Reverse translation - perverse translation? : the strategies of Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels

Vol.35,No.1(2009)

Rainer Emig

Stable URL (handle):
http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/105117

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Abstract
Are the successful detective novels by Alexander McCall Smith that feature a black female detective in Botswana examples of colonial travesty, or do they conform to the claims of postcolonial theory concerning a hybridity of cultural positions? Looking at the novels' representations of African identity and life and their attitudes towards the Western world, the essay asks about hierarchies and responsibilities, perspectives and ideologies inside a heavily clichéd genre. It uses methods deriving from translation theory as well as the complex theories of Homi Bhabha to investigate the mimicry that forms part of the novels' style and characterisations and their position in a postmodern world that is as open as it is globalised and commercialised.

Keywords:
Alexander McCall Smith; No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels; translation; postcolonial; hybridity; mimicry; stereotypes

Pages:
115–124
References

Bassnett, Susan (1998) Constructing Cultures: Essays on Literary Translation. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Bhabha, Homi K. (2004a) ' Introduction: Locations of Culture'. The Location of Culture. New edition. Routledge Classics. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 1–27.

Bhabha, Homi K. (2004b) ' The Other Question: Stereotype, Discrimination and the Discourse of Colonialism'. The Location of Culture. New edition. Routledge Classics. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 94–120.

Bhabha, Homi K. (2004c) ' Of Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse'. The Location of Culture. New edition. Routledge Classics. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 121–131.

Bhabha, Homi K. (2004d) ' Signs Taken for Wonders: Questions of Ambivalence and Authority under a Tree outside Delhi, May 1817'. The Location of Culture. New edition. Routledge Classics. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 145–174.

Bhabha, Homi K. (2004e) ' The Postcolonial and the Postmodern: The Question of Agency'. The Location of Culture. New edition. Routledge Classics. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 245–282.

McCall Smith, Alexander (2003a) The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. London: Abacus.

McCall Smith, Alexander (2003b) Tears of the Giraffe. London: Abacus.

McCall Smith, Alexander (2003c) Morality for Beautiful Girls. London: Abacus.

McCall Smith, Alexander (2004) The Full Cupboard of Life. London: Abacus

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