Abstract
This year, 2016, marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Beatrix Potter (1866–1943), the much-loved author and illustrator of children’s books. Although translation has made a vital contribution to her international success, Potter’s work remains relatively under-researched from a translation studies perspective. This article aims to provide a clearer picture of Potter’s work in translation over the last hundred years. It identifies early translated editions and discusses Potter’s involvement in their preparation, before examining the appearance of her stories in translation around the world and outlining particular trends in Potter translation. This study is based on extensive research using numerous databases, Potter’s published biographies and correspondence, and on an analysis of the first French editions of her tales. The study reveals that the first published translations of Potter’s works are both of an earlier date and more numerous than is recognised in existing scholarship. It also shows that Potter’s preferred approach in the translation of her stories into French was to adapt the tales to their new French readership, rather than staying close to the originals. Her works are found to have been extensively translated during the last century, especially into European languages, as well as into a significant number of Asian languages. Other matters discussed include the involvement of Potter’s official publisher, Warne, in the publication of international editions; the existence of translations based on American editions with new illustrations; and the posting of online translations by Potter enthusiasts.
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Notes
These national libraries were identified on the basis of lists available from the European Board of National Archivists and Wikipedia, the latter being more comprehensive than the former.
The website of the Osaka International Institute for Children’s Literature was also accessed, but it did not provide any online catalogue.
Most titles of Potter’s stories begin with “The Tale of….” In this article, these words are omitted when referring to story titles, e.g. Peter Rabbit is used instead of The Tale of Peter Rabbit.
Square brackets indicate lack of absolute certainty about the publication date of a work.
This edition is listed on WorldCat.org and mentioned on the website of the P. G. Negro Library (University of Parma, Italy), which also offers an electronic version of a later, undated reprint of the [1909] edition.
Another French translation of Peter Rabbit by Madeleine Blériot Johnson was published in the United States in 1921, by Frederick A. Stokes Company.
Explicitation, also known as “explication,” is “the verbalization of information that the addressee might be able to infer (e.g. from the preceding discourse) if it were not verbalized. Explicitation may then be defined as an increase in explicitness in translation” (Becher, 2011, p. 26). Eithne O’Connell (2003, p. 24) explains that translators’ use of this strategy may be motivated by a wish to mediate the source text meaning for the readers of the translation.
This might also explain why the English word “gentleman” is preserved as such in the French text, to refer to the fox, although used with the French definite article, “le gentleman” (see, for example, p. 40).
The complete list of European languages into which the tales have been translated also includes Basque, Bulgarian, Cornish, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, German, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Scots, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Welsh.
For example, the 2013 English, Dutch and Romanian Complete Adventures of Peter Rabbit, and the 2006 English, 2007 French and Italian Complete Tales.
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Dana Cocargeanu is Assistant Lecturer in Business English Communication at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania. In 2015, she was awarded a Ph.D. in children’s literature and translation by Dublin City University, Ireland. Her thesis examined the challenges of translating Beatrix Potter’s works for a contemporary Romanian audience. Her research interests include Beatrix Potter, picture books, and translations for children in Romania. Her latest publication is ‘The Adventures of Peter Rabbit in Romania: Translation Challenges and Strategies’, International Research in Children’s Literature (2014).
Eithne O’Connell is Senior Lecturer in Translation Studies in the School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies and a researcher at the Centre for Translation and Textual Studies at Dublin City University. In 2003, she published Minority Language Dubbing for Children (Peter Lang). In 2002, she was awarded an Austrian Government Fellowship to research the translation of children’s literature at the Internationales Institut fuer Jugendliteratur und Leseforschung in Vienna, Austria. She is a founder member of ITIA (Irish Translators’ and Interpreters’ Association) and ESIST (European Association for Studies in Screen Translation) and she has published widely on audiovisual translation, translation for children and minority languages.
Áine Mcgillicuddy is Lecturer in German and Children’s Literature Studies in the School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies, and a researcher at the Centre for Translation and Textual Studies, Dublin City University. Her interests include imagology and the theme of exile in children’s literature. She is co-editor with Marian Thérèse Keyes of Politics and Ideology in Children’s Literature (Dublin: Four Courts, 2014) and has published on the work of children’s authors Judith Kerr, Irene N. Watts and Marilyn Taylor. She is a former Vice President of iBbY Ireland, the Irish national section of the International Board on Books for Young People. From October to December 2014 she was the recipient of a research fellowship from the Internationale Jugendbibliothek (International Youth Library), Munich, Germany.
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Cocargeanu, D., O’Connell, E. & McGillicuddy, Á. Beatrix Potter: A Hundred Years in Translation. Child Lit Educ 47, 374–391 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-016-9294-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-016-9294-2