Hugo Claus in French Translation: A Flemish-Belgian Author Entering the Scene of World Literature

[en] The Dutch-language author Hugo Claus is one of the most celebrated and most translated Flemish authors of the twentieth century. Especially the French translations of his work fulfil an important position in the (inter)national dissemination of his work. Starting in the 1950s, his oeuvre enters the field of World Literature through the French translations and Parisian publications of his work, because French was still very much a lingua franca in the 1950s and Paris the centre of the World Republic of Letters. Even if Paris fulfils a gateway function, Claus’s intra-Belgian bilingual francophone-Dutch contacts and networks prove to have been crucial in the coming about of the French translations of his oeuvre and reveal interesting interlingual and intercultural dynamics within the bilingual (multilingual) cultural area of Belgium. In this article, we will explore the position and dissemination of Claus’s (early) works within a Belgian and international context, against the background of the mutual interactions between national and international networks and taking into account mechanisms of intercultural exchange, circulation and promotion within the (inter)national literary field.

Disciplines :

Literature

Author, co-author :

Smeyers, Elies ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherches en Traduction et en Interprétation (CIRTI) ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de langues modernes : linguistique, littérature et traduction

Language :

English

Title :

Hugo Claus in French Translation: A Flemish-Belgian Author Entering the Scene of World Literature

Publication date :

13 February 2024

Journal title :

Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice

ISSN :

1747-6623

Special issue title :

Translation and World Literature. A Belgian Perspective

Peer reviewed :

Peer reviewed

Additional URL :

https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2024.2314485

Data Set :

https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2024.2314485

Available on ORBi :

since 17 February 2024

Statistics

Number of views

8 (4 by ULiège)

Number of downloads

2 (2 by ULiège)

More statistics

Scopus citations^®

Scopus citations^®
without self-citations

Bibliography

Bakker, J., (1998, December 4). Het laatste bed van Hugo Claus. Schrijven om het kwaad te overwinnen. PZC.
Bourdieu, P., (1979). La Distinction: critique sociale du jugement. Éditions de Minuit.
Brownlie, S., (1999). Investigating norms. In J., Vandaele (Ed.), Translation and the (Re)location of meaning: Selected papers of the CETRA research seminars in translation studies 1994–1996 (pp. 7–21). CETRA, The Leuven Research Centre for Translation, Communication and Cultures, University of Leuven.
Casanova, P., (1999). La République mondiale des Lettres. Éditions du Seuil.
Claes, P., (1984). De mot zit in de mythe. Hugo Claus en de oudheid. De Bezige Bij.
Claus, H., (1950). De Metsiers. Manteau.
Claus, H., (1953). La Chasse aux canards (J. Raine & E. Overzier, Trans.). Fasquelle.
Claus, H., (1955a). The duck hunt (G. Libaire, Trans.). Random House.
Claus, H., (1955b). Bruid in de morgen. Ontwikkeling/Meulenhoff.
Claus, H., (1956). Andréa, ou La Fiancée du matin (M. Buysse, Trans.). Fasquelle.
Claus, H., (1957). [Kamoryō] (Ō. Komaki & S. Tatsuhiko, Trans.). Murayama Shoten.
Claus, H., (1960). Die Reise nach England (E. Tophoven, Trans.). Verlag Kiepenheuer & Witsch.
Claus, H., (1983). Het verdriet van België. De Beziwwqq3ge Bij.
Claus, H., (1985). Le Chagrin des Belges (A. Van Crugten, Trans.). Julliard.
Claus, H., (1990). The sorrow of Belgium (A. J. Pomerans, Trans.). Viking.
Coetzee, J. M., (2007). Hugo Claus, poet. In J. M., Coetzee (Ed.), Inner workings: Literary essays 2000–2005 (pp. 155–159). Viking.
Damrosch, D., (2003). What is world literature?Princeton University Press.
De Decker, J., Béghin, L., & Roland, H., (2014). Jacques De Decker, écrivain des coulisses. Textyles, 45, 153–168.
De Potter, L., et al., Ed. (2014). De Clausiaanse handgreep. [Special Online Issue]. Filter: tijdschrift over vertalen. Online publication. https://www.tijdschrift-filter.nl/webfilter/dossier/de-clausiaanse-handgreep/2014-01/
Deloof, J., (1974). Nederlandse taal- en cultuurpolitiek. Nederlandse taal en cultuur in het buitenland. Ons Erfdeel, 17, 139–141.
E.M. (1965, July 2). Vlaams toneel in Franse Teaters [sic]. De Nieuwe Dag.
Eeckhout, B., (2011). Claus, Shelley, Coetzee, Stevens. Een casestudy over de transformatieve identiteit van wereldliteratuur. Spiegel der Letteren, 53(3), 357–387.
Espagne, M., (2013). La notion de transfert culturel. Revue Sciences/Lettres. Online Publication. http://rsl.revues.org/219.
Franssen, T., & Kuipers, G., (2013). Coping with uncertainty, abundance and strife: Decision-making processes of Dutch acquisition editors in the global market for translationsPoetics, 41(1), 48–74.
Genette, G., (2002). Seuils. Éditions du Seuil. (Original work published 1987).
Janssens, M., (1997). Plagiaat, “plagiaat”, of (plagiaat)?Verslagen en mededelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Nederlandse taal- en letterkunde, 2(3), 177–193.
Landers, C., (2001). Literary translation: A practical guide. Multilingual Matters.
Marling, W., (2016). Gatekeepers: The emergence of world literature and the 1960s. Oxford University Press.
Mogin, J., (1953, June 20). La Chasse aux canards par Hugo Claus. PRIX LEON KRYN. Le Soir.
Naaijkens, T., et al., Ed. (2008). Claus, vertaler pur sang. [Special Issue]. Filter: tijdschrift over vertalen, 15(3).
Sapiro, G., Ed. (2012). Traduire la littérature et les sciences humaines. Conditions et obstacles. Ministère de la culture et de la communication. Secrétariat général. Département des études, de la prospective et des statistiques (DEPS).
Sapiro, G., (2016). How do literary works cross borders (or not)? A sociological approach to world literature. Journal of World Literature, 1(1), 81–96.
Shuttleworth, M., & Cowie, M., (1997). Dictionary of translation studies. St. Jerome Publishing.
Smeyers, E., (2018). Hugo Claus in Franse vertaling. Een Belgisch verhaal in een Parijs jasje. Zacht Lawijd: Literair-historisch tijdschrift, 16(3), 8–23.
Smeyers, E., (2019). Voor de doorbraak. De Voorgeschiedenis van een ‘succesverhaal’. Een onderzoek naar de genese en receptie van de vroege vertalingen van Hugo Claus’ werk in het Frans [Doctoral dissertation, Université catholique de Louvain & Universiteit Gent]. Dial@UCLouvain & UGent Online Repository. https://dial.uclouvain.be&https://biblio.ugent.be.
Smeyers, E., (2022). De Eendenjacht of De Metsiers? Hoe een Franse Clausvertaling tot stand kwam. Filter: tijdschrift over vertalen, 29(4), 27–42.
Toury, G., (1995). Descriptive translation studies and beyond. Benjamins.
Van Es, N., & Heilbron, J., (2016). Fiction from the periphery: How Dutch writers enter the field of English-language literature. Cultural Sociology, 9(3), 296–319.
Vandeputte, H., (1950, March 26). Petite ou grande révélation–Hugo Claus. Le Phare Dimanche.
Venuti, L., (1995). The translator’s invisibility: A history of translation. Routlegde.
Vincent, M., (1994). Maddy Buysse: de la musique avant toute chose (Hommage à une traductrice). Septentrion, 3, 19–23.
Wildemeersch, G., (2007a). Henri Vandeputtes brieven aan Hugo Claus. Zacht Lawijd: Literair- historisch tijdschrift, 6(4), 38–63.
Wildemeersch, G., (2007b). Hugo Claus, idool en symbool. In K., Absillis & K., Jacobs (Eds.), Van Hugo Claus tot Hoelahoep (pp. 175–188). Garant.
Wildemeersch, G., (2008). Laat nooit deze brief aan iemand lezen. De briefwisseling tussen Hugo Claus en Simon Vinkenoog. 1951–1956. De Bezige Bij.
Wildemeersch, G., & Debergh, G., (Eds.). (1999). Hugo Claus. “Wat bekommert zich de leeuw om de vlooien in zijn vacht”. Vijftig jaar beschouwing in citaten, tekeningen en overzichten. Peeters.
Zajas, P., (2014). Before the “Nooteboom Effect”–Dutch Literature at the Suhrkamp Publishing House. Journal of Dutch Literature, 5(2), 1–19.