Jane Koustas

Polyphony, voice-over, translation as selfie

From Les variations Goldberg  (1981) to Danse noire (2013), Nancy Huston’s literary voice has remained polyphonic. The reader experiences the narrative via a polyphonic filter that requires that s/he “combine” the different versions such as in Les variations Goldberg or, like the narrator, engage with the other/double such as in Infrared. The act of speaking through or for another led Huston to assume a male voice in her performance piece “Le Mâle Entendu.” As a self-translator who now translates while she writes the original, Huston introduces another “silent” voice-over, namely that of her English voice; her novels are written with the translation in mind and, indeed, in progress. As in a selfie, Huston is consciously “seeing” and hearing herself in her English voice or double as she writes and translates. This study considers the relationship between polyphony in Huston’s work and her self-translation.

Keywords: polyphony, self-translation, interference

Biography

Jane Koustas is a Professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Brock University, where she also directed Canadian Studies and was Associate Dean of the Faculty of Humanities. She served as the Craig Dobbin Professor of Canadian Studies at University College Dublin for three terms. She holds a PhD in French Studies from Queen’s University. Professor Koustas’ research interests include English-Canadian literature in translation, translation theory and practice, translation history in Canada, Quebec theatre and theatre translation. She is the co-editor of four books on Canadian literary translation and author of Les belles étrangères: Canadians in Paris (2008).