Translated into British:: European children's literature, (In)difference and écart in the age of Brexit

Clementine Beauvais

Translated into British: European children's literature, (In)difference and écart in the age of Brexit

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Abstract

This paper tackles the theorisation of translated children’s literature in the particular context of post-Brexit Britain. There is a tendency, I argue, to think about translation as a healthy and necessary exposure to ‘difference’; however, in the case of translated children’s literature in Britain – a notoriously paltry market – narratives of difference are excessively at work: unlike the mostly ‘indifferent’ market of children’s translation elsewhere in Europe, in Britain such literature is always already set apart by its difference from a perceived norm. Furthermore, translated children’s books in Britain come to existence unsystematically and unpredictably. I propose that we should adopt flexible theoretical attitude when dealing with such literature, taking into account the political commitment of all actors involves – from publishers to translators – and use for that purpose the concept of écart developed by sinologist François Jullien, which allows us to think about how such literature plays with the in-betweenness of languages and cultures.

Original language	English
Journal	Bookbird
Volume	56
Issue number	1
Publication status	Published - 2018

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cbeauvais translated into BritishAccepted author manuscript, 42.2 KB

Cite this

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title = "Translated into British:: European children's literature, (In)difference and {\'e}cart in the age of Brexit",

abstract = "This paper tackles the theorisation of translated children{\textquoteright}s literature in the particular context of post-Brexit Britain. There is a tendency, I argue, to think about translation as a healthy and necessary exposure to {\textquoteleft}difference{\textquoteright}; however, in the case of translated children{\textquoteright}s literature in Britain – a notoriously paltry market – narratives of difference are excessively at work: unlike the mostly {\textquoteleft}indifferent{\textquoteright} market of children{\textquoteright}s translation elsewhere in Europe, in Britain such literature is always already set apart by its difference from a perceived norm. Furthermore, translated children{\textquoteright}s books in Britain come to existence unsystematically and unpredictably. I propose that we should adopt flexible theoretical attitude when dealing with such literature, taking into account the political commitment of all actors involves – from publishers to translators – and use for that purpose the concept of {\'e}cart developed by sinologist Fran{\c c}ois Jullien, which allows us to think about how such literature plays with the in-betweenness of languages and cultures.",

author = "Clementine Beauvais",

year = "2018",

language = "English",

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journal = "Bookbird",

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publisher = "IBBY - International Board of Books for Young People",

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AB - This paper tackles the theorisation of translated children’s literature in the particular context of post-Brexit Britain. There is a tendency, I argue, to think about translation as a healthy and necessary exposure to ‘difference’; however, in the case of translated children’s literature in Britain – a notoriously paltry market – narratives of difference are excessively at work: unlike the mostly ‘indifferent’ market of children’s translation elsewhere in Europe, in Britain such literature is always already set apart by its difference from a perceived norm. Furthermore, translated children’s books in Britain come to existence unsystematically and unpredictably. I propose that we should adopt flexible theoretical attitude when dealing with such literature, taking into account the political commitment of all actors involves – from publishers to translators – and use for that purpose the concept of écart developed by sinologist François Jullien, which allows us to think about how such literature plays with the in-betweenness of languages and cultures.

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