The other side of the lake : a translation of Claudette Picard's novel, L'autre côté du lac : une traduction du roman L'autre côté du lac par Claudette Picard

Abstract

L'autre côté du lac is more complex in narrative voice and structure than her previous novel. This leads to some flaws, especially related to point of view, which can teach the translator not only about the aesthetics of translation, but also much about the craft of fiction. In translating the simpler first person narrative of Les confidences d'une femme froide, one would not likely encounter the same challenges. Although one must expect translation problems caused by metaphor, rhyme, or difficult idiom, these certainly introduce the novice translator to the complexities of rendering a contemporary French-Canadian novel comprehensible in idiomatic English.