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

CONSTRAINTS ON NOVELISTIC PROSE
The many elements of narrative technique that remained constant from the
initial to the final version reflect the translator's decision to maintain intuitive
translation decisions relating to what Anglophone readers expect to see and
experience in a novel. Wider knowledge of various literary currents indicated that
Anglophone readers are likely to have experienced a wide variety of literary
techniques in modern narrative prose. Therefore, the original plot and dialogue
remained unchanged, and many of the metaphors were maintained.
Though some readers may find that lyrical and rhetorical passages in
fictional narrative undesirably call attention to the authorial narrative voice and
distance the reader, such variation in style is one of the characteristics of post-
colonial literature. La Baroudeuse includes several lyrical passages such as the
one in example 6.
6 o: O ces terrasses de Fès tant chantées dans des récits lyriques, aux
heures envoûtantes de la fin du jour, baignées d'une poudre de lumière,
bercées par le chant doux de l'air qui saoule; ces promenoirs qui se
couvrent de femmes voluptueuses, surgissant dans le cliquetis de leurs
bracelets d'or: Femmes sveltes ou plantureuses, femmes coquettes portant
haut leurs coiffes sophistiquées ou jouant avec leurs doigts dans leur
chevelure d'ambre; femmes-enfants s'empêtrant dans leurs parures de
reines, suivies de leurs esclaves. Ces terrasses, théâtre de plaisirs purs ou
entachés d'interdits, de puérils enlacements, de chastes jouissances mais
aussi d'amours coupables, sincère envoûtement ou simple revanche sur la
traîtrise de l'aimé, confondant pleurs, rires et romances. (28-29)
6 i: Oh, these terrace rooftops of Fez, so highly acclaimed in lyric tales, in
the spell-binding hours at the end of the day, bathed in a powder of light,
lulled by the sweet, heady song of the air; these promenades that fill with
voluptuous women, appearing with a jingle of their gold bracelets: slender
women, and plump; coquettish with high, sophisticated headdresses, or
running their fingers through long, amber hair; child brides tripping over
their queenly garments, followed by slaves. These terraces, the theater of
pure or forbidden pleasures, childish embraces and chaste play, but also of
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