Translation and Gender: Translating in the 'Era of Feminism'

Carol Stos is an assistant professor of Spanish at Laurentian
University.

According to the foreword, the Translation Theories Explained series
“should prove particularly useful to students dealing with translation
theories for the first time, to teachers seeking to stimulate critical
reflection, and to scholars looking for a succinct overview of the
field’s present and future.”

Luise von Flotow’s thoughtful and accessible examination of gender
and translation issues begins with a concise summary of how the
women’s movement has “problematized” language. Feminist influences
on contemporary translation practices, theoretical developments and
critical work on translation, gender as a cultural construct, and
translation as a cultural transfer are among the issues she goes on to
address.

Von Flotow affirms her feminist activist agenda in the preface. Like
many contemporary feminist translators, she makes herself highly visible
as the author of this work. At the same time—and in keeping with the
mandate of this series—she is willing to discuss a plurality of
perspectives and criticisms. As she concludes in her chapter on
criticisms, “Where there is no controversy or discussion, there is
often only silence.” Readers of this well-documented and stimulating
book will find much that is controversial, and much to discuss.