Abstracts
Abstract
Curved against the hull of a peterhead (PS Guelph 2020), a slender volume of 19 poems that “wrestle with colonialism and racial violence while also reflecting a rich sensory imagery” (Partridge 2020a) was released in January 2020. By May of that year, this first book by prize-winning short-story writer, artist and spoken word poet Taqralik Partridge already figured in a list of “six Inuit literature greats” deemed essential reading. Although Partridge composed all of these poems in English, three translated versions are provided alongside their originals in curved against. The present article focuses on the two poems accompanied by Inuktitut versions, translated by Ida Saunders and Looee Arreak respectively, with a view to engaging with Partridge’s work from the perspective of eco-translation. The language related to nature – how it is employed and especially how it is translated – proves relevant to the discussion, as does the act of translation, which highlights the inter-relatedness critical to survival, literally and metaphorically speaking, for Inuit and non-Inuit alike.
Keywords:
- literary translation,
- Inuit,
- Inuktitut,
- Taqralik Partridge,
- eco-translation
Résumé
Curved against the hull of a peterhead (PS Guelph 2020), mince volume de dix-neuf poèmes qui « luttent contre le colonialisme et la violence raciale tout en laissant transparaître de riches images sensorielles » (Partridge 2020a), a paru en janvier 2020. Il s’agit du premier livre publié par Taqralik Partridge, autrice de nouvelles, artiste et poétesse reconnue. En mai de la même année, il figurait déjà sur une liste de « six grands titres de la littérature inuit » jugés comme des lectures essentielles. Bien que Partridge ait composé tous ses poèmes en anglais, trois de ceux contenus dans curved against s’accompagnent d’une version traduite. Le présent article se concentre sur les deux poèmes s’accompagnant d’une version traduite vers l’inuktitut, réalisée respectivement par Ida Saunders et Looee Arreak. Il s’agira d’en examiner les enjeux pour aborder l’oeuvre de Partridge dans la perspective de l’écotraduction. Le langage de la nature – la façon dont il est employé et surtout traduit – s’avère pertinent pour la discussion, tout comme l’acte de traduction, qui dévoile les liens mutuels indispensables à notre survie, littéralement et métaphoriquement, en tant qu’Inuit et non-Inuit.
Mots-clés :
- traduction littéraire,
- Inuit,
- inuktitut,
- Taqralik Partridge,
- écotraduction
Resumen
Curved against the hull of a peterhead (PS Guelph 2020), publicado en enero de 2020, es un breve poemario que consta de diecinueve textos. Estos poemas “encaran el colonialismo y el racismo a la vez que proyectan una densa imaginería sensorial” (Partridge 2020a). Este primer libro de Taqralik Partridge, galardonada autora de relatos cortos, artista y poetisa de Spoken Word, ya figuraba en mayo de ese mismo año entre los “seis imprescindibles de la literatura inuit”, cuya lectura es considerada esencial. Si bien Partridge compuso todos los poemas en inglés, el poemario curved against nos ofrece una traducción para tres de ellos. El presente artículo se ha de concentrar en los dos poemas que van acompañados por su versión inuktitut, de la mano, respectivamente, de Ida Saunders y Looee Arreak. El propósito será abordar lo que conlleva una lectura de la obra de Partridge desde la perspectiva de la ecotraducción. El lenguaje de la naturaleza – su empleo y más específicamente cómo se traduce – será de significativa relevancia para el debate; así como lo será también el acto de traducir, que recalca una interrelación esencial para nuestra supervivencia, tanto literal como metafórica, como inuit y no-inuit.
Palabras clave:
- traducción literaria,
- Inuit,
- Inuktitut,
- Taqralik Partridge,
- ecotraducción
Appendices
Bibliography
- Cronin, Michael (2017): Eco-translation: translation and ecology in the age of the Anthropocene. London: Routledge.
- Duvicq, Nelly (2013): “Le territoire dans le corps. Figurations du Nord et de son absence dans la poésie orale et écrite de Taqralik Partridge.” Temps zéro 7. https://tempszero.contemporain.info/document1082 . Accessed 24 December 2020.
- Farrell, Edith R., transl. (1999): Water and dreams: An essay on the imagination of matter. By Gaston Bachelard. Dallas, TX: Pegasus.
- Henzi, Sophie, transl. (2020): I am a damn savage; what have you done to my country? Eukuan nin matshi-manitu innushkueu; Tanite nene etutamin nitassi? By An Antane-Kapesh. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
- Hu, (Hugs) Gengshen (2020): Eco-Translatology: Towards an eco-paradigm of translation studies. Singapore: Springer Nature.
- Igloliorte, Heather (2011): “Inuit artistic expression as cultural resilience.” In: Response, responsibility, and renewal: Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation journey. Ed. Gregory Younging, Jonathan Dewar, and Mike DeGagné. Ottawa: Aboriginal Healing Foundation. 115-124.
- Jackson, Marion E. (1996): “The voices of Inuit women.” In: Inuit Women Artists: voices from Cape Dorset. Ed. Odette Leroux, Marion E. Jackson, and Minnie Aodla Freeman. Vancouver: Douglas & MacIntyre. 37-40.
- Martin, Keavy, and Taqralik Partridge (2016): “‘What Inuit will think’: Keavy Martin and Taqralik Partridge talk Inuit literature.” In: The Oxford Handbook of Canadian Literature. Ed. Cynthia Sugars. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 191-208.
- Merkle, Denise, Gillian Lane-Mercier, and Michael Mallet (2018): “Lost and found in (self-)translation.” TranscUlturAl 10.1: 1-8.
- Niviaxie, Davidee (1993): Uqausituqait/Old Inuktitut words. Kuujjuaq: Kativik ilisarniriliniq/Kativik School Board.
- Partridge, Taqralik (2020a): curved against the hull of a peterhead. Guelph: PS Guelph.
- Scott, Clive (2015): “Translating the Nineteenth Century: A Poetics of Eco-Translation.” Dix-Neuf 19.3: 285-302.
- Watt-Cloutier, Sheila (2015). The Right to be Cold: One woman’s fight to protect the Arctic and save the planet from climate change. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.