Translating voices in crime fiction: The case of the French translation of Brookmyre’s Quite Ugly One Morning

Charlotte Bosseaux

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-75753-7_7

Translating voices in crime fiction: The case of the French translation of Brookmyre’s Quite Ugly One Morning

Charlotte Bosseaux

School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

Abstract

Narrative texts are made up of voices, which come to us via a narrator or through character monologues and dialogues. These voices lead us in our understanding of a novel’s themes, characters and contexts. This chapter presents a case study on a crime fiction novel, Quite Ugly One Morning (1996) from Scottish writer Christopher Brookmyre and its French translation. The novel, set in Edinburgh, depicts various characters from different parts of Britain whose voices are an integral part of their identity. The main aim of the chapter is therefore to identify and present some of these voices in the source text and investigate how the French translator has dealt with various aspects of register, particularly the use of the Scottish dialect and swearing.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	The Palgrave Handbook of Literary Translation
Editors	Jean Boase-Beier, Lina Fisher, Hiroko Furukawa
Place of Publication	Cham
Publisher	Palgrave Macmillan
Chapter	7
Pages	125-144
Number of pages	20
ISBN (Electronic)	9783319757537
ISBN (Print)	9783319757520
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75753-7_7
Publication status	Published - 27 Jun 2018

Publication series

Name	Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting
Publisher	Palgrave

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

crime fiction
voices
swearing
slang
English-French translation
Christopher Brookmyre

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-319-75753-7_7

BosseauxPHLT2018TranslatingVoicesInCrimeFiction
This extract is taken from the author's original manuscript and has not been edited. The definitive, published, version of record is available here:https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-75753-7_7.
Accepted author manuscript, 144 KB

Inaugural lecture Professor Charlotte Bosseaux. A Voice of their Own: Why Voice Matters in Translation (Studies)?
Bosseaux, C. (Speaker)
3 Dec 2025
Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Public Engagement – Public lecture/debate/seminar

Charlotte Bosseaux
- School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures - Personal Chair of Audiovisual Translation Studies
Person: Academic: Research Active

Cite this

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title = "Translating voices in crime fiction: The case of the French translation of Brookmyre{\textquoteright}s Quite Ugly One Morning",

abstract = "Narrative texts are made up of voices, which come to us via a narrator or through character monologues and dialogues. These voices lead us in our understanding of a novel{\textquoteright}s themes, characters and contexts. This chapter presents a case study on a crime fiction novel, Quite Ugly One Morning (1996) from Scottish writer Christopher Brookmyre and its French translation. The novel, set in Edinburgh, depicts various characters from different parts of Britain whose voices are an integral part of their identity. The main aim of the chapter is therefore to identify and present some of these voices in the source text and investigate how the French translator has dealt with various aspects of register, particularly the use of the Scottish dialect and swearing.",

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booktitle = "The Palgrave Handbook of Literary Translation",

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Translating voices in crime fiction: The case of the French translation of Brookmyre’s Quite Ugly One Morning. / Bosseaux, Charlotte.
The Palgrave Handbook of Literary Translation. ed. / Jean Boase-Beier; Lina Fisher; Hiroko Furukawa. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. p. 125-144 (Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

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AB - Narrative texts are made up of voices, which come to us via a narrator or through character monologues and dialogues. These voices lead us in our understanding of a novel’s themes, characters and contexts. This chapter presents a case study on a crime fiction novel, Quite Ugly One Morning (1996) from Scottish writer Christopher Brookmyre and its French translation. The novel, set in Edinburgh, depicts various characters from different parts of Britain whose voices are an integral part of their identity. The main aim of the chapter is therefore to identify and present some of these voices in the source text and investigate how the French translator has dealt with various aspects of register, particularly the use of the Scottish dialect and swearing.

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KW - voices

KW - swearing

KW - slang

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Translating voices in crime fiction: The case of the French translation of Brookmyre’s Quite Ugly One Morning

Abstract

Publication series

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

Access to Document

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Activities

Inaugural lecture Professor Charlotte Bosseaux. A Voice of their Own: Why Voice Matters in Translation (Studies)?

Profiles

Charlotte Bosseaux

Cite this