Translating Camp Talk

AbstractThis paper examines the association of a specific verbal style, known in English as camp, with male homosexual characters in French and Anglo-American post-war fiction. The implications of such an association are considered in relation to the translation of this fiction. It is argued that camp presents a complex problem for translators in that while it draws on similar formal devices in both English- and French-language texts, it fulfils different functions in the literary and cultural contexts of post-war France, Britain and the United States. An attempt is made to link up the texts and their translations with these distinct contexts. Reference is made notably to the emergence of gay fiction as a literary genre in the English-speaking world and to the alleged resistance in France to the proliferation of subcultural identities.