Comics and translation

Evans, J. (2017) Comics and translation. In: Bramlett, F., Cohn, R. T. and Meskin, A. (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Comics. Routledge: New York, NY, pp. 319-327. ISBN 9780415729000

Abstract

Where would comics be without translation? My memories of reading comics growing up in England include Tintin and Asterix as much as The Beano and various superheroes. As an adult, I’m as likely to be reading something written in Japan or continental Europe as I am something from an English-speaking country. Comics are an international art form, produced and read around the world. Like all cultural products, comics travel beyond their original place of production: to do so, they must be translated and adapted for new locales. This translation process must overcome linguistic, cultural and technical issues. In addition, the translation and distribution of comics around the world take part in the cultural flows (Appadurai 1996) of globalisation, opening up questions of relative cultural power and influence. While American comics are arguably the best known, there are strong comics traditions elsewhere in the world (not least in Belgium, France and Japan) that are translated into many languages, including English. There are also smaller comics traditions in other languages that both draw from translated comics and compete with them.

• Item Type: Book Sections
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Evans, Dr Jonathan
• Authors: Evans, J.
• Subjects: N Fine Arts > NE Print media; P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics; P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General)
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Modern Languages and Cultures
• Publisher: Routledge
• ISBN: 9780415729000
• Published Online: 11 August 2016

Related URLs

• University of Glasgow Library Catalogue