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Article published In: Target
Vol. 32:1 (2020) ► pp.143–161

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‘We’ve called her Stephen’

Czech translations of The Well of Loneliness and their transgender readings

ORCiD logo with link | University of Liverpool
Published online: 5 December 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.19107.spi
Abstract
This article aims to contribute to the still largely unexplored intersection of translation and non-cisgender identities through a comparison of three reeditions of Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness (Hall, Radclyffe. 1928. The Well of Loneliness. London: Jonathan Cape.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) in Czech translation. While the novel is considered by many to be the most famous lesbian story published in the 20th century, it can also be read as a narrative with a transgender protagonist. This is in part supported by the fact that the hero of the story is born with a female body but is named Stephen, creating a sense of gendered dissonance throughout the novel. This article asks what happens when this masculine name changes into a feminine one in translation, and explores the sociopolitical circumstances and publishing norms that have motivated this change.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The well of non-normative identity
  • 3.The Czechoslovak lesbian s(h)elf
  • 4.Lesbian loneliness of state socialism
  • 5.When Stephen becomes Štěpa
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (42)
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2021. Introduction. Translation and Interpreting Studies 16:2 ► pp. 185 ff. DOI logo

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