
Language Smugglers
Postlingual Literatures and Translation within the Canadian Context
Arianne Des Rochers(Author)
Bloomsbury Academic USA (Publisher)
Published on 20. March 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-1-5013-9415-7 (ISBN)
Description
Translation is commonly understood as the rendering of a text from one language to another - a border-crossing activity, where the border is a linguistic one. But what if the text one is translating is not written in "one language;" indeed, what if no text is ever written in a single language?
In recent years, many books of fiction and poetry published in so-called Canada, especially by queer, racialized and Indigenous writers, have challenged the structural notions of linguistic autonomy and singularity that underlie not only the formation of the nation-state, but the bulk of Western translation theory and the field of comparative literature.
Language Smugglers argues that the postnational cartographies of language found in minoritized Canadian literary works force a radical redefinition of the activity of translation altogether. Canada is revealed as an especially rich site for this study, with its official bilingualism and multiculturalism policies, its robust translation industry and practitioners, and the strong challenges to its national narratives and accompanying language politics presented by Indigenous people, the province of Quebec, and high levels of immigration.
In recent years, many books of fiction and poetry published in so-called Canada, especially by queer, racialized and Indigenous writers, have challenged the structural notions of linguistic autonomy and singularity that underlie not only the formation of the nation-state, but the bulk of Western translation theory and the field of comparative literature.
Language Smugglers argues that the postnational cartographies of language found in minoritized Canadian literary works force a radical redefinition of the activity of translation altogether. Canada is revealed as an especially rich site for this study, with its official bilingualism and multiculturalism policies, its robust translation industry and practitioners, and the strong challenges to its national narratives and accompanying language politics presented by Indigenous people, the province of Quebec, and high levels of immigration.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
322 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5013-9415-7 (9781501394157)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Arianne Des Rochers
Language Smugglers
Postlingual Literatures and Translation within the Canadian Context
E-Book
08/2023
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic USA
€32.99
Available for download

Arianne Des Rochers
Language Smugglers
Postlingual Literatures and Translation within the Canadian Context
E-Book
08/2023
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic USA
€32.99
Available for download
Person
Arianne Des Rochers is Associate Professor of Translation at the Universite de Moncton, Canada and holds the Canada Research Chair in Translation & Colonialism.
Content
Acknowledgements
Note on Translations
Introduction: Linguistic Borders, Nationalism, and Translation in Quebec and Canada
1. Translation as Mapping: Denaturalizing National Cartographies of Language
2. Against Standardization: Gregory Scofield and France Daigle Talk Back
3. The Linguistic Abject: The Queering of Language in Kevin Lambert and Joshua Whitehead
4. Motherless Tongues: The Unfamiliar Writings and Translations of Oana Avasilichioaei and Nathanael
Conclusion. Towards a Postlingual Practice of Translation: Translating (in) the Twenty-First Century
Works Cited
Index
Note on Translations
Introduction: Linguistic Borders, Nationalism, and Translation in Quebec and Canada
1. Translation as Mapping: Denaturalizing National Cartographies of Language
2. Against Standardization: Gregory Scofield and France Daigle Talk Back
3. The Linguistic Abject: The Queering of Language in Kevin Lambert and Joshua Whitehead
4. Motherless Tongues: The Unfamiliar Writings and Translations of Oana Avasilichioaei and Nathanael
Conclusion. Towards a Postlingual Practice of Translation: Translating (in) the Twenty-First Century
Works Cited
Index