Abstracts
Abstract
For several decades, the positive norms of cosmopolitanism and omnivorousness have dominated cultural consumption in Britain. This paper will discuss the implications of these interrelated affinities in the popular reception of fiction in translation. Ethnographic data for the study has been collected mostly through participant observation with book club members in the UK. Through an analysis of statements made by readers, the article will illustrate how reading and discussing fiction in translation encourages readers to mobilize their international cultural capital and how horizontal and vertical boundaries between genres become blurred. Consequently, individual translations may become “upgraded” or “downgraded” in aesthetic terms, especially in the ways these books have been packaged and marketed to readers.
Résumé
Au cours des dernières décennies, deux normes positives, le cosmopolitisme et l’omnivorité, ont dominé la consommation culturelle en Grande-Bretagne. Dans cet article, nous examinons l’incidence de ces affinités interreliées sur la réception populaire des oeuvres de fiction en traduction. Notre analyse repose sur des données ethnographiques collectées, en majorité, par l’observation des activités de clubs de lecture au Royaume-Uni. Les commentaires de lecteurs et de lectrices servent ainsi de base pour illustrer la manière dont la lecture d’oeuvres traduites et la discussion qui s’ensuit encouragent ceux-ci à mobiliser leur capital culturel international, ainsi que la façon dont les frontières horizontales et verticales entre les genres littéraires en viennent à s’estomper. En conséquence, les traductions sont « revalorisées » ou « dévalorisées » sur le plan esthétique, notamment en fonction de leur commercialisation pour un nouveau lectorat.
Appendices
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