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The French Reception of Leonard Cohen or How to Deal with Cultural Hybridity ?
Mus, Francis
20171st World Congress on Translation Studies
 

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Keywords :
music; literature; Leonard Cohen
Abstract :
[en] Writer-musicians in translation, or how to deal with artistic hybridity? The case of Leonard Cohen. Amazon.com is just one of the many websites that has a separate category for writer-musicians in its books section: singers who are also authors – or vice versa. Leonard Cohen, Patti Smith, Ry Cooder, Nick Cave and Bob Dylan are just a few examples, and while they tend to be known and recognised as musicians, their literary works are generally well-received and translated into a number of languages. To what extent are the different mediums treated differently; are separate translation strategies employed; do literary and musical institutions elbow each other out the way when it comes to the reception and creation of a translation? Leonard Cohen is an example par excellence. France saw not only his (complete) literary works translated into French, but also many of his albums. That is notable, as Susam-Saraeva has previously argued that popular music is generally not translated. Using a discourse analysis of reviews and critical writings on Cohen in the French media (Rock et Folk, Pop Music, Extra, etc.) from the early 1970 (which was when his career as a singer truly skyrocketed in France and the rest of Western Europe), I will determine which arguments were used to justify both the initiative to translate his work as well as the various translation strategies (Franzon 2008). This line of argumentation is then compared with a number of other translations. For some songs – which were often first released as poems – there were even different translations in circulation. Secondly, I shall compare these findings to a more recent body of work – the reception and translation of his collection of poems, Book of Longing (2006) [Le Livre du Désir] and the album Ten New Songs (2001). The album was a compilation of a selection of poems from Book of Longing that Cohen set to music. In France all the lyrics were translated and included on the album’s insert. Using this quasi-simultaneous double-translation, I shall assess how the same text was translated and received in the musical and literary systems (in France) and whether the politics of translation with respect to Cohen’s work has changed over the years.
Research center :
CIRTI - Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherches en Traduction et en Interprétation - ULiège
Disciplines :
Literature
Author, co-author :
Mus, Francis ;  Université de Liège > Département de langues et littératures modernes > Traduction du français vers le néerlandais
Language :
English
Title :
The French Reception of Leonard Cohen or How to Deal with Cultural Hybridity ?
Publication date :
14 April 2017
Event name :
1st World Congress on Translation Studies
Event organizer :
Université Nanterre, Paris
Event place :
Paris, France
Event date :
10-14-04-2017
Audience :
International
References of the abstract :
Writer-musicians in translation, or how to deal with artistic hybridity? The case of Leonard Cohen. Amazon.com is just one of the many websites that has a separate category for writer-musicians in its books section: singers who are also authors – or vice versa. Leonard Cohen, Patti Smith, Ry Cooder, Nick Cave and Bob Dylan are just a few examples, and while they tend to be known and recognised as musicians, their literary works are generally well-received and translated into a number of languages. To what extent are the different mediums treated differently; are separate translation strategies employed; do literary and musical institutions elbow each other out the way when it comes to the reception and creation of a translation? Leonard Cohen is an example par excellence. France saw not only his (complete) literary works translated into French, but also many of his albums. That is notable, as Susam-Saraeva has previously argued that popular music is generally not translated. Using a discourse analysis of reviews and critical writings on Cohen in the French media (Rock et Folk, Pop Music, Extra, etc.) from the early 1970 (which was when his career as a singer truly skyrocketed in France and the rest of Western Europe), I will determine which arguments were used to justify both the initiative to translate his work as well as the various translation strategies (Franzon 2008). This line of argumentation is then compared with a number of other translations. For some songs – which were often first released as poems – there were even different translations in circulation. Secondly, I shall compare these findings to a more recent body of work – the reception and translation of his collection of poems, Book of Longing (2006) [Le Livre du Désir] and the album Ten New Songs (2001). The album was a compilation of a selection of poems from Book of Longing that Cohen set to music. In France all the lyrics were translated and included on the album’s insert. Using this quasi-simultaneous double-translation, I shall assess how the same text was translated and received in the musical and literary systems (in France) and whether the politics of translation with respect to Cohen’s work has changed over the years.
Funders :
ULg (subside pour participer au colloque)
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