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Article published In: Translation and Interpreting Studies
Vol. 15:2 (2020) ► pp.223–241

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It’s all in the attitude

Parodies of Rachid Taha and Seu Jorge

ORCiD logo with link | Bar Ilan University
Published online: 6 April 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/tis.19004.hir
Abstract
Building on various theoretical approaches to translation (Hickey, Leo. 1998. “Perlocutionary equivalence: Marking, exegesis and recontextualisation.” In The Pragmatics of Translation, ed. by Leo Hickey, 217–232. Cleavdon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; . 2001. “Translation or adaptation.” Reflections on Translation. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), this article demonstrates the intersection between translation and parody (Aoyama, Tomoko and Judy Wakabayashi. 1999. “Where parody meets translation.” Japan Forum 11(2): 217–30. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) by comparing two musical texts: Rachid Taha’s “Douce France” and Seu Jorge’s Portuguese trans­lation of David Bowie’s “Life on Mars?”. According to Hutcheon, Linda. 1985. A Theory of Parody: The teachings of Twentieth-Century Art Forms. New York: Methuen.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar view of parody as a form of repetition maintaining a critical distance, both texts are parodic. Each parody presents a very different attitude, which influences their ethos. Rachid Taha’s cover involves irony, which often marks parody (Hutcheon, Linda. 1985. A Theory of Parody: The teachings of Twentieth-Century Art Forms. New York: Methuen.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), and thus a negative ethos: criticizing his new country for grievances against immigrants. Seu Jorge, however, pays tribute to the Bowie song he translates. These observations illustrate the close relationship between parody and translation.
Article outline
  • Introduction
    • Rachid Taha
    • Seu Jorge
  • Theoretical background
    • Translations?
    • Parodies
    • Irony
  • Douce France
    • Parody
    • Ironic attitude
  • Life on Mars?
  • Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
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Hirsch, Galia
2023. Blending parody: The case ofMy Corona. Lodz Papers in Pragmatics 19:1 ► pp. 87 ff. DOI logo

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