What readers talk about when they talk about translations
Ruth Urbom
-
Version HTML du résumé et des mots-clés [English]:
Titre
What readers talk about when they talk about translations
Résumé
A campaign to draw attention to literary translators’ names (in particular, by printing them on the front covers of books) appears to enjoy widespread approval among literary translators on social media and in translators’ organisations. But the views of the vast majority of ordinary Anglophone readers appear to have been absent from literary translators’ discussions of the issue. This paper investigates readers’ attitudes by analysing reviews, posted online by Amazon.co.uk customers, of selected works of translated literary and commercial fiction. Attention is paid to how often readers mention the fact that the book they are commenting on is a translation, what kinds of things they say about translation(s) and how their comments about translation(s) relate to their overall opinion of a book. Analysis of readers’ comments about four books in English translation shows a generally inverse relationship between readers’ overall opinion of a book and their likelihood of remarking on the translation. Based on these findings, the paper explores possible consequences of efforts to draw more Anglophone readers’ attention to the translatedness of books. Suggestions for further research include investigating the priming effects of highlighting a book’s translatedness prior to purchase, e.g., on the front cover.
Mots-clés
literary translation, reviews, reader reception, marketing, Amazon
35(2) - 2023