Dis/placed in Canada: A Québécois Graphic Novel in Translation

Abstract:In this paper, we analyze the award-winning graphic novel Jane, le renard & moi by Fanny Britt and Isabelle Arsenault, translated into English as Jane, the Fox & Me by Christelle Morelli and Susan Ouriou. We analyze the representation of distorted body image, bullying, and the resulting cultural displacement in the work, particularly in relation to discourses about Canadian nationality. We do this by examining the challenges of translation and how the text travelled from the French to the English contexts. We argue that, in Jane, the Fox & Me, while the sense of place is left largely intact, domestication of the text (Ritta Oittinen, Translating, "Theory") is significant in places. As a result, the translation elides important issues of language difference and history, which we argue are reminiscent of a Québécois imaginary of belonging and nationhood.