| This literary translation masters' thesis is made up of two parts. The first and more creative part is a complete French translation of a short story collection written by Carol Shields, Dressing Up for the Carnival (2000). The second and more theoretical part includes an analysis of the aforementioned translation, focusing mainly on four stories, which shows the metafictional and self-referential nature of Shields' fiction. This analysis demonstrates how the author figure is presented and deconstructed throughout Shields' stories, revealing a certain idea of the act of interpretation. It discusses how these characteristics can influence the translation process or the way the resulting translation may be perceived. This analysis also highlights the challenges that lie in translating an author such as Shields, whose texts tend to be guided mainly by language (as opposed to plot), for instance by imposing strict stylistic constraints. |
