ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book comprises a systematic analysis of trends in the selection and translation into French of twentieth century Australian children's fiction. One of the major themes of the book is that translation is used as a mechanism for systematic textual pre-consumption, to shield French children from too much cultural and ideological difference. In translation studies, there has been a gradual shift beyond insistence on fidelity to that of textual recreation through adaptation and composition. More recently, theorists such as Nord and Pym have focused on the role of the translator within an ethics of translation theory and have highlighted the importance of translators as mediators between cultures, ideologies and languages. Translators will suppress or attenuate distinctive Australian references on the basis of their perceived obscurity and lack of meaning for French readers.
