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

translation. However, in accordance with Lefevere, I choose to see translation as a
tool for cross-cultural communication rather than resistance. André Lefevere
defines translation as a process of negotiation between two cultures and asserts
that the translator's first task is to make the original accessible to the audience for
whom she is translating. 31 According to this definition, translation is a specific
type of cross-cultural communication in which the original message must be
reformulated to meet the expectations of readers in another language and culture.
These brief references suggest the many schools of thought in comparative
literature that can inform translation processes. The purpose of the following
discussion is rather to consider translation questions from the perspective of a
person translating a Muslim Arab woman's novel into English in a comparative
literature context. From this perspective, what is translation? What issues are
likely to arise particularly in the translation of this kind of literature? What
happens during the translation process and what influences are likely to affect the
outcome?
A CONCEPT OF TRANSLATION AND TRANSLATORS
Translation is a process of communication, negotiation and meaning
production "through the encounter of cultures that are already characterized by
multiculturality." 32 Although for clarity in this study I distinguish between the
31 André Lefevere, Translating Literature, Practice and Theory in a Comparative
Literature Context (New York: MLA, 1992) 11, 19.
32 Michaela Wolf, "The Third Space in Postcolonial Representation," Changing
the Terms: Translating in the Postcolonial Era, eds. Sherry Simon and Paul St-
Pierre (Ottawa: U of Ottawa P, 2000) 141.
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