Martine Hennard Dutheil de la Rochère
Przekładaniec, Special Issue 2013 – Selection from the Archives, Issues in English, pp. 171 - 188
https://doi.org/10.4467/16891864ePC.13.044.1461
This comparative analysis of two translations of Charles Perrault’s
“Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufl e de verre” shows how the French conte was adapted
for children in England at different moments and refl ects different projects. Robert
Samber’s “Cinderilla: or, The Little Glass Slipper,” published in Histories, or Tales of
Past Times. With Morals (1729), is known as the fi rst English translation of the tale.
More recently, Angela Carter’s retranslation “Cinderella: or, The Little Glass Slipper,”
published in The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault (1977), pays homage to Samber
but also modernises the tale to carry a more emancipatory message. While Samber’s
translation refl ects the working conditions of Grub Street writers and acculturation of
Perrault’s fairy tale in Protestant England, Carter gives it a feminist twist as she turns
it into a “fable of the politics of experience.” She would later rewrite it as “Ashputtle
or The Mother’s Ghost” (1987), this time using Manheim’s English translation of the
Grimms’ “Aschenputtel” as a starting point.