Translating His-stories

Vidal, M. Carmen África

Following Hayden White and the critical historiography of the 1960s, the idea underlying this Element is that a historical text is a translation of past events. This implies that retelling stories can vary depending on the historian/translator who recounts the facts. Translating His-stories focuses on how women – Jen Bervin, Patience Agbabi, Caroline Bergvall, Erin Mouré, and many others – dare to translate stories previously told by men. In line with contemporary theories of translation, these stories are translations because women rewrite, again but for the first time, what has already been told.