What is it about?
The book examines how translation and rewriting have a far-reaching impact on the self- and world-making functions of autobiography. It refutes the presumed conflation between the author, narrator and character in autobiography, thus emphasizing the reader's role in constructing an implied author. The study explores the issues of implied author and implied translator through a comparative analysis of the English and Chinese autobiographies by Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew.
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Why is it important?
The book provides a research model on autobiography and its translation, characterized by its integrated framework utilizing a number of linguistic, stylistic, narratological and translational theories and concepts. It deals with a geographic region (Singapore) which is underexplored in Translation Studies. The context of the study, i.e. the bilingual situation in Singapore, is fairly unusual as a topic in Translation Studies, and of great interest.
Perspectives
People tell stories of their lives in autobiography. Such stories could be rewritten in the process of translation. I hope my study creates an awareness among publishers, authors and readers that a translated autobiography is far more complex than the original, projecting a persona that might be very different from that of the author.
Associate Professor Susan Yun Xu
Singapore University of Social Sciences
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This page is a summary of: Translation of Autobiography, October 2017, John Benjamins,
DOI: 10.1075/btl.136.
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