Representations of Translators in Popular Fiction

30 Years of Translation Studies as Reflected in Fiction

Abstract

The “Fictional Turn” in translation studies has acknowledged the fact that translators/ interpreters have been moved from behind the curtain to center stage. Whether this is a result of post-structural or post-colonial research, the fact remains that translators/interpreters now figure as protagonists in film, theatre and especially popular literature. Does this “promotion” reflect a change of status? How are translators portrayed? How is their habitus portrayed? What function do they serve? Has there been a change in their portrayal/function in the last thirty years? Does the change reflect changes in theories developing Translation Studies? For instance, what are the different approach/es to the “hybrid” in this period? Has the “death of the author” theory and the promotion of translators/interpreters to the status of “authors” changed their self-image? This essay is an attempt at answering these questions, diachronically and synchronically, with the help of various literary texts from the 1970’s and onwards. It does not infer a direct correlation between Fiction using translators/interpreters as protagonists and various developments in Translation Studies. It does, however, see the correlation as a result of a transfer of ideas that seep through the cultural atmosphere.