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

guilty liaisons, sincere love, or simple revenge for the betrayal of the
beloved, mingling tears, laughter and romance.
6 f: Oh, these terrace rooftops of Fez, so highly acclaimed in lyric tales, in
the spellbinding 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 gowns and followed by slaves. These terraces, the theater of
pure or forbidden pleasures, childish embraces and chaste play, but also of
guilty liaisons, sincere love, or revenge for the betrayal of the beloved,
mingling tears, laughter and romance.
Nouzha Fassi Fihri uses lyricism as a valuable and viable element of the Arabic
literary tradition that she incorporates into the subversive hybridity of her own
narrative in French. Furthermore, this passage suggests the way the people of Fez
perceive one element of their own culture and gives information that the narrative
cannot afford to lose. To eliminate this passage or render it in more prosaic
language would unduly modify the original effect. The translator opted therefore
to maintain the passage and its lyricism.
In La Baroudeuse, the authorial narrative voice often interrupts the
narrative with rhetorical argumentation, as in the following passage.
7 o: Que de ménages furent détruits par la volonté d'un mâle puissant et
despotique; que d'unions furent empêchées, au grand dam des jeunes filles
en mal d'époux; que de rêves furent détruits, que de sentiments furent
foulés aux pieds. Dans cette société hiérarchisée, l'intérêt du groupe
l'emportait sur celui de l'individu. Pour sauvegarder le patrimoine et le
soustraire à la dispersion pour préserver l'union de la famille par de
nouveaux liens de sang, on faisait fi du bonheur personnel. On construisait
l'édifice sur des épaves de vie. (15-16)
7 i: How many couples were destroyed by the will of a powerful and
despotic male; how many marriages were prevented, to the great
displeasure of girls badly in need of husbands; how many dreams
dispersed and feelings crushed under foot. In the hierarchy of this society,
the interests of the group were stronger than those of the individual. To
save the patrimony and protect it from disintegration, to preserve the
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