Cultural Mediation: Challenges of Stylistic Translation in the Francophone African Novel

Abstract: In the current thesis, I investigate how translation addresses authorial style and what distinct translational practices of meaning-making are revealed by a focus on style. African literature often employs linguistically and socioculturally nuanced stylistic figures within Western languages, like French and English (among others). This poses certain difficulties in the translation process.

This research focuses on identifying and analyzing stylistic elements of selected Francophone African texts in relation to their English translations, examining the cultural and linguistic challenges encountered by the translator and how these issues are creatively handled, and exploring the target text’s implications for its intended readership. The study draws on excerpts chosen from the translations of Une si longue lettre by Mariama Bâ and L’Aventure ambiguë by Cheikh Kane and their source texts to examine the original authors’ stylistic choices. The research employs the theoretical frameworks of Gideon Toury’s Descriptive Translation Studies and the Manipulation Theory of Susan Bassnett and André Lefevere as bases to formulate a more nuanced theoretical framework for analyzing style within the context of translation: the Stylistic-Semantic Translation Model. The data will be subjected to qualitative analysis, which will demonstrate the challenges faced by translators in adapting the styles of Francophone African novelists, including the use of culture-bound terms, repetition patterns, musical/rhythmic effects, gender-specific language, and punctuation. The study proposes strategies for more effective cultural mediation of aesthetics in Francophone African novels. Overall, this research focuses on an optimistic view of translation: first, there is a possibility of apprehending the meaningfulness and intentionality of an authorial style, and secondly, there is a possibility of communicating the latter to an audience that may be culturally, linguistically, and historically distant from the author.

… Full Thesis originally published by the University of Tennessee (TRACE). Available at https://voljournals.utk.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=16266&context=utk_gradthes.
Also available with DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.23367.15522.

Recommended Citation: Achodo, David, “Cultural Mediation: Challenges of Stylistic Translation in the Francophone
African Novel.” Master’s Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2025. https://voljournals.utk.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=16266&context=utk_gradthes.

This text is archived by Zenodo with the DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19600646