James Joyce's music performed : the "Sirens" fugue in experimental re-translation

This thesis aims to contribute to both translation studies and Joycean studies. Firstly, my study aligns with recent developments in translation studies that dismiss translation's traditional ancillary role, arguing instead that translation can contribute to or complement literary criticism itself (Gaddis Rose 1997; Scott 2000; 2012a; Wright 2016). Following the assumption that the translator is a reader, and, in a post-structural context, a necessary interpreter of the source text (ST), this study explores the role of the translator as a stylistic reader (Boase-Beier 2021), as a "listener" and "performer" (Scott 2012a) of the language of the ST. This thesis argues for the first time in the field that "experimental translation", as a means of making the translator's "linguistic experience" (Scott 2012a, 11) of the ST visible, can become an ideal form of criticism where "musicalized fiction" (Wolf [1992] 2018) is concerned. Secondly, though the potential of translation as an interpretive tool for Ulysses has often been recognised in Joycean studies (e.g. Senn 1984), my study explores for the first time in the field the potential of translation to contribute to musico-literary studies of Joyce's "Sirens", which Joyce wrote intending to imitate a "fuga per canonem" (JJ 462). Dismissing formalist approaches that focus on the identification of the "Sirens" fugue form, this thesis aligns with recent studies in the field that encourage readers to mentally "perform" its language to appreciate its musical value (O'Callaghan 2009; 2018). In this context, "experimental translation" is proposed as one of the possible answers to Joyce's fugue claims. This thesis also includes an experimental re-translation into Italian of "Sirens" that makes visible my musical experience thereof. This translation is meant to be read as a complement to and trial of my arguments, and as a means of bringing theory and practice into dialogue.