Cover not available

Article published In: Target
Vol. 22:2 (2010) ► pp.212–236

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

A case of “cultural castration”?

Paul de Man’s translation of De Soldaat Johan by Filip de Pillecyn

 | H.U.Brussel/K.U.Leuven
Published online: 12 January 2011
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.22.2.03bre
In his Belgian period, around the time of the Second World War, the famous literary scholar Paul de Man not only wrote his much discussed articles in the national socialist press, he also worked as a literary translator. As opposed to Paul de Man’s other writings, his work as a translator has received little scholarly attention. In this article I focus on De Man’s translation activity in the context of the complex cultural-political situation in Belgium during World War II. I analyse the link between poetics and politics in his French translation of the Dutch novel De soldaat Johan by the Belgian author Filip de Pillecyn (1939). The article undertakes both a contextualisation of De Man’s position and a textual analysis of his translation.
Résumé
Dans sa période belge, qui se situe autour de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, le célèbre théoricien de la littérature Paul de Man n’a pas seulement écrit des articles dans la presse collaboratrice, il travaillait aussi comme traducteur littéraire. Contrairement à ses autres textes, son travail de traducteur n’a pas encore été l’objet de recherche. Dans cet article je me concentre sur l’activité traductrice de Paul de Man dans le contexte de la situation politico-culturelle complexe de la Belgique pendant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale. J’analyse la relation entre poétique et politique dans sa traduction en français du roman néerlandais De soldaat Johan de l’auteur belge Filip de Pillecyn (1939). L’article entreprend à la fois une contextualisation de la position de De Man et une analyse textuelle de sa traduction.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Belgian history
  • 3.Filip de Pillecyn
  • 4. De soldaat Johan
  • 5.The translation of De soldaat Johan
  • 6.Paul de Man and the environment of La Toison d’Or
  • 7.De Man’s view on Belgian literature
  • 8.Paul de Man and De soldaat Johan
  • 9.De Man’s translation: Text and context
  • 10.Stylistic features of De soldaat Johan
  • 11.Translating style: Rewriting in/and detail
  • 12.Reception of Le soldat Johan
  • 13.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (39)
References
A.D.P. 1939. “Filip de Pillecyn en zijn werk”. Volk en Staat. May 29.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Anonymous. 1941. “De Walen willen niet mee”. Volk en Staat. November 22.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brems, Elke Tom Sintobin, ed. 2008. De goudsmid en de klein-inquisiteur. Essays over F.V. Toussaint van Boelaere. Gent: KANTL.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cetra, 2004. “La traduction littéraire comme problème belge ou la littérature comme traduction”. Dirk de Geest and Reine Meylaerts, eds. Littératures en Belgique/ Literaturen in België. Brussels: P.I.E.-Peter Lang. 105–135.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Bens, Els. 1989. “Paul de Man and the Collaborationist Press”. Werner Hamacher, Neil Hertz and Thomas Keenan, eds. Responses. On Paul de Man’s Wartime Journalism. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press. 85–94.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Bièvre, Laurence. 2003. Un moment-clef dans les lettres du XXe siècle: Maurice-Edgar Coindreau, traducteur du roman américain. Mémoire de licence KULeuven.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Bruyn, Jeanne. 1942. [no title]. Volk en Staat. February 26.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Geest, Dirk. 2005. “Filip De Pillecyn: toch (niet) van gisteren?”. Filip De Pillecyn Studies I1. 7–17.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2007. ““Ik wil een vrije boer zijn”. De soldaat Johan herlezen”. Filip De Pillecyn Studies III1. 85–103.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Graef, Ortwin. 1989. “Aspects of the Context of Paul de Man’s Earliest Publications followed by Notes on Paul de Man’s Flemish Writings”. Werner Hamacher et al., eds. Responses. On Paul de Man’s Wartime Journalism. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press. 96–126.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dehan, Xavier. 1995. “Jeune Europe, le Salon Didier et les Editions de la Toison d”Or (1933-1945) ”. Cahiers CREHSGM 171. 203–236.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Maegt, Joris. 1941. “Interview met een vijftigjarige. Dr Filip de Pillecijn over de jeugd, de literatuur en de toekomst”. Het Laatste Nieuws. April 1.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Man, Paul. 1941a. “Le destin de la Flandre. Après les journées culturelles germano- flamandes”. Le Soir. September 1.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1941b. “Chronique littéraire. “Trois épreuves” par Daniel Halévy”. Le Soir. October 14.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1942a. “Pour que le peuple lise. Les initiatives de l’agence Dechenne”. Le Soir. January 20.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1942b. “Sur les caractéristiques du roman belge d’expression française”. Le Soir, February 24.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1942c. “Noord- en Zuid-Nederlandsche Letterkunde van heden”. Bibliographie Dechenne. July.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Pillecyn, Filip. 1939. De soldaat Johan. Amsterdam: Van Kampen.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Pillecijn, Filip. 1941. “Een nieuwe richting in ons Geestesleven”. Het Laatste Nieuws. January 16.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Pillecyn, Filip tr. Paul de Man. 1942. Le soldat Johan. Bruxelles: Editions de la Toison d’Or.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Pillecyn, Filip. 1942. “Lof van den Taalstrijd”. Het Laatste Nieuws. June 3.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Poortere, A. 1941. “Dr. F. De Pillecijn vijftig Jaar. Een interview met den Letterkundige”. Volk en Staat. March. 23–24.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fincoeur, Michel B. 1998. “De uitgeverswereld in België tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Het voorbeeld van de “Editions de la Toison d’ Or””. Dirk de Geest et al., eds. Hun kleine oorlog. De invloed van de Tweede Wereldoorlog op het literaire leven in België. Leuven: Peeters. 49–79.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hamacher, Werner et al., eds. 1989. Responses. On Paul de Man’s Wartime Journalism. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Humbeeck, Kris. 2009. “Manhaftigheid, arbeid en gemeenschap in de romans Houtekiet en De soldaat Johan .” Filip De Pillecyn Studies III1. 27–47.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
J.L. 1942a. “Le double visage de Paul Alverdes”. Cassandre. April 5.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1942b. “Le soldat Johan par Filip de Pillecyn”. Cassandre. June 21.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
L.F. 1942. “Le Soldat Johan”. Le Soir. June 24.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lambert, Joséed. 1979–1982. E.T.A.Hoffmann, Contes fantastiques. Traduction de Loève- Veimars. Chronologie, Introduction, Notes. Paris: Flammarion.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meizoz, J. 1996. “Le droit de “mal écrire”. Mises en scène de l’écart linguistique chez les écrivains francophones non hexagonaux: trois cas helvétiques (XVIIIe-XXe siècle)”. Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 111–112. 94–111.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2004b. L’aventure flamande de la Revue belge: langues, littératures et cultures dans l’entre-deux-guerres. Documents pour l’histoire des francophonies. Europe, 5. Brussels: Editions Archives et Musée de la Littérature—P.I.E. Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pels, Dick. 1991. “Treason of the Intellectuals: Paul de Man and Hendrik de Man”. Theory Culture Society 81. 21–56.   Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Procès-Verbal d’interrogatoire. 30 juillet 1946, 15h. Paul-Adolf-Michel De Man, né Anvers le 6 décembre 1919 (domicile: Anvers, Longue Rue d’Argile, n°2). Interrogé par Roger Vinçotte. (4196–4199/46—Kr Brussel).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ranke, Bert. 1939. “De Soldaat Johan van Filip de Pillecyn”. De Week 1:5.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1941. Filip de Pillecyn. Een proeve van synthese der persoonlijkheid. Antwerpen: De Nederlandsche Boekhandel.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Toussaint van Boelaere, F.V.. 1939. “Filip de Pillecyn: De soldaat Johan”. Amsterdamsche Algemeen Handelsblad. August 25.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van Uffelen, Herbert. 2006. “Over de receptie van het werk van Filip de Pillecyn in het Duitse taalgebied”. Filip de Pillecyn Studies II. 15–36.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Torres-Martínez, Sergio
2024.  Semiosic Translation: a Bayesian-heuristic theory of translation and translating. Language and Semiotic Studies 10:2 ► pp. 167 ff. DOI logo
Roig-Sanz, Diana & Reine Meylaerts
2018. General Introduction. Literary Translation and Cultural Mediators. Toward an Agent and Process-Oriented Approach. In Literary Translation and Cultural Mediators in 'Peripheral' Cultures, ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue