La fabrique de la traduction

Les notes du traducteur et l’epitexte auctorial comme formes de l’avant-texte

Abstract

Grounding my study on a corpus of about forty complete translations of Dante’s Comedy into French, the essay aims at exploring one particular function of the translation notes and the public authorial epitext. From a diachronic perspective, these materials, provided by translators at the margins of their translations, are of great interest for their genetic value. The notes, especially during the 19th century, represent a “safe” space where translators can suggest innovative solutions, which will only later be accepted in the text as translations. In more recent times, a similar function is delegated, more or less consciously, to the authorial epitext. There is thus a certain permeability between the translation and these paratextual materials, which makes them forms of avant-texte of the translation itself.