Translating space in narrative fiction: Patrick Chamoiseau’s Martinique seen from a Dutch and English perspective

Abstract

This article analyzes what happens to the space of a narrative when it is translated. Its main goal is to demonstrate how we can deepen our understanding of space by seeing it through the twin lenses of narratology and comparative translation analysis. I will refer to the fictional universe created by the French Caribbean author Patrick Chamoiseau to illustrate this point. In particular, examples will be taken from Chronique des sept misères (2002 [1986]), from Texaco (2003 [1992]), and from the English and Dutch translations of these novels.

After an introductory first section, the article sets out the narratological framework used in the analysis, based on a three-layered approach to space: the space constructed by the reader, its textual rendering, and the discursive space of the text itself. Adopting the same threefold structure, the third section offers an analysis of Chamoiseau’s texts, through a comparison of original and translated texts. In Section 4, the results of the analysis will be confronted with Chamoiseau’s own view on translation.

The analysis shows how space is not only created by narratological and stylistic procedures, but also on the level of discourse, in the space the text creates for itself to speak from, which Maingueneau (1993: 123) has termed ‘scenography’. It also demonstrates how insights gained from translation studies can help narratologists to become aware of this interaction, and how a thorough narratological analysis that takes into account constructed space, its textual manifestation, and the space of enunciation, may help translation scholars better evaluate the impact of the translator’s choices.