FAQ
Jagiellonian University in Krakow logo

Cinderella’s Metamorphoses: A Comparative Study of Two English Translations of Perrault’s Tales

Publication date: 04.03.2013

Przekładaniec, Issues in English, Issue 22-23/2009-2010 – Translating Fairy Tales, pp. 249 - 266

Authors

Martine Hennard Dutheil de la Rochèreonnets
All publications →

Titles

Cinderella’s Metamorphoses: A Comparative Study of Two English Translations of Perrault’s Tales

Abstract

This comparative analysis of two translations of Charles Perrault’s “Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufle de verre” shows how the French conte was adapted for children in England at different moments and reflects 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 first 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 reflects 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.

References

Adam, J.M., and U. Heidmann. 2009. Le Texte Littéraire: Pour une Approche Interdisciplinaire. Louvain-la-Neuve: Academia Bruylant.

Barchilon, J. 1960. “Introduction.” J. Barchilon, H. Pettit. The Authentic Mother Goose Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes. Denver: Alan Swallow.

Barchilon, J., and H. Pettit. 1960. The Authentic Mother Goose Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes. Denver: Alan Swallow.

Blom, J.M. 1989. “The Life and Works of Robert Samber (1682 -– ±1745).,” English Studies, LXX, 6, 518–519.

Carter, A. 1977. “Foreword.” The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault, Ill. Martin Ware. London: Victor Gollancz, 17.

––– 1987a. “Ashputtle or The Mother’s Ghost.” The Virago Book of Ghost Stories. London: Virago.

––– 1987b. Shaking a Leg: Collected Journalism and Writings. London: Vintage. 1998a [1983]. Notes from the Front Line. A. Carter. Shaking a Leg: Collected Journalism and Writtings. London: Vintage. 36–43.

––– 1998b. “The Better to Eat You With.” In: A. Carter. Shaking a Leg: Collected Journalism and Writings. London: Vintage, 55–81.

Derrida, J. and A. Ronell. 1980. “The Law of Genre.” Critical Inquiry 7 (1), On Narrative, 55–81. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1343176

Dryden, J. 1681. “The Preface.” In: Ovid’s Epistles: With His Amours. 2nd ed. London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, npn.

Haase, D. 2004. “Feminist Fairy-Tale Scholarship.” In: Fairy Tales and Feminism: New Approaches. Ed. D. Haase. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1–36.

Carter, A. ed. and trans. 2008. The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault. London, Penguin: “Modern Classics.”

Carter, A., ed. and trans. 1982. Sleeping Beauty and Other Favourite Fairy Tales. Iill. Michael Foreman. London: Gollancz.

Hennard Dutheil de la Rochère, M. 2013. Reading, Translating, Rewriting: Angela Carter’s Translational Poetics. Detroit: Wayne State UP.

Johnson, S. 1828. A Dictionary of the English Language. Vol. 1. Heidelberg: published by Joseph Engelman.

Lang, A., ed. 1965 (1889). The Blue Fairy Book. New York: Dover Publications Inc., npn.

Lathey, G. 2010. The Role of Translators in Children’s Literature: Invisible Storytellers. New York and London: Routledge.

Malarte-Feldman, C.L. 1999. “The Challenges of Translating Perrault’s Contes into English.” Marvels & Tales, XII, 1, 184–187.

Meschonnic, H. 1999. Poétique du Traduire. Paris: Verdier. Opie, I., and P. Opie 1974. The Classic Fairy Tales. London: Oxford University Press.

Perrault, C. 1981. Contes, Ed. J.P. by Collinet J.P., Paris: Gallimard (Folio Classique).

Pope, A. 1796. “Preface.” In: The Iliad of Homer. London: H. Baldwin.

Sorel, C. 1664. “De la traduction.” In: Bibliothèque Française. Paris.

Spivak, G.C. 2004. “The Politics of Translation.” In: The Translation Studies Reader. Ed. L. Venuti. London: Routledge (2nd edition), 369–388.

Venuti, L. 2004. “Retranslations: The Creation of Value.,” Bucknell Review, XLVII, 1.

Verdier, G. 1997. “De ma Mère l’Oye à Mother Goose: La Fortune de Conte de Fées littéraires Français en Angleterre.” In: Y. Giraud. Contacts Culturels et Echanges Linguistiques an XVIIe siècle en France. Seattle: Papers on French Seventeenth Century Literature, 185–202.

Zipes, J. 2008. “Introduction.,” In: The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault. Ed. and trans. A. Carter. London: Penguin, “Modern Classics,” vii–xxvii.
 

Information

Information: Przekładaniec, Issues in English, Issue 22-23/2009-2010 – Translating Fairy Tales, pp. 249 - 266

Article type: Original article

Titles:

Polish:

Cinderella’s Metamorphoses: A Comparative Study of Two English Translations of Perrault’s Tales

English:

Cinderella’s Metamorphoses: A Comparative Study of Two English Translations of Perrault’s Tales

Published at: 04.03.2013

Article status: Open

Licence: None

Percentage share of authors:

Martine Hennard Dutheil de la Rochèreonnets (Author) - 100%

Article corrections:

-

Publication languages:

English

View count: 2892

Number of downloads: 3331