Theatrical multilingualism and the translation of culture

• Author / Creator

  Silver, Cassandra Leona

• Multilingual theatre offers aesthetic and socio-political outlets for theatre-makers to interrogate linguistic conventions in performance as well as to challenge social identity constructions based on language. However, a polyglossic play text poses particular challenges to translators whose goal exceeds the literary exchange of words in one language for those in another. In performance, the semantic value of speaking in an "other" language is carried in language itself; this is a translation problem if the target culture does not understand the socio-political conditions that determine the value of a speaker's language choice. This subject is here addressed via an interrogation of the meaning of language itself. An analysis of code-switching theory, paired with an examination of post-colonial and theatrical translation theories, provide the necessary framework for an analysis of how Martin Kevan translated Ne blâmez jamais les Bédouins in an effort which is sensitive to the cultural context of its performance.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Ne blamez jamais les bedouins
  • Theatre Translation
  • Multilingual Theatre

• Graduation date

  Fall 2010

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3599X

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.