32(2) - 2020

La traduction dans La Minerve (1826-1828) : Un outil entre les mains d’acteurs politiques

Aura E. Navarro

 

Titre
Translation in La Minerve: A tool in the hands of political actors

Résumé
Translation and the early press have a very close relationship. This article discusses the translation activity in the French-Canadian press of the early 19th century. To do this, we focus particularly on La Minerve (LM), one of the first newspapers published in Montreal (1826-1899). In order to explain the link between translation and the political-cultural project of LM, that is, how translation allows LM’s editorial team to defend the language, values and interests of the French-Canadian people, we rely on the theoretical framework of “Descriptive and Intercultural Studies of Translation”. The study of early 19th century press from a Translation Studies perspective is an important tool for understanding the political and social dynamics that characterized this important historical moment. Studying translation in this context highlights the “relationship of political inequality” (Simon, 1989) between English and French Canada. Moreover, it shows the relationship between newspapers, which establish a form of network seeking either to legitimize their own point of view or to delegitimize the opponent’s. The press, a forum for political debate par excellence, becomes in a way an extension of the political life of the country. In a nutshell, translation is used by LM editors as a tool to engage in the political dialogue taking place in the Canadian context of the early 19th century.

Mots-clés
Translation, Early Press, Province of Lower Canada, La Minerve

DOI 10.17462/para.2020.02.04

18 octobre 2020
  32(2) - 2020