Much of Canadian cultural life is sustained and enriched by translation. Translation Effects moves beyond restrictive notions of official translation in Canada, analyzing its activities and effects on the streets, in movie theatres, on stages, in hospitals, in courtrooms, in literature, in politics, and across café tables. The first comprehensive study of the intersection of translation and culture, Translation Effects offers an original picture of translation practices across many languages and through several decades of Canadian life. The book presents detailed case studies of specific events and examines the reverberation and spread of their effects. Through these imaginative, at times unusual, investigations, the contributors unveil the simultaneous invisibility and omnipresence of translation and present a cross-cut of Canadian translation moments. Addressing the period from the 1950s to the present and including a wide scope of examples from medical interpreting to film dubbing, the essays in this book create a panoramic view of the creation of modern culture in Canada. Contributors include Piere Anctil (University of Ottawa), Hélène Buzelin (Université de Montréal), Alessandra Capperdoni (Simon Fraser University), Philippe Cardinal, Andrew Clifford (York University), Beverley Curran, Renée Desjardins (University of Ottawa), Ray Ellenwood, David Gaertner, Chantal Gagnon (Université de Montréal), Patricia Godbout, Hugh Hazelton, Jane Koustas (Brock University), Louise Ladouceur (Université de l'Albera, Gillian Lane-Mercier (McGill University), George Lang, Rebecca Margolis, Sophie McCall (Simon Fraser University), Julie Dolmaya McDonough, Denise Merkle (Université de Moncton), Kathy Mezei, Sorouja Moll, Brian Mossop, Daisy Neijmann, Glen Nichols (Mount Allison University), Joseph Pivato, Gregory Reid, Robert Schwartzwald, Sherry Simon, Luise von Flotow (University of Ottawa), and Christine York.

Kathy Mezei is a professor in the English Department at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, and specializes in Canadian Literature. She wrote Cuthbert and the Merpeople one summer while camping on Hornby Island. Every day she would take her daughter, Robin, out in a canoe, tell her an episode, and then hurry back to shore where she would quickly type it up on her portable typewriter.

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Sherry Simon teaches in the Département d'études françaises at Concordia University and is active in the Literary Translators Association of Canada. She is co-editor, with David Homel, of Mapping Literature: The Art and Politics of Translation (Véhicule 1988).

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Luise von Flotow has published literary translations from German and French since the 1980s. Her interest in Christa Wolf and the re-translation of Der geteilte Himmel stems from her family background (origins in the northeast of Germany), extensive research and travel in East Germany (1986-1990), and the discovery and study of the existing translation (Divided Heaven 1965, Seven Seas Verlag, East Berlin.)

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“an important work that will be invaluable to any researcher in the field of translation studies wanting to (re)define translation and fully grasp its importance within Canadian society. Although most of the case studies focus essentially on Ontario and Q

“a refreshing approach to studies of translation and Canadian culture … of interest to the general public as well as undergraduate and graduate students. Translation Effects cuts across a wide spectrum of disciplines, such as Canadian Studies, History, Political Science, English, French, Film Studies, Indigenous Studies, Drama, in addition to Translation Studies and Cultural Studies. Ultimately, the collection makes apparent that the politics of translation, shaped by uneven power relations, demonstrates that not only is translation at the very heart of Canadian cultural history, but [its] vital link to culture makes translation inextricable from politics in Canada.” Target, International Journal of Translation Studies