Constructing a Sociology of Translation.pdf

150 Hélène Buzelinthree publishers (excluding educational publishers), accounted for 48% of overallsales and the top ten for nearly 80%. However, the landscape has changed drasticallysince October 2005, when Sogides (a publishing group representing elevenQuébec publishing companies) was acquired by Quebecor Inc. 17 The merger,which was scrutinized and finally accepted by the Competition Bureau Canada,put pressure on independent publishers, leading them to react by joining forcestoo. In October 2006, four of the leading independent publishers (Boréal, Fides,Hurtubise HMH, Québec Amérique) decided to create RELI (le Regroupementdes Éditeurs Littéraires Indépendants), an association whose first initiative was theshared publication of a common seasonal catalogue to be inserted twice yearlyin local newspapers. The back cover of this catalogue’s second edition, releasedin Spring 2007, contains a text titled “L’avenir de la littérature québécoise: nonà l’apathie! [The future of Québec literature: fighting against apathy]” in whichthe four publishers state their concern about the future of the book industry or,rather, its diversity. More specifically, they complain about the “appalling indifference”of local media that no longer support literature but, instead, strictly promotebest sellers and “entertainment books”, criticize the government’s “apathy”and “inactivity” and its lack of a “consistent cultural policy” and, lastly, appeal tothe Québec culture minister to act quickly in support of Québec literature”. 18Yet, crying for help and making public statements are obviously not the onlysteps independent publishers have taken to save their situation. The above-mentionedchanges were foreseeable and, as such, publishers may also have taken lessvisible, more-subtle day-to-day actions with respect to their publication choicesand how they handle their projects. In any case, in such a “gloomy” context, whereeven the future of local literature is (supposedly) threatened, one may wonder aboutthe place and role (already rather limited) of literary translation. Does insecuritylead these publishers to domestic withdrawal, to change attitudes in the way theychoose “foreign” titles or in the way they produce them? This is the range of questionsI had in mind when undertaking the research program presented below.17. “[A] communications company with operations in North America, Europe, Latin Americanand Asia [with] two operating subsidiaries: Quebecor World Inc, one of the largest commercialprint media services companies in the world and Quebecor Media Inc, one of Canada’slargest media companies” (Quebecor Inc. 2004).18. These comments echoed a portrait contained in a special issue of the Québec literary journalLiberté published in 2006, the year UNESCO named Montréal the “World Book CapitalCity”. Including contributions from many actors in Montréal literary life (publishers, booksellers,critics, associations, etc.), this portrait was a rather dark, even cynical one, calling intoquestion the “prestigious” nomination and highlighting many “problems” such as overproduction,cultural institutions’ parochialism, media convergence, concentration within the industryand “best-sellerization” – issues obviously not specific to the Québec market.