Dans ce mémoire, j'explore la quête d'identité de personnages féminins dans des nouvelles et je fais ressortir les liens qu'une telle quête entretient avec l'ironie dans les recueils de Suzanne Myre : J'ai de mauvaises nouvelles pour vous, Nouvelles d'autres mères et Humains aigres-doux. Je montre que c'est avec ironie que Suzanne Myre présente des jeunes femmes en détresse qui se placent délibérément en marge de la société. Celles-ci écorchent les autres par une parole ou des pensées cruelles. Par ailleurs, elles ne manquent pas de retourner cette arme contre elles-mêmes, pour mieux se reconstruire. La partie réflexive de ce mémoire comporte deux chapitres. Dans les premières pages, j'aborde la notion d'"identité narrative", telle que définie par Paul Ricoeur, en lien avec les notions de mêmeté et d'ipséité, ainsi que de la"concordance discordante", pour rendre compte de la perception négative de soi et de la perte d'estime des protagonistes féminins. Le second chapitre étudie la part d'ironie dans les recueils. Après avoir caractérisé l'ironie au féminin, je présente les victimes de ce trope pour analyser ensuite l'ironie rhétorique, tant explicite qu'implicite, au service justement de la dépréciation de soi des protagonistes. Dans la partie création, j'aborde la problématique identitaire dans huit nouvelles qui comportent chacune une forme d'ironie spécifique, l'ironie du sort. Un peu comme chez Suzanne Myre, les personnages féminins dans mes textes sont tous à certains égards à la recherche de leur identité.

In translation studies, the short story cycle has been largely overlooked as an object of study in prose translation. This thesis serves as a case study on the practice of translating the short story cycle, using my translation of Suzanne Myre’s 2007 short story collection Mises à mort as a paradigm. The thesis comprises four sections: the first is devoted to a discussion of the short story cycle, a modernist form of the short story collection. It is a hybrid subgenre, balancing elements of both the traditional short story collection, characterized by heterogeneity, and the novel, characterized by homogeneity. In this first section, I examine a few definitions of the cycle, then I discuss the subgenre according to a four-part criteria established by Gerald Lynch: ‘character,’ ‘place,’ ‘theme’ and ‘style or tone.’ In the second section, I provide an analysis of Mises à mort within the framework of short story cycle criteria; an examination of the characters, setting, overarching themes and stylistic parallels serves to demonstrate how and why I ultimately interpreted the collection as a short story cycle. The third section is my complete translation of the work. In the fourth and final section, I discuss what implications my interpretation of Mises à mort as a cycle had for my translation thereof, and what unique challenges it presented. I compare my first draft, produced in the mindset that I was translating a traditional collection, to my final draft, revised to accommodate the cohesiveness of the work. This thesis serves to demonstrate how a translator can accommodate for the dual nature of the short story cycle, simultaneously maintaining the discreteness and interconnectedness of the stories.

In translation studies, the short story cycle has been largely overlooked as an object of study in prose translation. This thesis serves as a case study on the practice of translating the short story cycle, using my translation of Suzanne Myre’s 2007 short story collection Mises à mort as a paradigm. The thesis comprises four sections: the first is devoted to a discussion of the short story cycle, a modernist form of the short story collection. It is a hybrid subgenre, balancing elements of both the traditional short story collection, characterized by heterogeneity, and the novel, characterized by homogeneity. In this first section, I examine a few definitions of the cycle, then I discuss the subgenre according to a four-part criteria established by Gerald Lynch: ‘character,’ ‘place,’ ‘theme’ and ‘style or tone.’ In the second section, I provide an analysis of Mises à mort within the framework of short story cycle criteria; an examination of the characters, setting, overarching themes and stylistic parallels serves to demonstrate how and why I ultimately interpreted the collection as a short story cycle. The third section is my complete translation of the work. In the fourth and final section, I discuss what implications my interpretation of Mises à mort as a cycle had for my translation thereof, and what unique challenges it presented. I compare my first draft, produced in the mindset that I was translating a traditional collection, to my final draft, revised to accommodate the cohesiveness of the work. This thesis serves to demonstrate how a translator can accommodate for the dual nature of the short story cycle, simultaneously maintaining the discreteness and interconnectedness of the stories.