of sex and gender as biologiczna pe", kulturowa pe" and pe biologiczna", pe kulturowa", which well illustrates the troublesome nature of these concepts. Moreover, her idea to provide two different translations depending on the context clearly marks her presence in the translated text. The Polish translator also discusses some other noteworthy aspects of Butlers language. She says:
U Butler jzyk staje si realizacj jej postulatw. Wszdzie mno si imiesowy bierne, sugerujce, e nic nie jest takie, jakim si wydaje, lecz zostao dopiero takim uczynione. Std w wielu miejscach heterosexualized (okrelone jako heteroseksualne), naturalized (znaturalizowane), gendered (upciowione, okrelone bd nacechowane ze wzgldu na [kulturow] pe). Sw femininity (kobieco) i masculinity (msko) czyli rzeczownikw okrelajcych stan bycia kobiet lub stan bycia mczyzn niemal prno szuka w caym tekcie, co podkrela, e wci si nimi stajemy, bd stawa musimy, czy jestemy na nich wci urabiani. Butler posuguje si najczciej przymiotnikami przygodnymi atrybutami, jak mwi: feminine (kobiece) i masculine (mskie) oraz formami odprzymiotnikowymi: the feminine i the masculine. Te ostatnie pojawiaj si tutaj po polsku gwnie jako to, co kobiece i to, co mskie, cho niekiedy, po kapitulacji przed czytelnoci, napotka mona kobieco i msko w cudzysowie. W parze z tymi zabiegami idzie wszdobylska u Butler strona bierna, ktra po polsku czsto oddana jest w postaci form bezosobowych, cho czasem, znw gwoli czytelnoci, zmieniona zostaa na stron czynn. (2008: 267-268)

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[Butlers language becomes a means to realize her postulates. The text abounds in passive participles suggesting that nothing is really as it seems, but it was made the way it is. Therefore, heterosexualized was rendered as heteroseksualne, naturalized as znaturalizowane, gendered as upciowione (determined or marked on account of gender). Words like femininity and masculinity, i.e. the nouns describing the state of being a woman or a man, are none to be found in the whole text, which emphasizes the argument that we take part in the process of becoming a woman or a man, or we are moulded to become them. Butler most frequently uses the adjectives such as feminine and masculine, as well as the adjectival forms such as the feminine and the masculine, which appear in the Polish translation mainly as to co kobiece and to co mskie. However, in order to enhance readability, in some cases, they are rendered as kobieco (femininity) and msko (masculinity) in inverted commas. Besides, Butlers text is distinguished by an all-pervasive passive voice, which is rendered in Polish by impersonal verb forms. However, again out of concern for readability, it was sometimes changed into active voice.] (my translation)

According to the translator, the language that is used by the author in the original not only plays the role of an instrument to convey her ideas, but also exemplifies her postulates through its syntactic structure and her choice of words. In the above passage, Krasuska points out that, in some cases, it was necessary to depart from Butlers difficult, academic writing style in order not to confuse the readers and hinder readability. Her afterword allows the readers to learn more about the nuances of Butlers writing, as well as the strategies she used and the compromises she made in her translation. In her afterword, Krasuska admits that it was thanks to the German translation by Kathrina Menke (1991) that she first read Butlers work and it might be assumed that it was Menkes audacity as a translator, which met with considerable criticism, that had some influence on Krasuskas translation choices. Furthermore, the German version of Gender Trouble inspired her to organize, together with Baej Warkocki, a series of meetings (known as Spotkania butlerowskie) devoted to testing the possibilities of rendering Butlers ideas into Polish. (2008: 269) Undoubtedly, such preparation provided the translator with a good starting point and some hints on how to approach this difficult, jargon-ridden text. The Polish translator stresses the fact that her translation is the product of a collaboration between her and the people who contributed, to a larger or lesser extent, to the emergence of this work. This cooperation is visible from the very beginning of Krasuskas translation, since it begins with an insightful preface written by a Polish writer and essayist Olga Tokarczuk. The writer focuses on introducing the reader to Butlers main assumptions, and on relating the text to the Polish context. She writes:

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Przy caej swej odwadze i bezkompromisowoci Uwikani w pe s dzieckiem swojego czasu uparcie dopytuj si, co znaczy realne. I nie jest to ju dzi problem, ktry interesuje zamknitych w swoich gabinetach filozofw, ale niepokj, ktry dawno wyszed poza uniwersyteckie biblioteki i nurtuje umysy zwyczajnych ludzi, pojawiajc si coraz czciej w kinie i literaturze popularnej. I niczym ich bohaterowie snuj podejrzenia, e to, co dane, na pierwszy rzut oka oczywiste, by moe przykrywa co innego; e nie naley ju ufa temu, co jawi si na powierzchni i zwodzi swoj realnoci. Dzi byaby to naiwna prostolinijno. Ten motyw nieufnoci wobec tego, co realne pojawia si dzi u wielu twrcw, poczwszy od pisarzy w rodzaju Dana Browna, ktrzy, kwestionujc jaki drobny szczeg powszechnie znanej narracji, wysnuwaj z niej nowe, zupenie nieoczywiste znaczenie, a po autorw filmu Matrix, kacych swojemu bohaterowi odkrywa bolesn i jednoczenie wyzwalajc prawd, e rzeczywisto, w ktrej yje, jest faszywa i s k o n s t r u o w a n a. Pojcie matrix, ktre ten film przywrci oglnemu uytkowi, oddaje bardzo dobrze punkt startu dla rozwaa Judith Butler. (2008: 5-6) [With all its courage and radicalism, Gender Trouble is a child of its times, that persistently asks what is real. Today, this problem no longer concerns only philosophers seated in their studies, it had left academic circles long ago and is occupying the minds of ordinary people, appearing more frequently in cinema and popular literature. Like these fictional characters, people raise suspicions that what is given, obvious at first glance, perhaps conceals something different; that we should distrust things we see, which delude us with false reality. Nowadays, such an approach would be considered a naive guilelessness. This theme of distrust towards what is real is used by many contemporary authors, from writers like Dan Brown, who by questioning some minor detail of a well-known narration, draw some new, non-obvious meaning, to the authors of Matrix, who make their character discover a painful, but at the same time liberating truth that the reality he lives in is false and c o n s t r u c t e d. The term matrix, which thanks to this film was reintroduced to regular use, reflects well the starting point for Judith Butlers theories.] (my translation) Butler kwestionuje wic samo pojcie spjnego i zunifikowanego podmiotu feminizmu oraz odrzuca kategori kobiecoci jako iluzj podporzdkowan interesom wadzy. Jednoczenie przestrzega, e sposb sformuowania definicji tego podmiotu okrela, jak zostan sformuowane jej interesy polityczne. Mielimy w Polsce okazj przyjrze si tak postawionemu problemowi podczas niedawnej kampanii wyborczej, kiedy nowo powstaa Partia Kobiet odwoaa si do kategorii kobiety jako politycznie sprawczego podmiotu z aspiracjami do udziau we wadzy. Rycho jednak okazao si, e taka autodefinicja wykluczya wszystko, co w tej kategorii si nie miecio. (2008: 7) [Therefore, Butler questions the very notion of coherent and unified subject of feminism and rejects the category of femininity as an illusion subordinated to the interests of authorities. At the same time, she warns that the way of formulating the definition of this subject determines how her political interests will be formulated. We had an opportunity to examine this problem in Poland during the recent electoral campaign, when a newly formed Partia Kobiet (The Women's Party) referred to the category of woman as a politically active subject aspiring to participate in government. Soon it appeared that this self-definition excluded everything that did not fall into this category.] (my translation)

In her preface, Tokarczuk familiarizes the readers with Butler's complex and innovative analysis of gender and provides them with a greater insight into the overall problem. Moreover, her brief introduction complements well the authors preface. Krasuskas translation appears to be a good example of what Franoise Massardier-Kenney would 51

call collaboration (1997: 65). Despite the fact that her translation did not involve cooperation with the author herself, she has made a good use of this strategy. The examples presented in this subsection illustrate that some of Krasuskas translation choices correspond to the translation strategies such as prefacing, footnoting, thick translation and collaboration, which were identified by von Flotow and Massardier-Kenney as feminist. However, the Polish translators primary aim was not, presumably, to produce a feminist translation, but rather to produce an accurate and quality translation. Nevertheless, the strategies which she employed and which exist in feminist translation were used effectively in her work and, undoubtedly, made her presence visible.

3.2 The shortcomings of the Polish translation of The PowerBook by Jeanette Winterson Jeanette Winterson is an acclaimed contemporary feminist writer who mainly deals with lesbian themes, gender and sexuality in her work. Her books can be approached from two perspectives. On the one hand, as a feminist writer, she writes from a postmodern feminist perspective, criticizing the patriarchal and heterosexual hegemony, on the other hand, as a postmodernist writer, she consistently deconstructs grand narratives such as patriarchy and challenges traditional norms, beliefs and practices. According to Laura Doan:

Eschewing realism, Winterson constructs her narrative by exploiting the techniques of postmodern historiographic metafiction (such as intertextuality, parody, pastiche, selfreflexivity, fragmentation, the rewriting of history, and frame breaks) as well as its ideology (questioning "grand narratives," problematizing closure, valorizing instability, suspecting coherence, and so forth) in order to challenge and subvert patriarchal and heterosexist discourses and, ultimately, to facilitate a forceful and positive radical oppositional critique. (1994: 138)

Winterson herself stresses her inclination for the modernists, and a great deal of her allusions is to the major figures of modernism, for instance, she frequently invokes Virginia Woolf. William Pritchard in his article Say My Name and You Say Sex (1995) claims that Winterson has admitted that she is the only true heir of Virginia Woolf and has been known to harass interviewers and reviewers who make a less enthusiastic assessment of her gift. (Pritchard http://www.nytimes.com) Moreover, as Sarah Van Arsdale points out, she is "one of our most complicated, confounding writers, the kind of old-fashioned fiction magician who can leave one wondering how

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she got from A to Z without once mentioning the intermediate letters of the alphabet." (Arsdale http://www.sfgate.com) Since the publication of Wintersons debut novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, the writer has established herself as a prominent figure in the field of contemporary British literature and as a popular writer for study in schools and universities. (http://www.palgrave.com) The PowerBook was originally published in 2000. It is a novel often considered ahead of its time. Winterson is not known for being an easy read and this book only confirms this view. On her website, the author describes The PowerBook as 21st Century fiction that uses past, present and future as shifting dimensions of a multiple reality. Set in London, Paris, Capri and cyberspace, this is a book that re-invents itself as it travels. Using cover-versions, fairy tales, contemporary myths and popular culture, The PowerBook works at the intersection between the real and the imagined. (Winterson http://www.jeanettewinterson.com). The book is a collection of fragmented stories unified by the framing device of storytelling. This loosely constructed work focuses on the story of Ali, a woman who uses an instant messaging platform to seek potential lovers on the internet. In order to arouse interest within the object of her affection, the narrator tells a number of stories, employing different methods of storytelling. Van Arsdale points out that what constitutes both the specific nature and the difficulty of this text is the fact that this lover:

appears sometimes as she, sometimes as you, and sometimes as any of a host of famous or invented characters (Guinevere to Alis Lancelot, Paolo to Alis Francesca, etc.) from the worlds wealth of great and ruinous lovers. Sometimes this lover drops out of the novel entirely, and its hard to tell if we are still reading about Ali or just tripping through yet another story that is unconnected to the rest. (Arsdale http://www.sfgate.com)

Moreover, in The PowerBook, Winterson incorporated many creative metaphors. For instance, she used the metaphor of e-mail to discuss sexual freedom and power. It seems that the novel has been designed to suggest the appearance and the technique of virtual reality, with a cover like a computer handbook and chapter divisions of hard drives, icons and documents. (Showalter http://www.guardian.co.uk) The Polish version of Wintersons The PowerBook, entitled Wolno na jedn noc, was translated by Gabriela Janowska and published in 2003 by Dom Wydawniczy Rebis. Janowska undertook the challenging task of translating The PowerBook, which is an extremely ambiguous and deceptive novel. Although Wintersons sentences may 53

appear simple on the surface, in fact, their meaning is enormously complex and insidious, which pose a real challenge for the translator. Unfortunately, the Polish translator failed to render some of the significant aspects of Wintersons work. In Janowskas translation, the cases where she uses the approach of domestication intersperse with the instances where she applies the approach of foreignisation. Therefore, her translation can be viewed as an example of a hybrid text, a product of a compromise between different cultures. The translator decided to preserve the original plot with its location, names and culture. What she replaced, however, are literary allusions, quotations and sayings, which have been quite often substituted by the literary or cultural references more familiar to Polish readers. The following example illustrates the use of domestication: [6] He was his own call to prayer (2000: 15) Sam sobie by sterem i okrtem (2003: 15) The English saying has been successfully replaced by a quotation from Oda do modoci by Adam Mickiewicz, which is undoubtedly more familiar to Polish readers. In this example, it seems that the translator chose the right procedure in transferring the message of the source text. However, in order to produce a quality translation, these translation strategies should be handled delicately. It seems that Janoskas main aim was to render the stylistic value of the text. However, she has failed to include some other significant aspects of Wintersons text. Consequently, the Polish reader is deprived of the opportunity to experience the unique world and climate created in the original. For instance, it can be observed in the passage where Winterson makes an apparent allusion to Orlando by Virginia Woolf. The translator decided to render via Orlandini (2000: 88) in the Polish text as via Orlandini (2003: 112), leaving the name unchanged. Woolfs influential novel Orlando is one of the most renowned works by a woman author very directly treating gender. Since Winterson, as mentioned earlier, considers herself the only true heir of Virginia Woolf, her allusion to Orlando is not accidental. Woolfs novel is most probably unknown to a wider audience in Poland. Unfortunately, Janoska provided no explanation of this salient reference. Without a doubt, there is no point in translating the name or seeking some equivalent. However, as von Flotow would suggest, it would be advisable to reflect on this matter in a footnote or a preface, and provide the reader with an explanation of the link between these two novels. The more so because it is not the

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only allusion to Orlando. Winterson makes another reference to Woolfs style in the narrative voice of The PowerBook as well as the concept of shifting gender. Due to the fact that the gender bending produces a significant effect in the novel, undoubtedly, it should be somehow reflected in translation. In an interview published on her website, Winterson answered the question Why do you keep doing the gender bending? as follows:

Because I'm queer. Well no, that's only part of the answer. Being queer, that is not straight-line, not belonging, tells me that gender is only the beginning of the story, not the last word. I like some ambiguity. One of the exciting and dangerous things about email is that we have no way of discerning gender, and that upsets a lot of our notions about innate masculine or feminine traits. Listen, I don't want a unisex world. I like it the way it is, but I think we should have more fun with it, and the fun and the experiment is what Queer Culture is all about. To that extent, my own experience interfaces with my work. (http://www.jeanettewinterson.com)

The English language allows its users to avoid specifying gender of a speaker, which was used by both authors in their literary texts as a means to achieve a considerable degree of ambiguity. The following quotation comes from the last story which refers to Orlando:

Downstairs, I switched on the screen and watched the familiar blank space surface towards me to be filled. Blank spaces are my domain. Heres the story The rain was thick as glass. For many days I had eaten, drunk, slept, walked, cased in glass. I felt like the relic of a saint. I felt like an Eastern curiosity. I stared out of the running walls of my prison, able to move, unable to escape. In the forest every solid thing was changing into its watery equivalent. Whatever I grasped for purchase root, branch, rock slipped its hold. My fingers closed on nothing. The leaf-deep forest floor was a moving raft of brown water. The trees were water columns. In the liquid forest, I was the only solid thing and already my outline was beginning to blend with other outlines that were not me. I said my name again and again ORLANDO! ORLANDO! (2000: 279280)

Unfortunately, the structure of the Polish language provides no such possibility. It is inevitable to choose either masculine or feminine forms. Therefore, in order to preserve the novels conceptual potential and not to change the plot, the process of translating the text into Polish must involve a better understanding and careful interpretation of the source text. There are cases where it is nearly impossible to determine whether the narrative voice belongs to a man or to a woman, since both situations are possible and the author has not included any explanatory comments in the original. Consequently, the

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translators decision may seem unjustified. The following example is the Polish version of the English passage quoted above:

Wczyam ekran i patrzyam, jak znajoma pusta przestrze wynurza si ku mnie, czekajc, a j wypeni. Puste przestrzenie to moje krlestwo. A oto opowie Deszcz gsty jak szko. Przez wiele dni jadem, piem, spaem, spacerowaem cay spowity w szko. Czuem si niby wita relikwia. Jak osobliwo Wschodu. Wygldaem zza ciekych cian mojego wizienia, zdolny do ruchu, niezdolny do ucieczki. W lesie kada rzecz zmieniaa si w swj wodnisty odpowiednik. Wszystko, cokolwiek bym schwyci z wysikiem korze, ga, kamie wymykao mi si z rk. W zacinitych palcach nic nie zostawao. Lena cika przeobrazia si w ruchom tratw z brunatnej wody. Drzewa stay si wodnymi kolumnami. W tym pynnym lesie byem jedyn substancjaln rzecz, a jednak moja sylwetka ju zaczynaa si zlewa z innymi liniami, ktre nie naleay do mnie. Co i rusz powtarzaem swoje imi: ORLANDO! ORLANDO! (2003: 218219)

As in Virginia Woolf's novel, the English version of The PowerBook does not specify Orlandos gender. The use of masculine or feminine forms in the Polish translation seems to be determined by the translators interpretation, which here is not based on any hint or suggestion of the author. Furthermore, in such cases it is the author herself who is in a prime position to appraise the translators decisions. Bearing in mind Wintersons penchant for metaphor and ambiguity, the following translators reworking appears to be groundless:

[7]

Your marrow is in my bones. My blood is in your veins. Your cock is in my cunt. My breasts weigh under your dress. My fighting arm is sinewd to your shoulder. Your tiny feet stand my ground. (2000: 80)

Twj szpik jest w moich kociach. W twoich yach pynie moja krew. Mj penis wypenia twoj wagin. Moja pier rozsadza twoj szat. Moje orne rami zrasta si cignami z twoim barkiem. Twoje drobne stopy stpaj po mojej ziemi. (2003: 6263)

Unfortunately, Janoska has failed to provide any explanation of the concept of gender shifting in her work. Her characters seem to adhere and reinforce rather than challenge conventional gender roles. Frequently, her decisions to ascribe a particular gender drastically limit the range of possible interpretations. Therefore, the Polish reader may

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not even notice a significant characteristic of Winterson's style. The difference in the structures of English and Polish language as well as the translators interpretation are two main reasons for all the changes introduced to the translated text. Janoskas translation choices have greatly limited the ways in which the Polish readers can participate in the game to which the English readers are invited. In comparison with the original, many of the Polish translators decisions may seems unjustified and arbitrary. In order to avoid such objections to her work, Janoska, for instance, might have turned to the author for advice how to deal with the problem of the gender bending, which was the case with the Polish translator of Wintersons novel Written On The Body. Hanna Mizerska has faced the same problem of rendering the narration where the lack of specified gender plays a significant role. Her solution was to consult her translation choices concerning the ambiguous and problematic passages with the author. Wintersons suggestions on the narrators gender in the Polish version have helped Mizerska complete her work without losing all the interpretative possibilities. The strategy of collaboration (Massardier-Kenney 1997: 65), broadly discussed in Chapter II, appears to be one of the possible solutions. Moreover, as Massardier-Kenney suggest, the translator may document the ways such collaboration work and discuss it in their work, which might appear very helpful for the reader to grasp the core of the problem. Therefore, the strategy of prefacing (von Flotow 1991: 77) can also be applied to reflect on the aforesaid cooperation. Another solution involves the strategy called resistancy (Massardier-Kenney 1997: 60). According to Massardier-Kenney, this strategy has proved its effectiveness while translating experimental feminist authors who use stylistic innovations in order to incorporate gender perspectives in their writings. The presence of grammatical gender in Polish poses a major difficulty for the translators of such challenging works as The PowerBook. In order to preserve the ambiguity that is the key element of the original text and not to reveal the gender of the characters in the Polish version, the translator, for example, might substitute the conventional Polish lexical items with the ones which are free of gender markers. For instance:

[8]

Deszcz gsty jak szko. Przez wiele dni jad*m, pi*m, spa*m, spacerowa*m ca* spowit* w szko. Czu*m si niby wita relikwia. Jak

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osobliwo Wschodu. Wyglda*m zza ciekych cian mojego wizienia, zdoln* do ruchu, niezdoln* do ucieczki. [9] W tym pynnym lesie bym jedyn substancjaln rzecz, a jednak moja sylwetka ju zaczynaa si zlewa z innymi liniami, ktre nie naleay do mnie. Co i rusz powtarzam swoje imi: ORLANDO! ORLANDO! As described in the previous chapter, this strategy makes the translators work visible through linguistic means creating a defamiliarizing effect and working against easy fluency. In this case, the biggest advantage of this strategy is that it allows the translator to achieve a similar level of ambiguity to the source text. To conceal gender, the translator can also try to refer to the past events using the narration in the present tense. For example: [10] Wczam ekran i patrz, jak znajoma pusta przestrze wynurza si ku mnie, czekajc, a j wypeni. Puste przestrzenie to moje krlestwo. [11] Deszcz gsty jak szko. Od wielu dni jem, pij, pi, spaceruj zewszd otacza mnie szko. Czuj si niby wita relikwia. Jak osobliwo Wschodu. Wygldam zza ciekych cian mojego wizienia, mog si rusza, lecz uciec nie mog. This change from the past into the present tense perspective might be helpful in some instances, but cannot be used as an universal solution since a number of parts of speech, such as nouns, adjectives, pronouns and numerals can make it extremely difficult or even impossible to render the text in the present tense without any major changes to the nature and meaning of the novel. The aspect of Wintersons play with gender and sexuality poses a great challenge for the translator and it may seem untranslatable, but it is too important to be lost in translation, and it should be emphasized at least in a translators preface.

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Conclusions

The aims of this thesis were to provide an in-depth, critical analysis of the feminist approaches to translation and to investigate the receptiveness of the Polish language to feminist translation strategies. The scope of this dissertation includes both the works illustrating the feminist theories of translation and the ones which constituted the basis for the development of feminist translation. The analysis of feminist translation strategies was based on two major works: Feminist Translation: Contexts, Practices and Theories by Luise von Flotow and Towards a Redefinition of Feminist Translation Practice by Franoise MassardierKenney. Both von Flotow, and Massardier-Kenney provide many substantive arguments and examples supporting their theories. While von Flotow focuses more on contributions and applications of her strategies, Massardier-Kenney reflects critically on von Flotows strategies and provides her own classification of feminist translation strategies dividing them into author-centred and translator-centred. Both authors support their ideas with interesting and vivid examples. However, von Flotow rather strictly limits the scope of her research to the English translations of Qubcois feminist texts. Conversely, Massardier-Kenney attempts to illustrate the her strategies can be applied in a much broader context, not restricting herself to feminist writings. Therefore, it can be said that Massardier-Kenneys translation strategies can be used in a much wider range of literary works. The main difference between these two views on feminist translation concerns the fact that von Flotow claims that she introduces strategies which are innovative and different from conventional translation strategies, whereas Massardier-Kenney adapts existing translation strategies for feminist purposes instead of inventing new ones. As Massardier-Kenney points out, translation strategies such as prefacing, footnoting, or supplementing, which is the equivalent of what some theorists call compensation, have always been recognized as legitimate strategies of translation. Von Flotows technique of hijacking, which appears to be the most controversial and problematic of the discussed translation practices, involves the appropriation of a non-feminist text to carry a feminist message. Such a strategy might raise strong objections concerning

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the manipulation over both language and the intention of the original text. The strategies proposed by Massardier-Kenney seem more universal and have a better chance to gain a greater recognition in the field of translation studies. As far as the translation of feminist texts is concerned, the examples provided by both authors show that feminist translation strategies produce clear and significant gains for the translators work. Therefore, their application in experimental, innovative feminist writings seems fully justified, or even advisable. As for non-feminist texts, according to Massardier-Kenney, such strategies as recovery, commentary, resistance, use of parallel texts, and collaboration can be successfully used by feminist translators who work with source texts which are not necessarily feminist. While quite a few feminist texts have been translated into Polish so far, it is extremely difficult to find some non-feminist text rendered by a feminist translator. As presented in Chapter III, both Judith Butlers Gender Trouble, and Jeanette Wintersons The PowerBook pose a great challenge for their translators. Undoubtedly, these works can be viewed as tools to pursue the feminist agenda. Interestingly, it can be observed that Polish feminist translators do not label their work feminist. Nevertheless, the investigation of the Polish translations of Gender Trouble and The PowerBook shows that Polish language seems to be receptive to feminist translation strategies. The strategies such as prefacing, footnoting, collaboration, or thick translation are clearly reflected in Krasuskas translation practices producing a significant effect in her work. It can be easily noticed that the feminist translation strategies in Uwikani w pe play a major role in rendering Butlers revolutionary work. As for Janoskas translation, the alternative solutions provided in order to improve her work involve such strategies as prefacing, collaboration, and resistancy. As discussed in Chapter III, the translator has failed to render some of the significant aspects of Wintersons work. The suggested solutions illustrate that the elements which Janoska considered untranslatable or irrelevant can be rendered into Polish by applying the aforementioned feminist translation strategies. Therefore, it can be assumed that the Polish language allows feminist translators to employ the strategies by von Flotow and Massardier-Kenney successfully in their work.

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References

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Doan, Laura. 1994. Jeanette Winterson's sexing the postmodern, in Laura Doan (ed.) The Lesbian Postmodern, 137155. Doan, Laura (ed.) 1994. The Lesbian Postmodern. New York: Columbia University Press. Dollerup, Cay and Ning Wang (eds.) 2002. Perspectives: studies in translatology. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd. Dworkin, Angela. 1991. Androcentrism in linguistics.

www.specgram.com/JLSSCNC.I.3/04.dworkin.androcentrism.html. Fisher, Lina. 2010. Theory and practice of feminist translation in the 21st century, in Jeremy Munday (ed.) Translation: theory and practice in dialogue, 67-84. Flotow, Luise von. 1991. Feminist translation: contexts, practices and theories", in Jean Marc Gouanvic (ed.) TTR - traduction, terminologie, redaction, vol. 4, n 2, 69-84. Flotow, Luise von. 1995. Translating women of the eighties: eroticism, anger, ethnicity. Montreal: Vhicule Press. Flotow, Luise von. 1997. Translation and gender: translating in the 'era of feminism'. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing. France, Peter. 2000. The Oxford guide to literature in English translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Godard, Barbara. 1983. Preface to: These our mothers. Toronto: Coach House Press. Godard, Barbara. 1984. Translating and Sexual Difference, in Philinda Masters (ed.) Resources for Feminist Research XIII (3) (November), 13-16. Godard, Barbara. 1990. "Theorizing feminist discourse/translation", in Susan Basnett and Andr Lefevere (eds.) Translation, history and culture, 87-96. Gouanvic, Jean M. (ed.) 1991. TTR - traduction, terminologie, redaction, vol. 4, n 2. Montreal: Canadian Association for Translation Studies. Gouanvic, Jean M. (ed.) 1994. TTR - traduction, terminologie, redaction, vol. 7, n 2. Montreal: Canadian Association for Translation Studies. Graham, Joseph F. 1985. Difference in translation. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Homel, David and Sherry Simon, (eds.) 1988. Mapping literature the art and politics of translation. Montral: Vhicule Press. Krontiris, Tina. 1992. Oppositional voices: women as writers and translators of literature in the English Renaissance. London: Routledge.

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Lefevere, Andr. 1992. Translation, rewriting and the manipulation of literary fame. London and New York: Routledge. Lotbinire-Harwood, Susanne de. 1989. About the her in other, preface to Lise Gauvin Letters from an other. Toronto: The Women's Press. Maier, C. and Franoise Massardier-Kennedy. 1996. Gender in/and literary translation, in Marilyn Gaddis Rose (ed.) Translation horizons: beyond the boundaries of the translation, 10. Massardier-Kenney, Franoise. 1997. Towards a redefinition of feminist translation practice, in Mona Baker and Moira Inghilleri (eds.) The translator, vol. 3, n 1, 55-69. Masters, Philinda (ed.) 1984. Resources for Feminist Research XIII (3) (November). Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. McRobbie, Angela. 2009. The aftermath of feminism: gender, culture and social change. London: Sage Publications Ltd. Munday, Jeremy. 2001. Introducing translation studies: theories and applications. London and New York: Routledge. Munday, Jeremy (ed.) 2010. Translation: theory and practice in dialogue. London & New York: Continuum. Nida, Eugene. 1961. The setting of communication, in Communication et Traduction, dtach de la Documentation en France, numro spcial, 3. Olaniyan, Tejumola (ed.) 1993. Callaloo, vol. 16, n 4. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Oliphant, Andries and Rory Ryan (eds.) 2006. Journal of Literary Studies, vol. 22, issue 1-2. London: Routledge. Osborne, Susan. 2001. Feminism. Harpenden: Pocket Essentials. Pisarska, Alicja and Teresa Tomaszkiewicz. 1996. Wspczesne tendencje

przekadoznawcze. Pozna: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM. Pritchard, William H. Say my name and you say sex,

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Critique of Language in New Quebec Feminist Writing, Master's Thesis, Montreal: Concordia University. Showalter, Elaine. Eternal triangles: Jeanette Winterson's The.Powerbook is lost in cyberspace, www.guardian.co.uk/books/2000/sep/02/fiction.jeanettewinterson1,

DOA September 23, 2011. Simon, Sherry. 2005. Gender in translation: cultural identity and the politics of transmission. Taylor & Francis e-Library. Venuti, Lawrence. 1995. The translators invisibility: a history of translation. London: Routledge. Venuti, Lawrence. 1998. The scandals of translation: towards an ethics of difference. London: Routledge. Vidal, frica and Javier Franco. 2009. MONTI: monografas de traduccin e interpretacin, n 1. Alicante: Universitat d'Alacant. Wallmach, Kim. 2006. Feminist translation strategies: different or derived?, in Andries Oliphant and Rory Ryan (eds.) Journal of Literary Studies, vol. 22, issue 1-2, 1-26. Wilt, Timothy. 2003. Bible translation: frames of reference. Manchester: Saint Jerome. Winterson, Jeanette. 2000. The PowerBook. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Winterson, Jeanette. 2003. Wolno na jedn noc. Pozna: Dom Wydawniczy Rebis. Winterson, Jeanette. www.jeanettewinterson.com/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=10, DOA September 20, 2011.

Internet Sources www.chambersharrap.co.uk, DOA May 10, 2011. www.criticaltheory-download-ebooks.blogspot.com/2011/06/judith-butlergender-trouble-still.html, DOA September 15, 2011. www.palgrave.com/PDFs/0230507611.Pdf, DOA September 20, 2011.

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Streszczenie

Praca ta miaa na celu przedstawienie analizy osigni oraz ogranicze feministycznych teorii przekadu, a take zbadanie moliwoci zastosowania wybranych feministycznych strategii tumaczeniowych w kontekcie przekadu na jzyk polski. Wspczesne teorie przekadu oraz wspczesna myl feministyczna odwouj si do pewnych wsplnych zaoe, w szczeglnoci podwaaj tradycyjne postrzeganie wiernoci tumaczenia, kwestionuj nadrzdny charakter oraz autorytet oryginau, odrzucaj tradycyjne role i podwaaj funkcjonujce stereotypy pci. Teoretycy przekadu oraz teorii feministycznych sugeruj, i zestawienie tych dwch interdyscyplinarnych dziedzin moe prowadzi do obustronnych korzyci. Podstaw teoretyczn dla rozwoju wspczesnego nurtu feministycznego w przekadoznawstwie stanowi prace tak wybitnych postaci jak Lawrence Venuti, Luise von Flotow, Jacques Derrida, Andr Lefevere, Susan Bassnett, czy te Sherry Simon. Teorie te s kluczowe dla feministycznych strategii tumaczeniowych opisanych przez Luise von Flotow oraz Franoise Massardier-Kenney. Obie autorki sugeruj rne rozwizania, grupujc je w kilka strategii tumaczeniowych. Struktura pracy przedstawia si nastpujco. Praca podzielona jest na trzy gwne rozdziay. Rozdzia pierwszy w zwizy sposb prezentuje pojcie feminizmu, jego histori, zrnicowanie oraz kluczowe zaoenia. Kolejnym omawianym aspektem jest zestawienie teorii przekadu oraz teorii feministycznych. Ostatnim zagadnieniem jest refleksja na temat miejsca kobiet oraz przekadu w historii literatury. Rozdzia drugi zawiera zbir najistotniejszych teorii niezbdnych dla zrozumienia feministycznych teorii przekadu. Mona w nim znale odniesienia do prac wielu znanych i cenionych teoretykw przekadu oraz literatury, takich jak Venuti, von Flotow, Derrida, Lefevere, Bassnett, czy te Simon. Rozdzia ten omawia dwa odmienne podejcia do feministycznych strategii tumaczeniowych autorstwa von Flotow oraz MassardierKenney. Rozdzia trzeci stanowi najwaniejsz cz pracy z uwagi na zawart w nim wyej wspomnian analiz. Celem analizy jest zbadanie oraz ocena efektw zastosowania feministycznych strategii tumaczeniowych w kontekcie przekadu Gender Trouble Judith Butler oraz The PowerBook Jeanette Winterson na jzyk polski.

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Na podstawie przeprowadzonej analizy mona stwierdzi, i omwione w rozdziale drugim strategie znajduj zastosowanie w przekadzie dzie nurtu feministycznego na jzyk polski. Zaprezentowane strategie pokazuj, e mog by one przydatnym narzdziem dla tumacza, szczeglnie w sytuacji, gdy ma on do czynienia z innowacyjnymi i eksperymentalnymi tekstami, tak jak w przypadku tekstw Butler czy Winterson.

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Appendix I
Karolina Krasuska Gra w przekad
Gender bywao przekadane i funkcjonuje w jzyku polskim na wiele sposobw, od abstrakcyjnej pciowoci, ktra pojawia si w pierwszym tumaczeniu tekstu Judith Butler w Polsce, a po gender, ktry sygnalizuje wybitn obco owego konkretnego dyskursu o pci. Pomidzy nimi mamy jeszcze inne propozycje: po pierwsze rodzaj, czyli brawurow, lecz nie do koca skuteczn prb zapoyczenia terminu gramatycznego, a zatem skalkowania teoretycznego posunicia anglosaskiego; po drugie najbardziej rozpowszechnion pe kulturow, ktra czasem mieni si pci spoeczn i w kocu radykaln pe, ktra to podpowiada, e mwimy o starej kategorii, tylko na nowe sposoby. Nic dziwnego, e w tym baaganie niemal kady genderowy tekst zaczyna si explicite bd implicite od decyzji, jak w kopot (trouble) tekstowo zaegna jak nagi jzyk, jak konsekwentnie pisa o relacjach pci, by widoczny by ukon wobec konstrukcjonistycznego mylenia. Rzecz jasna: w odmiennych kontekstach wedle rnych strategii sprawdzaj si rozmaite rozwizania. cznie zwracaj one uwag na nieznon (trouble) rozpito i sztuczno albo konstrukcyjno owej kategorii. Wanie ta rozpito i niestabilno, tak teoretyczna, jak i strategiczna jest take jzykowo wtkiem gwnym tej ksiki Butler. W przedmowie Butler pisze o intelektualnej rozwizoci swojego tekstu. Ro z wi z o o zn acz a k o p o t y b d sa ma j e st j u ko p o te m ( I to ld yo u I wa s t r o u b l e , piewa Amy Winehouse, wyznajc partnerowi i nam, e spotyka si ze swoim byym, czyli ju nie odpowiada pewnej automatycznej [hetero]normie). U Butler oznacza to zainscenizowanie spotkania dyskursw, ktre nieczsto, przynajmniej przed 1990 rokiem, pojawiay si w jednym zestawie: Lvi-Strauss, Freud, Lacan, Riviere, Foucault, Kristeva, Wittig, Rubin, a wszyscy i wszystkie na szerszym tle feministycznych debat w wiecie anglosaskim. Jednak czciowo ksika ta wydaje si genealogi pci w wybranych kluczowych tekstach etnologii i psychoanalizy. Te nauki, jak powiada w Sowach i rzeczach Foucault, wprowadzaj niepokj (trouble) do humanistyki i obiecuj jej przekroczenie humanistyki jako nauki skoncentrowanej na czowieku, skoncentrowanej na podmiocie. Trzecia z wymienianych przez Foucaulta nauk, lingwistyka, wystpuje w ksice raczej podskrnie i jej logika zdaje si ksztatowa stawiane pytania. Butler bada owe obietnice zmiany kategorii mylenia, koncentrujc si na kategorii pci i konfrontujc je z anglo-amerykaskimi badaniami feministycznymi. Nic dziwnego zatem, e Butler mwi o swojej ksice jako o przekadzie kulturowym. Rzeczywicie wynikiem tekstu moe by pewien zamt (trouble) bd pojciowe przesunicia, najbardziej widoczne w przypadku diady sex/gender, ktra tutaj nie zawsze jest, moe by albo ma by diad. Sex/gender bywa diad, kiedy Butler odnosi si do dyskursu anglo-amerykaskiego, gdzie, jak wiemy, rozrnienie to wprowadzono. Najskuteczniejszym tumaczeniem wydaje si utarta pe biologiczna oraz pe kulturowa, z tak umiejscowionymi przydawkami, ktre sugeruj, e chodzi o

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dwa odrbne, cho od siebie zalene, wymiary. Do owego dwudzielnego systemu nale te odpowiednio przymiotniki: kobiecy/mski, eski/(biologicznie) mski. Jednak takie mylenie jest dla Butler tylko jednym z punktw wyjcia i krytykuje ona jego puapki w pierwszej czci ksiki. Krytyka ta przebiega na dwch poziomach. Odwoujc si do (i si dystansujc od) rozrnienia na pe kulturow i pe biologiczn, Butler pokazuje, jak w ogle do konstruowania pci w ramach obowizkowego porzdku heteroseksualnego konieczna jest konstrukcja staoci pci biologicznej oraz powizanej z ni albo j wyraajcej kulturowej nadbudowy, znanej nam jako pe kulturowa. Jednoczenie Butler w jej niemal detektywistycznej pracy tropicej mechanizmy rzdzce relacjami pci, a odwoujcej si do istniejcych terminw, chodzi nie tylko o obnaenie, lecz take o dekonstrukcj tych mechanizmw. Std bierze si programowe stwierdzenie ksiki w rozdziale Obowizkowy porzdek biologicznej pci/kulturowej pci/pragnienia:

Skoro mona podway niezmienny charakter biologicznej pci, to moe konstrukt ten, ktry zwiemy biologiczn pci, jest tak samo wanie konstruktem kultury jak kulturowa pe; ot moe biologiczna pe zawsze bya jak najbardziej kulturow pci. To oznaczaoby, e w ogle nie istnieje rozrnienie na pe biologiczn oraz kulturow.

Mamy tu raczej do czynienia z pci, ktra jest kulturowa, a bywa konstruowana jako bdca spoza kultury: autentyczna, pierwotna, naturalna, rdowa, sowem biologiczna. Zatem jeli pozwoli sobie na skrt mylowy: chodzi raczej o biologiczn pe, gdzie biologiczno jest przygodn cech, a nie odrbn istot. Dlatego te w tekcie polskim najczciej pojawia si kulturowa pe i biologiczna pe, z tak umiejscowionymi przymiotnikami, sygnalizujcymi ich odmienne charakterystyki, a nie klasy. Dua cz ksiki, jeli nawet podskrnie nadal przywouje amerykaskie dyskusje, posuguje si jednak innymi kategoriami. Fragment czci pierwszej, wikszo drugiej i trzeciej, gdzie gwnymi postaciami s Foucault, Lvi-Strauss, Lacan, Freud, Riviere, Wittig i Kristeva, to prba przedefiniowania, wraz z tymi autorami i autorkami lub wrcz wbrew nim, znanej kategorii pci (sex) i wykazania jej konstrukcyjnoci. Pe nie oznacza tu (tylko) biologicznej pci, czonu poprzedniego rozrnienia, czyli faktycznoci anatomicznej bd w innym rejestrze, faktw dotyczcych pci wytwarzanych przez nauki biologiczne. Pe jest tutaj zlepkiem tego, co biologiczne i tego, co kulturowe, a rozwaania Butler maj wykaza, jakie mechanizmy go utrzymuj i jakie relacje on sam podtrzymuje, jak rnie moe on zosta ustanowiony i jakim suy celom w ramach imperatywu heteroseksualnego. Co wicej, mona zaryzykowa stwierdzenie, e to wanie te dyskursy, ktre pojciowo potrafi rozbuja pe (sex), wykazujc jej kulturowe fundamenty, specyficznie przeczytane przez Butler stay si okazj, by skutecznie zakwestionowa schludny amerykaski duet pci kulturowej i pci biologicznej (gender/sex). W tych wszystkich przypadkach sex wystpuje w polskim tekcie wanie jako pe, czasem, tylko kiedy kontekst zdaje si tego wymaga, dookrelona jako biologiczna, medyczna czy prawdziwa w cudzysowie. Naley moe jeszcze zapyta: jak ma si do tego gender, to tytuowe, to pojawiajce si ukradkiem, to, chciaoby si powiedzie, wanie Butlerowskie? Gender tumaczona tu jako pe

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bd kulturowa pe jakby obejmuje diad sex/gender jako cao, a zatem dwudzia ten kwestionuje czy rozbija. Jest z gruntu kulturowa i std pojawiajcy si niekiedy przymiotnik ale bywa konstruowana biologicznie, to jest przez dyskursy nauk biologicznych i/lub jako biologiczna. Jest pci, sowem, ktre w potocznej angielszczynie wyparo czy wypiera klasyczne sex. Czasem wydaje si ono tu wrcz eufemizmem skrywajcym seksualno, ktra kua w oczy (trouble) przy wczeniejszym okreleniu pci sex. A ksika Butler tak wanie niepokoi (trouble), bo wydobywa na powierzchni regulacj pci, ktra odbywa si poprzez heteronormatywno, czyli specyficzn unormowan form heteroseksualnoci, ktra staje si przeroczystym rastrem ksztatujcym rzeczywisto. Ta

wspzaleno pci i seksualnoci dogbnie ksztatuje sposb, w jaki Butler prowadzi swe rozwaania i interpretuje teksty. Z tej perspektywy choby Foucault w Historii seksualnoci zdaje si mwi znacznie wicej o samej pci, ktr to take wytworzyo i uregulowao specyficzne urzdzenie seksualnoci. Niewygodna (trouble) w tekcie jest taka niekonsekwencja tumaczeniowa, taki mtlik, jak by si mogo wydawa. Parafrazujc polski tytu pracy Freuda Das Unbehagen in der Kultur, mona powiedzie, e pe niewtpliwie bywa rdem cierpie. Do tej zreszt pozycji odwouje si tytu niemieckiej wersji ksiki Butler. Od cierpie tych moemy zosta wybawieni jedynie wtedy, gdy w peni dopasujemy si do heteroseksualnej matrycy, normy, gdy poda bdziemy po prostej wytyczonej przez heteronormatywn, czyli po prostu normatywn myl (jak mona by odda straight mind Wittig). O tak konsekwencj i normatywno Butler na pewno nie chodzi. Ani o komfort czytelniczek i czytelnikw, ktre/ktrzy powinni raczej pomczy si, by zobaczy, jak wielopoziomowe i zawikane s mechanizmy funkcjonowania pci tworzce zudzenie jej prostoty. Nieznona kwestia pci blisza zdaje si uwikaniu w pe ni jedynie negatywnym kopotom czy cierpieniom, ktrych kres moe dopiero prowadzi do czego lepszego. Butler daleko do takiej ekonomii. Uwikanie w pe to stan, ktry moe i jest niewygodny, lecz od ktrego uwolni si nie sposb. Chodzi o to, by sobie z nim tylko jak najlepiej umie radzi, by ugra, to co dziki niemu ugra mona. By gra w t gr i grajc (odgrywajc) przesuwa czy destabilizowa jej reguy i regulacje. Ale czy rzeczywicie najtrafniejsze jest mwi tu o jakim stanie uwikania, jeli mamy u Butler do czynienia z performatywn teori sprawczoci czy zdolnoci dziaania, z podmiotem, ktry jest efektem, czyli pewn powierzchniow uud wytwarzan w trakcie i w konsekwencji dziaania? U Butler jzyk staje si realizacj jej postulatw. Wszdzie mno si imiesowy bierne, sugerujce, e nic jakie nie jest, jakim si wydaje, lecz zostao dopiero takim uczynione. Std w wielu miejscach heterosexualized (okrelone jako heteroseksualne), naturalized (znaturalizowane), gendered (upciowione, okrelone bd nacechowane ze wzgldu na [kulturow] pe). Sw femininity (kobieco) i masculinity (msko) czyli rzeczownikw okrelajcych stan bycia kobiet lub stan bycia mczyzn niemal prno szuka w caym tekcie, co podkrela, e wci si nimi stajemy, bd stawa musimy, czy jestemy na nich wci urabiani. Butler posuguje si najczciej przymiotnikami przygodnymi atrybutami, jak mwi: feminine (kobiece) i masculine (mskie) oraz formami odprzymiotnikowymi: the feminine i the masculine. Te ostatnie pojawiaj si tutaj po polsku gwnie jako to, co kobiece i to, co mskie, cho niekiedy, po kapitulacji przed czytelnoci, napotka mona kobieco i msko w cudzysowie. W parze z tymi zabiegami idzie wszdobylska u Butler strona bierna, ktra po polsku czsto oddana jest w postaci form bezosobowych, cho czasem, znw gwoli

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czytelnoci, zmieniona zostaa na stron czynn. Skonno ku stronie biernej to kolejne posunicie Butler odsaniajce przewrotn wadz gramatyki, ktra w przypadku strony czynnej sugeruje, e za dziaaniem (czyli faktycznie przed nim) mamy podmiot. Tak uyta skadnia nie oznacza jednak, e jestemy skazani/skazane na pasywno. To raczej prba Butler, by odda w jzyku wizj podmiotu ujarzmionego czyli podmiotu, ktry jest poddanym tych samych mechanizmw, ktre podmiotem go czyni. W tym kierunku prowadzi tytu uwikani w pe: uwikani, a wic niebdcy takimi z natury; dopiero tak wytworzeni, a zatem bdcy w stanie wytwr ten naruszy czy nadwtli. Ponadto uwikani, w formie mskoosobowej, daje do zrozumienia, jak pe pod postaci rodzaju gramatycznego (gender) rozpycha si w jzyku: uwikani w pe jestemy tak, e na pierwszy rzut (niewyszkolonego) oka tego nie zauwaamy i forma mskoosobowa mieni si form uniwersaln. I jeszcze jedno: uwikane w pe byyby tutaj, jeli tak mona powiedzie, jak pocaunek w rk, czyli gest faworyzujcy, lecz wanie tym samym odbierajcy rwny status. Inaczej mwic, uwikane w pe powtarzayby tylko star prawd o przykuciu kobiet do ciaa/pci, a uwikani w pe moe po chwili ka si zastanowi, jak w relacjach pci funkcjonuje msko. W tytule swojej pierwszej ksiki Subjects of Desire, a take tutaj w tytule czci pierwszej Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire (Podmioty biologicznej pci/kulturowej pci/pragnienia) Butler bezporednio gra podwjnoci subject, ktre jest wanie sprzeniem podmiotu i poddanego. Sugeruje te zatem, e wyzwolenie si z pci jest tyle niemoliwe, co samobjcze, skoro pe jest elementem upodmiotowienia jednostki. Tylko jako jej poddani/poddane moemy zyska zrozumiao i czytelno, walczy o uznanie (Anerkennung). Sprawczo zdaje si kry w zakamarkach, szczelinach tego sprzenia, zawsze nieudanych powtrzeniach norm, niedokadnociach, prowadzcych do przesuni. To jakby mechanizm zabawy w guchy telefon. Jej zasady s jasne i wszyscy pragn ich przestrzega: wiele osb powtarza, szepczc na ucho niby te same sowa, a w rezultacie od ostatniej osoby syszymy co zupenie innego, ni wczeniej sami usyszelimy i powtrzylimy. W kocu rwnie trudno dociec, gdzie nastpi bd czy bdy, a osobie, ktra zacza ca gr i tak nikt nie wierzy, co byo na pocztku. Inaczej mwic, wiarygodno oryginau zostaje nadwtlona i jego pozycja jako oryginau, staje si podejrzana. Lecz frajda caej tej zabawy polega przecie na tym, e si ona wanie nie udaje. Z tak wielk niecierpliwoci czeka si na ostateczne wypowiedziane powtrzenie, ktre powinno by tosame z oryginaem, ale zazwyczaj wanie nie jest.

Wiele osb na rne sposoby przyczynio si do powstania tego przekadu. Przed laty Boena Chouj daa mi do rki ksik Butler, po niemiecku i krytykujc ten przekad zachcaa mnie do tumaczenia. Wsplnie z uczestniczkami i uczestnikami Spotka butlerowskich zorganizowanych z Baejem Warkockim testowalimy, jak mwi Butler po polsku. Czonkinie i czonkowie grupy badawczej Pe jako kategoria wiedzy na Uniwersytecie Humboldta w Berlinie, a szczeglnie Beatrice Michaelis, Eli Haschemi Yekani i Sven Glawion, przez trzy wsplne lata uwraliwiali mnie na heterogenesis, jak mwi Sven. Dziki Przemysawowi Czapliskiemu i Sawkowi Sierakowskiemu uwierzyam, e jestem w stanie zmierzy si z t ksik. Matt Chambers wytrwale skanowa i mejlowa teksty potrzebne do tumaczenia, i przey rok z Judy. Adam Ostolski okaza si wymarzonym redaktorem. Dzikuj te wczeniejszym tumaczkom fragmentw Gender Trouble za ich polskie wersje, Barbarze Kope i Izie Kurz oraz Kathrinie Menke, tumaczce ksiki na jzyk niemiecki, i Cynthii Kraus, autorce przekadu francuskiego.

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Appendix II
Olga Tokarczuk Kobieta nie istnieje
Jeeli rzeczywisto jest czym w rodzaju namiotu rozpitego na stelau z poj, nawykw mylenia i idei, to ksika Judith Butler uderza w jeden z podstawowych filarw tego stelau, w jego gwn o. Uderzenie jest na tyle dotkliwe, e namiot chwieje si, a poszycie faluje i traci tak dobrze nam znajomy wygld. Potem na naszych oczach przybiera nowy ksztat i to wanie do niego musimy na nowo przywykn, rewidujc wszelkie oczywistoci, wszystko, co normalne" i oswojone. No c - tak wanie przeomowe dziaaj ksiki wane. Napisana w 1990 roku ksika Uwikam w pe (w oryginale: Gender Trouble) staa si w cigu ostatnich lat pozycj fundamentaln nie tylko dla feminizmu, ale i dla mylenia o podstawach kultury. Przy caej swojej odwadze i bezkompromisowoci Uwikani w pe s dzieckiem swojego czasu - uparcie dopytuj si, co znaczy realne". I nie jest to ju dzi problem, ktry interesuje zamknitych w swoich gabinetach filozofw, ale niepokj, ktry dawno wyszed poza uniwersyteckie biblioteki i nurtuje umysy zwyczajnych ludzi, pojawiajc si coraz czciej w kinie i literaturze popularnej. I niczym ich bohaterowie snuj podejrzenia, e to, co dane, na pierwszy rzut oka oczywiste, by moe przykrywa co innego; e nie naley ju ufa temu, co jawi si na powierzchni i zwodzi swoj realnoci. Dzi byaby to naiwna prostolinijno. Ten motyw nieufnoci wobec tego, co realne" pojawia si dzi u wielu twrcw, poczwszy od pisarzy w rodzaju Dana Browna, ktrzy, kwestionujc jaki drobny szczeg powszechnie znanej narracji, wysnuwaj z niej nowe, zupenie nieoczywiste znaczenie, a po autorw filmu Matrix, kacych swojemu bohaterowi odkrywa bolesn i jednoczenie wyzwalajc prawd, e rzeczywisto, w ktrej yje, jest faszywa i s k o n s t r u o w a n a. Pojcie matrix, ktre ten film przywrci oglnemu uytkowi, oddaje bardzo dobrze punkt startu dla rozwaa Judith Butler. Z wielk nieufnoci podchodzi ona bowiem do owieceniowego zaoenia o istnieniu staego, stabilnego ja" i ustalonej tosamoci jednostki. Stara si natomiast dotrze do istniejcych pod tymi pojciami mechanizmw konstruowania takiej tosamoci. Uwaa, e mechanizm ten jest polityczny, jako e za kadym razem ma zwizek z wadz. Tam, gdzie pojawia si tendencja do jasnego, wyranego definiowania podmiotu (zarwno ja", jak i my"), tam natychmiast wszystko, co nie mieci si w tej definicji, zostaje wykluczone. Ja" i my" s iluzorycznymi konstrukcjami, fantazmatami, ktre odegnuj si od jakiegokolwiek wewntrznego skomplikowania. Butler jest przede wszystkim filozofk feministyczn, dlatego jej rozwaania dotycz przede wszystkim kobiet jako podmiotu zbiorowego, owego grupowego my", ktre, jak twierdzi, konstytuuje si tylko poprzez wykluczenie czci grupy, ktr ma reprezentowa. Co kryje si bowiem pod pojciami kobiety" i kobiecoci"? Co mieci si w tym zbiorze i co wyznacza t cech? I co to w ogle znaczy kobieta" i mczyzna"?

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Wemy film Gra pozorw Neila Jordana, w ktrym bohater zakochuje si w pewnej kobiecie. Nie ma co do swojego uczucia adnych wtpliwoci, podobnie jak nie ma wtpliwoci, e obiekt jego uczucia jest kobiet, poniewa wyglda jak kobieta. Okazuje si jednak, e to powierzchowne wraenie jest mylne i ukochany obiekt jest raczej mczyzn. Nasz bohater zakocha si w kobiecie", lecz po odkryciu, e obiekt nie jest kobiet, jego mio nie mija. Moemy miao zada wic pytanie: Czy jest hetero, czy homoseksualist? Moe nadal widzi w mczynie kobiet i taka cecha jak msko" ukochanej kobiety wcale mu nie przeszkadza? A moe wrcz przeciwnie - kocha mczyzn, bo jest gejem i niewiadomie wybra kogo pod wzgldem pci dwuznacznego, przeczuwajc i antycypujc mczyzn ukrytego pod kobiec powok? A moe zakocha si wanie w takim, a nie innym czowieku, ludzkiej istocie, i jej pe pozostaje dla niego kategori drugorzdn? Samo stawianie takich pyta pokazuje moim zdaniem uwikanie, w jakim mog si znale dwie binarne, przeciwstawne i proste kategorie. Jak gboko wic pokrywaj nas kobieco" i msko"? Czy istnieje jaki fundament, gbia, gdzie mieci si ta prawdziwa pe", i jak gboko ten podzia siga? Czy jestemy zbudowaniu warstwowo niczym cebule, za nasza istota mieci si wanie tam, pod tymi wszystkimi warstwami? Czy moe raczej jestemy wariacjami wszystkich tych wymiarw jednoczenie? Kiedy widzimy kobiet ubran jak mczyzna i mczyzn przebranego za kobiet, wtedy to, twierdzi Butler, co zauwaamy jako pierwsze, bierzemy za prawdziwe, za oczywisto pci kulturowej, poniewa wszelka niejednoznaczno jest kopotliwa dla umysu. Umys niejednoznacznoci nie lubi, co psychologowie stwierdzili ju na pocztku poprzedniego wieku. Umys lgnie do wszelkiej matrix, ktra pomogaby mu uporzdkowa i ustali wieloznaczny, niejednorodny, sfragmentaryzowany wiat. W ten sposb powstaje pe.

Butler kwestionuje wic samo pojcie spjnego i zunifikowanego podmiotu feminizmu oraz odrzuca kategori kobiecoci" jako iluzj podporzdkowan interesom wadzy. Jednoczenie przestrzega, e sposb sformuowania definicji tego podmiotu okrela, jak zostan sformuowane jej interesy polityczne. Mielimy w Polsce okazj przyjrze si tak postawionemu problemowi podczas niedawnej kampanii wyborczej, kiedy nowo powstaa Partia Kobiet odwoaa si do kategorii kobiety" jako politycznie sprawczego podmiotu z aspiracjami do udziau we wadzy. Rycho jednak okazao si, e taka autodefinicja wykluczya wszystko, co w tej kategorii si nie miecio. Partia Kobiet uznaa, e interesy kobiet orbituj wok macierzystwa i rodziny, i w tym kierunku zostay sformuowane gwne postulaty polityczne. Nie przyja wyranego stanowiska wobec aborcji, gdy tak okrelona kobieta", zachowuje pewne denia emancypacyjne, umieszcza je jednak w kontekcie zorientowanego fallogocentrycznie spoeczestwa patriarchalnego, ktrego normy akceptuje. Na jednym ze spotka wyborczych zadeklarowano te, e Partii Kobiet nie interesuj problemy lesbijek (jako swego rodzaju nie-kobiet" wobec sformuowanej definicji). Jest wic tutaj kobieta" tym, czym wolno jej by w opresyjnym spoeczestwie, gdzie u wadzy s mczyni i gdzie reprezentowane s wanie ich interesy. Rewolucyjno podejcia Butler polega na tym, i zamierza si ona na to, co wydaje si absolutnie oczywiste i nie podlega adnej dyskusji - e jednostka jest zawsze albo kobiet, albo mczyzn, mskiego lub eskiego rodzaju. Wbrew temu, co twierdzi tradycyjny feminizm, pe nie jest te czym konstruowanym wycznie spoecznie (gender). Dla Butler pe to rodzaj performance'u. Pe

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jest czym, co bezustannie stwarzamy, co wykonujemy w codziennym yciu, a tosamo podmiotu jest zawsze performatywna, powstajca dziki powtrzeniom, a przez to podlega wariacjom i jest niestabilna. Pe wic, podobnie jak tosamo ja", wydaje si nieustannym show, zestawem znakw i masek, kostiumem, ktry przybieramy. Nieustanne odgrywanie tego rodzajowego show prowadzi do utrwalenia go i w kocu powstaje wraenie, e pe zaczyna si nam wydawa czym danym, naturalnym, oczywistym. W sensie filozoficznym staje si esencj.

Uwikani w pe to oczywicie ksika feministyczna i ujawnia si w niej barwniejsze, gbsze i bardziej zoone oblicze feminizmu. Feminizm w swej istocie jest bowiem prb ustanowienia zupenie nowego i wieego spojrzenia na c a rzeczywisto, nie tylko na ten jej aspekt, ktry dotyczyby kobiet. Tak rozumiany miaby przewartociowa podstawowe mylowe zaoenia, ktre sprawiy, e wykluczenia i nierwnoci postrzegamy tak, jakby byy dane z natury", przestajc si im dziwi i w ogle dostrzega. Staje si w ten sposb filozofi tych wszystkich elementw, ktre nie mieszcz si w ramach definicji wiecznie samookrelajcego si, pozostajcego u wadzy podmiotu. Zdekonstruowanie kategorii kobiecoci" pozwala jej zaistnie w zupenie nowy sposb. Staje si kategori otwart, rnorodn, wielopostaciow. Jest czym w rodzaju amorficznej wsplnoty, kocioa tych, ktrzy wypadli poza obrb uprzywilejowanej mskoci". Tak rozumiany feminizm powinien pielgnowa swoj szczegln funkcj, polegajc na odrzucaniu wszystkiego, co ograniczone, okrelone, ustrukturalizowane i obcione spoecznym status quo. Praktyka feministyczna staje si wtedy dziaaniem stricte rewolucyjnym, poniewa sytuuje si na przekr temu, co zastane. Powtarza bezustannie swoje nie" i to nie to", a take stosuje przewrotn strategi, ktra eksponuje iluzoryczno tosamoci gen-derowej oraz ujawnia jej fantazmatyczny status", tak jak czyni to queer. Parodia byaby wtedy tym, co najlepiej podwaa i dekonstruuje istniejc kategori kobiety".

Judith Butler przyglda si te krytycznie tradycyjnej psychoanalizie, ktra bardziej ni jakakolwiek inna idea wspiera patriarchalny porzdek rzeczy, i krytykuje jej wielk narracj". Po pierwsze podwaa opowie o utopijnej pierwotnej jednoci pci i jej pniejszemu, bolesnemu zrnicowaniu, po drugie za kwestionuje psychoanalityczny paradygmat rodziny jako zoonej z matki, ojca i dzieci. Zastanwmy si, mwi, jak by miaa si ta dobrze znana opowie do czstej przecie sytuacji, kiedy nie mam ojca albo matki, kiedy zostaam wychowana przez babci albo dziadka. A co, jeeli rozwijam si w rodzinie, w ktrej rodzice s jednej pci? A jeli moja rodzina skada si z wielu czonkw, jak dzieje si w komunach lub sektach wyznaniowych? Pokazuje w ten sposb, e psychoanaliza freudowska (ale te i wikszo w ten czy inny sposb bazujcych na niej szk psychologicznych) faworyzuje jeden wzr ksztatowania si tosamoci pciowej. W rzeczywistoci sytuacja jest, jak wiemy, o wiele bardziej skomplikowana, dlatego tosamo wcale nie musi by spjn zunifikowan caoci, lecz raczej niecigym procesem, penym wariacji i wersji.

Reperkusje tak rozumianej pci s bardzo istotne. Skoro kobieta" nie istnieje, skoro jest zaledwie pustym znakiem, to jak rozumie emancypacyjne denia feminizmu - co feminizm ma wyzwala, skoro sam przedmiot tego wyzwolenia rysuje si tak nieostro i podejrzanie?

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Ksika Judith Butler ju zaraz po ukazaniu si bya ostro krytykowana take przez feministki. Zarzucano jej zachystywanie si postmodernistycznymi koncepcjami podmiotu, izolowanie teorii feministycznej od praktyki i osabianie potencjau emancypacyjnego. Zwracano uwag, e kobiety w historii tak notorycznie pozbawiane byy uznania wasnej podmiotowoci, autonomii i zdolnoci do dziaania, e byoby teraz gronym paradoksem przyczenie si do postmodernistycznego szalestwa dekonstrukcji tych wanych dla feminizmu poj.

Ksika Butler jest lektur fascynujc i inspirujc. Czasami troch brutalnie wytrca nas z zastaych kolein mylenia i do energicznie popycha do przodu. Wszak yjemy w kraju, gdzie z trudem przyjmuje si mylenie w kategoriach pci biologicznej i pci kulturowej, gdzie wietnie si ma dobra, boa arytmetyka: istniej dwie pcie i jedna prawda. W kadej za codziennej gazecie znajdziemy opowieci o tym, co jest naturalne", a co nie, co zgodne z natur", a co pozostaje dewiacj i patologi. Tu Uwikani w pe domagaj si, eby pj dalej, w rejony, w ktrych praktyczne zastosowanie zawartych tam intencji staoby si prawdziw rewolucj, obyczajow, spoeczn i cywilizacyjn. Jednak niech si nie boj jeszcze wszyscy tradycjonalici, niech nie dr jeszcze zwolennicy dobrego starego wiata, gdzie kady jest doskonale okrelony i ma swoje przypisane mu przez natur miejsce, za dla wszystkich niewyranych istnieje miejsce na marginesie. Czytajc t ksik, testujmy jej idee w fantazji, prbujmy sobie wyobrazi wiat, jaki powstaby, gdyby idee Judith Butler zostay wprowadzone w ycie. Kto wie, czy nie byby to przewrt na miar kopernikaskiego? Tymczasem Butler uczy nas, jak podawa w wtpliwo najbardziej oczywiste paradygmaty. To zawsze byo zajciem twrczym. Wystarczy, e zaczniemy by czujni w matriks jzyka, bezwadnoci poj i wasnych mylowych przywiza.

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