Speaking Without Words : Cross-Species Translation in Contemporary Animal Narratives : The Tusk That Did The Damage, The Mountain In The Sea, and The Animals in That Country

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Supervisors: De Bruyn, Ben
Faculty: Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres
Degree label: Master [120] en langues et lettres modernes, orientation germaniques, à finalité approfondie
Abstract: This Master's thesis aims to investigate the literary representations of non-verbal communication between humans and animals by contemporary authors of novels in English. While a number of studies have already been carried out on the exploration of non-verbal communication through exchanges of gaze or emitted sounds, scholars have paid less attention to cross-species communication in terms of the notion of touch, but also the exchange of smells. The question is particularly how these smells and touches are represented in the selected novels, and whether they reflect a specific degree of reciprocity and effectiveness. The three novels selected feature three very different species, allowing a wider exploration of body-language based on their own biological species characteristics.