Description
Gender in translation: Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale in Greek translations
Aspasia Koutsoumpogera
M.A. ‘English Language, Linguistics and Translation’, Specialization ‘Translation Studies and Interpreting’
The study attempts to explore gender identity construction in two Greek translations of Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale. A variety of translation and gender issues have been addressed by feminist translation scholars since the 1980s. Drawing upon feminist theories of language and translation and feminist practices in translation, the study takes an interdisciplinary approach to critically portray females, in a 1990 and a 2018 translation version of The Handmaid’s Tale, in the Greek context. The study examines selected extracts from the two versions to elucidate the translation strategies employed with respect to the portrayal of females. The first translator seems to have the tendency to neutralize aspects of female identity by raising religious connotations, whereas the second translator shows a preference for highlighting them, through discoursal choices. A questionnaire addressing MA participants confirmed findings of the study. Results indicate that the second translation takes a more feminist translation approach, critically adjusting the representation of characters. The significance of the study lies in that it shows the potential of discourse to do justice to issues emerging in target societies.
