D’imaginaire en imaginaire

Abstract

The American novelist Sinclair Lewis published It Can’t Happen Here in 1935; this work of political fiction was then translated into French by Raymond Queneau and appeared two years later under the title Impossible ici. The source text reveals an imagined American here whereas the imagined xenophobic and racist world translated as ici served as a reminder of the reality of pre-war Europe. Readers of target-oriented translations benefit from translators’ life experiences. Those same readers, who are often fond of foreignized translations, can also regret the intentional dissimulation of the source language-culture, because they love alterity as well. In literary translation, is this choice philosophical or purely pragmatic? This essay is an opportunity to reflect on these two perceptions of an imagined world.