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Translation and transition

This chapter looks at the translation of the nouveau roman into English. The modernist precedent in the field of translation is considered. Then the nouveau roman’s various English translators are discussed. The chapter’s main focus is the work of Nathalie Sarraute, which was translated into English by Maria Jolas. Jolas’s central role in the modernist little magazine, transition, is introduced, and her postwar activities are also presented. In particular, the chapter looks at Jolas’s translations of two novels of what is named Sarraute’s ‘aesthetic turn’, Entre la vie et la mort (1968), and Vous les entendez? (1972). Jolas’s translations are shown to emphasize both inter- and intralingualism, as well as a deeper untranslatability that undergirds all translation. The chapter ends by contrasting Jolas’s translations from French with those of Barbara Wright and Samuel Beckett.