Louisane LeBlanc

Interpreters in Ivo Andrić’s The Days of The Consuls

For close to 25 years now, translation scholars have taken an interest in the fictional representation of translators and interpreters, both in literature and film. They have not only compared authors’ fictional characters to reality but have also attempted to identify the metaphoric role of the translator in fiction: is the translator a necessary evil or a central motif? My presentation will focus on two interpreter characters – d’Avenat and Des Fossés – in the novel The Days of the Consuls (Travnička kronika or Les Chroniques de Travnik) by Ivo Andrić, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1961. We will examine the differences and similarities between the two characters in order to better understand their role. We will then consider the sociocultural context to determine whether d’Avenat and Des Fossés translate more than just words and whether the process of sociocultural interpretation transforms them in some way. We will conclude with a fine-grained analysis of the diplomatic context to consider these interpreters as privileged witnesses of history and the extent to which they respect their code of ethics.

Louisane LeBlanc is a Master’s Candidate in Translation Studies in the Department of French Studies at Concordia University. While she is interested in transfiction, her master’s thesis will focus on the difficulties that visually impaired individuals encounter while navigating the Web. As a physically disabled person herself, she is sensitive to marginalized communities and the role that translation can play in increasing their independence.