Marginal Voices and Liminal Spaces: Helen Maria Williams’ Translation of de Saint-Pierre’s Paul et Virginie

Abstract

This paper deals with Helen Maria Williams’ preface to and translation of Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre’s Paul et Virginie (1788). Both paratext and translation allowed Williams to comment on her practice and express her opinions on the socio-political context in which she lived. Kathryn Batchelor’s (2018) paratextual framework and Silvia Kadiu’s (2019) reflexive methodology will be first applied to the analysis of the preface and then to the additions, omissions and alterations of meaning that are found in the target text but not discussed in the paratext. The paper will eventually outline Williams’ approach to translation and highlight her agency as a translator.