ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the copyediting of fiction through the lens of intralingual translation and rewriting. Using research material from the Harry Ransom Center, and in particular the archives of Ian McEwan and Jim Crace, the rewriting techniques of the editor(s) are examined by studying correspondence between authors and editors and comparing typescripts with manuscripts. A typology of copyediting modifications is proposed, and the various strategies used by copyeditors are compared with those to be found in interlingual translation, both at the macrolevel (explicitation, simplification and normalisation) and at the microlevel (substitution, omission and addition). While both intra- and interlingual translation share basic strategies, thus questioning the usefulness of labelling them as separate categories, the study reveals that copyeditors' modifications are motivated principally by a desire to improve a text’s clarity and consistency for the potential reader and are often optional style-based choices.
