Kaleidoscopic Ulysses: Aspects of Multiplicity in Translation
Résumé
Recent advances in translation studies theory have offered new ways to approach (re)translated texts. While Matthew Reynolds’ concept of prismatic translation has invited us to consider multiple target texts as complementary variations on their source, collaborative translation studies and genetic translation studies have promoted a shift from product to process, highlighting translation as a complex activity, often involving numerous individuals and producing diverse variants and variations in the target language. These theoretical reassessments and the aspects of multiplicity they highlight encourage to address the French translations of Ulysses as a prismatic, protean and multifaceted, collaborative œuvre. Analysing examples from the published texts and their genetic dossiers, this paper discusses how multiple interpretations shaped the French versions of the text over the years, and how such a game of reflections and transformations reveal the kaleidoscopic potential of Joyce’s Ulysses in translation.