Translating Nouzha Fassi Fihri's La Baroudeuse: A Case Study in ...

night. She plans and carries out his funeral ceremonies, and then abandons her
sanity to enter a kinder, brighter world of dreams and memories. The narrative
ends with the sentence: "Then she died triumphant, the Fighter" ("Puis elle
mourut triomphante, la Baroudeuse" 219). Her triumph was not in winning the
battle, but that she fought to the end.
Many of the characteristics that make La Baroudeuse a post-colonial
narrative deserving translation also contributed to the difficulties of translation,
raised questions about the intended audience, and called attention to the many
factors that can affect the translator's decisions. Bill Ashcroft defines post-
colonial narratives as "writing by peoples formerly colonized by European
powers, such as Britain, France, Portugal and Spain" and notes that these
narratives share many characteristics. 3 They often inscribe the difference and
hybridity of the post-colonial experience, rewrite history, and make heard
previously silenced voices. They radiate the energy and tension of simultaneously
subverting discourses and challenging boundaries while appropriating the colonial
language and negotiating the gap between 'worlds' (Ashcroft 39, 51, 53, 56-59,
65, 184, 196).
La Baroudeuse inscribes difference in the complex and multifaceted
characters of Kenza, Sharif, and Dada Marjana. Even as a small girl, Kenza
displays qualities that transgress the traditional boundaries of gender. She imposes
her will on the other children of the household as though she were the head of the
family (13). As a child, she disguised herself as a boy to go hunting with her
3 Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin, The Empire Writes Back,
theory and practice in post-colonial literatures (New York: Routledge, 1989) 1.
4