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Article published In: Translation in Society
Vol. 2:2 (2023) ► pp.167–187

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Multiple constraints, multiple avenues

Exploring the sense of agency in a revision project through a multi-method approach

 | University of Montreal
Published online: 31 July 2023
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https://doi.org/10.1075/tris.22007.gag
Abstract
The abstract nature of human agency, as a capacity or a possibility to exert power, complicates its empirical examination. While translated and revised texts represent the cumulative result of the agents’ decisions, they offer limited information on their motivation, goals and sense of agency. In this paper, we employ a multi-method approach to examine the revised edition (. 2013. Mémoire du feu. Translated by Claude Couffon, and Véra Binard, revised by Alexandre Sánchez, Mémoire des Amériques. Montréal: Lux Éditeur.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) of Mémoire du feu (. 1985. Mémoire du feu, 1. Les Naissances. Translated by Claude Couffon. Paris: Plon.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; transl. Binard 1985, 1988), the French translation of Memoria del Fuego (. 1982. Memoria del fuego, 1. Los Nacimientos. Mexico: Siglo XXI Editores.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 1984. Memoria del fuego, 2. La Caras y las mascaras. Mexico: Siglo XXI Editores.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 1986. Memoria del fuego, 3. El Siglo del viento. Mexico: Siglo XXI Editores.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Through a dialogue between semi-structured interviews (focused on the agent’s choices, motivations and sense of agency) and comparative textual analysis (focused on the result of her decisions), we investigate why Mémoire du feu was revised and how this project unfolded. The interaction taking place during semi-structured interviews allowed for the exploration of some dimensions of the reviser’s work that would otherwise have remained unarticulated discursively and helped us understand the textual results of her decisions. The revision appears as an agent-based process, as constraints were negotiated by the reviser, and resources were selected by her. Finally, the reviser’s sense of agency, widened by her multipositionality, emerged as a crucial factor in shaping the textual product.
Article outline
  • 1.Human agency, social constructivism and TS
  • 2.Multi-method approaches in TS
  • 3.Mémoire du feu from a multi-method perspective
  • 4.The multi-method examination of agency in Mdf’s project
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (58)
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