Abstract
This paper examines so-called ‘point of view’ in narratives and their translations. When it appears differently between narrative and translation, it could make difference between the context of an original text and that of its translations. First I make a distinction between ‘point of view’ and ‘narrative voice’ to claim that they play the important roles in identifying ‘grooves of expression’ as found in each language. And I coin the four terms ‘cardinal point of view of narrator [character] (CPVN [C])’ and ‘cardinal point of narration of narrator [character] (CPNN [C].’ Then I observe the relationship between ‘CPVN [C]’ / ‘CPNN [C]’ and other factors. Based on these theories, I analyze the French narrative L’empreinte de L’ange and its English and Japanese translations. This paper states that there are various patterns of ‘CPVN [C]’ and ‘CPNN [C]’ which have not been identified. It also shows how significant it is to analyze the ‘grooves’ of languages.
