11. Anexos
11.4. Relación de participantes
11.4.2. Centros ambulatorios
Chapter Four focuses on the relationship between translator visibility and paratexts. Venuti (2008: 273-274; 2004: 311) suggests the potential of using paratexts as a means of increasing the translator’s recognition, and he encourages translators to present sophisticated rationales for their translation strategies in such paratexts to draw the reader’s attention to the translator’s input. He does not, however, explore the extent to which paratexts influence translators’ visibility. This chapter draws on existing studies that examine translator visibility through paratextual analysis, including those of Gérard Genette (1997), Kathryn Batchelor (2018), Ellen McRae (2010) and Isabelle Bilodeau (2015). It will examine how a translator’s authorial presence manifests in paratexts and the extent to which it contributes to translator prominence.
Genette, whose conceptualisation is widely applied in paratextual studies, defines paratexts and identifies the textual and external features, functions and meanings of paratexts as well as the authors’ intentions. He describes paratexts as verbal or nonverbal productions that accompany a literary work, such as “an author’s name, a title, a preface and illustrations” (Genette, 1997: 1).11 Their functions are to present a literary work and to ensure “its presence in the world, its ‘reception’ and consumption in the form of a book” (ibid.). Thus, the paratext enables a text to become complete as a book and to be offered to its readers (ibid.). However, Batchelor (2018: 142) argues that Genette’s conceptualisation of paratext lacks an explicit definition of the term. For instance, she points out that although Genette describes paratext as a physical thing, he also suggests that paratext is a “message”, which can be something that does not have a physical form (ibid.: 9). Furthermore, Batchelor points out that Genette (ibid.: 150-
11 Genette (1997: 196) includes postfaces as a subcategory of prefaces. The Oxford Dictionary defines
the former as a brief explanation or note, which is located at the end of a book, while the latter is generally an introduction to a book. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/postface;
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174) views a translated text as synonymous with the source text, and paratexts to the translation are the same as paratexts to a new edition of the source text. Thus, Genette’s model does not consider the autonomy of paratexts to translation in their own right (Batchelor, 2018: 21-22). Batchelor takes a flexible approach and does not insist on source author-focused or material-based criteria as Genette does, but focuses on the functional aspects of paratexts, which she describes as “a consciously crafted threshold for a text which has the potential to influence the way(s) in which the text is received” (ibid.: 142). McRae, for her part, studies the functions and roles of translators’ prefaces. She argues that the importance of the functions of prefaces is overlooked in English translations by both publishers and readers (2010: 6). While her study of publishers’ approaches to paratexts in anglophone contexts is useful for my analysis, her perspectives on the functions of prefaces focus on providing information and lack consideration of the communicative aspects of paratexts.12 Bilodeau, by contrast, exclusively studies the paratexts of translated works of fiction in contemporary Japanese culture. She focuses on the conventions of atogaki, or the translator’s afterword, arguing that unlike in North America and Europe, where the functions of such paratexts are mostly informative in nature, in Japan they are a space for translators to make themselves visible as individuals and to interact with readers. My analysis will follow Bilodeau’s perspective and focus on the interaction between the translator and readers. In this way it will categorise afterwords according to the nature of their contents, ranging from those that are informative to those that are highly personal, such as anecdotes. The latter naturally earn the translator greater visibility as an individual than the former. Bilodeau (2015: 253) concludes that the Japanese convention of afterwords enables Japanese translators to build their self-image, including their public personality, agency, and “cultural roles as knowledgeable authorities and critics”. Thus, publishing practice in the Japanese context works in translators’ favour in terms of translator visibility. However, Bilodeau does not explore the relationship between the translators’ visibility in paratexts and in their translation practice as a whole.
Genette categorises paratexts into two types depending on their location: peritext and epitext. The former is located within the book, as opposed to the latter,
12 McRae (2010: 20) addresses the function of prefaces from five perspectives: 1) foregrounding
differences of cultures and languages; 2) promoting understanding of the source culture; 3) promoting understanding of the translator’s role and intervention; 4) helping critics assess the quality of the translation; 5) being useful as process documentation.
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which is located outside the book, including author interviews, book reviews, criticism and advertisements (Genette, 1997: xviii). My analysis, however, takes on Batchelor’s function-based approach and employs the term ‘paratext’, instead of using the two different terms, which allows me to include afterwords that are not physically attached to the book. The analysis focuses on the translator’s afterword and dust jacket designs.13 Paratexts mediate between the book and readers and are important elements that influence how the book is read and received (Toledano-Buendía, 2013: 149; Tahir- Gürçağlar, 2002: 45). McRae (2012: 16) claims that the most cited function of paratexts in translation, especially that of the preface, is to enable translators to make themselves and their works visible. Similarly, Toledano-Buendía (2013: 150, 159-161) demonstrates that a translator gains visibility by providing information in peritexts, such as translator’s notes, which consist of “explicit and direct statements”. She further observes that translators’ notes, usually written in a discursive manner, can reflect their personal views on the source text or culture, enabling their individual personalities to become apparent to readers (ibid.). In these commentaries, the translator’s voice becomes clearly distinguished from that of the author, allowing the translator to gain authorial presence within the text (Toledano-Buendía, 2013: 150, 161). Dust jackets, on the other hand, are generally the first thing that comes to readers’ view before even turning to the first page. They are “arguably the most visible paratext” within the book (Bilodeau, 2015: 63), and printing the translators’ names on the jacket can be particularly effective in terms of visibility (Becker & De Haan, 2012: 23). Thus, dust- jacket design is an important element that can influence a translator’s recognition, while it is also an element that is usually beyond the translator’s control.
As in the case of Chapter Three, the analysis of paratext in Chapter Four centres on Murakami Haruki. It will examine his afterwords and essays that are included in his translations and the ways his name is promoted on the dust jackets, exploring how these factors relate to his exceptional prominence. The study will attempt to identify the features of paratext which might reflect or bolster his celebrity status. The number of translations he has published so far in book form is over sixty, out of which twenty- eight that include afterwords have been selected for this analysis due to their availability
13 Japanese books in general, both hardcovers and paperbacks, have what Genette (1997: 27-28) refers
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at the time the research was conducted. The analysis is divided into two stages. First, it examines the contents of the afterwords, drawing on Bilodeau’s methodology (2015). The study particularly focuses on Murakami’s personal statements that mention his writing practices in which his authorial presence seems to manifest itself strongly. The second stage studies the dust jackets of the books used in stage one, focusing on their features, specifically the name of the translator. Murakami’s case will also be compared with those of his contemporaries who have translated the same source text or have published translations in the same imprint as Murakami. The aims are to establish how Murakami’s name is presented on the dust jackets and whether the nature of his afterwords reflect his celebrity status in comparison with his contemporaries. The chapter also incorporates data on publishers’ approaches to the inclusion of afterwords and jacket designs. This data was originally collected through surveys of and interviews with Japanese publishers for Chapter Five. In addition, this chapter will briefly compare the Japanese publishers’ approaches with those of their anglophone counterparts in terms of the inclusion of translator’s afterwords or forewords and the presentation of translators’ names on the dust jacket, in an attempt to identify the differences in publishing practices that might influence translator visibility.14 Japanese publishing practice will be further explored in Chapter Five.