Exploring fidelity and adaptation in translations of Perrault’s ‘Cendrillon’ : a comparative analysis of rewritings

Abstract

This dissertation seeks to explore the notion of fidelity through the analysis of four translations of the same source text, together with four adaptations, as part of the afterlife of original works. This analysis is based on the premise established in Ritta Oittinen’s theory (2000: 77) that ‘within research of children’s literature, translation is often found faithful to the original, while an adaptation is not’. The principal aim behind this dissertation is to recognize whether each translation transmits the same message to its target audience, and whether the translator keeps or does away with the same structure as in the source. In the event that the translator chooses to change the target text structure, I discuss the possible reasons behind them. This analysis centres around Charles Perrault’s Cendrillon, which, throughout this dissertation, will be referred to as the source text rather than the original, because his text is purely based on former retellings. The concept of fidelity is dealt with mostly at surface-level, meaning that the target text will be strictly scrutinized based on the way it seems and reads. I also establish, through a segmented analysis, how a target text can affect the aimed audience and the ideologies communicated in the source text. I demonstrate how different translators adopt varying strategies to create a similar target text, including additions, eliminations or even reductions. The analysed translations derive from the Anglo-American tradition, all incorporating the popular motifs which recur in most Cinderella rewritings. In the second half of the analysis, I analyse four varying adaptations, ranging from film to written works, all having Perrault’s Cendrillon as their source. This part of the dissertation allows me to acknowledge the freedoms experienced by the adapters, who seem to prioritise the main protagonist rather than the sequence of events, which make up the traditional tale. This variety of media makes the reader or viewer understand that culture and context play an important role in the creation of a new rewriting. In other words, the changes established in these adaptations have to be considered within the context they were written or produced. By analysing the adaptations, the reader or viewer would be able to better understand how Perrault’s Cendrillon can be treated as somewhat misogynistic. It allows them to understand the tale in the context of seventeenth century France and instead recognize why most adapters change the plot, as it might no longer apply to their times. As a result, the adapters’ take on this fairy tale represents different ways of viewing Cinderella anew.