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The bridge of reversals: translation and cosmopolitanism in Montreal
Abstract
Emile Ollivier's short story, Une nuit, un taxi, offers a vision of the city as Babelian confusion, as excessive difference. As a rewrite of Jacques Ferron's Le Pont, Ollivier proposes a new and alarming vision of the cosmopolitan city. Contesting the figure of the bridge as a clichd image of translation, this article examines Ollivier's story within the context of immigrant writing in Montreal including such writers as Marco Micone, Abla Farhoud and Rgine Robin and its capacity to translate a diversity of experiences and memories into the fabric of the city.
The present study takes a postmodern approach to Sherry Simon’s views on translation, aiming to uncover the extent to which her ideas in translation studies align with postmodern thought. To this end, the works of prominent postmodern thinkers including Lyotard, Baudrillard, Derrida, Cixous, Deleuze, Guattari, and Irigaray are examined. Their postmodern claims are listed and described as scenarios. Then, Simon’s views are compared with these scenarios in quest of commonalities. The results indicate that Simon’s views on gender are indeed postmodern. Her rejection of the conventional definition of fidelity reflects a postmodern stance as it rejects rigid binary opposites. Similarly, her rejection of hierarchical structures aligns with postmodern principles. Furthermore, her advocacy for dismantling absolutes in polarity can also be considered postmodern. Finally, her view on handling texts in translation to foreground female subjectivity qualifies as a postmodern approach.
It has become commonplace in contemporary cultural criticism to privilege notions of migration and migrancy over those of emigration or immigration. Whereas migrancy is hailed as a euphoric story of enrichment, the notions of emigration and immigration, along with that of exile, are seen as implying privation or loss, and seem increasingly relegated to an unfashionable past of demarcated identities and locations. This essay explores the significance of that critical trend, exemplified by much recent work on the writing of ‘migrancy’, including that of the Canadian literary critic, Sherry Simon, who has written extensively on translation and immigration in relation to the literature of Quebec.
Germain, Annick, and Damaris Rose. 2000. Montréal: The Quest for a Metropolis. Edited by Ron Johnston and Paul Knox, The World's Cities. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons.
https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Montré%3Bal%3A+The+Quest+for+a+Metropolis-p-9780471949077
Part of the World Cities series, Montreal provides a guide to the birth, growth and contemporary life of this unique North American metropolis. The authors address some of the fundamental paradoxes at the core of the city's dilemma: How does the city reconcile its identity as a French window on North America and a bilingual, increasingly multicultural metropolis? How can its economy, currently undergoing a successful transformation into a high-tech hotbed, still suffer from high unemployment? How can a city that is seemingly allergic to urban planning, that has such a long and cold winter and that remains divided between two cultural and linguistic majorities be so frequently ranked one of the world's most livable cities?
The portrait that the authors strive to paint of this intriguing city, caught in the maelstrom of political debate that permeates most of its urban issues, is both wide-ranging and fine-grained. At the heart of this debate lies the "National Question", addressing Quebec's place in relation to the Canadian federation. Building on a vast array of recent research, the authors, themselves a team that reflects the bilingual, bicultural character of Montreal, explore the twists and turns of Montreal's ever-changing identity.
Defiance in Their Eyes: True Stories from the Margins
- Ann Charney
Le Pont', Contes du pays incertain, Montreal: Editions d'Orphee
- Jacques Ferron
Comment faire l'amour avec un negre sans se fatiguer
- Dany Laferriere
Une nuit, un taxi', Regarde, regarde les lions
- Emile Ollivier
L'Amour du yiddish: ecriture juive et sentiment de la langue
- Regine Robin
Le Voleur de parcours
- Simon Harel
On Being Translated', Where the Stress Falls: Essays
- Susan Sontag