Barbara Bray, A Woman of Letters

Translator, Radio Producer, Scriptwriter, Critic, and Theatre Director

Pascale Sardin

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2024
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9781040222423
• Subtopic: Translating & Interpreting
• Index: Literature

Barbara Bray (1924-2010) was an English woman of letters who translated some hundred novels, plays, and essays from French to English and was Marguerite Duras's preferred translator. She also collaborated with some of the most prestigious directors and playwrights of the 20th century – Harold Pinter, Samuel Beckett, Joseph Losey, and Franco Zeffirelli – helping them write screenplays and radioplays. This literary biography (re)evaluates in a textual, sociological, and historical perspective the social role of an English writer and translator in the history of ideas and contemporary art. Highlighting Bray's influence in cultural transfers of ideas and literatures between France, Great Britain, and the United States, it renders visible the yet unrecognised work of a female mediator and creator. It nourishes the debate about women's public voice and the representation of women in the media industries and contributes to enrich the 'other' history that is being currently written by feminist scholars around the world.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Figures
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Acronyms and abbreviations
• 1 Introduction: Transcending cultural differences (1924–1952)
• 2 Working as Script Editor during the ‘Golden Age’ of radio drama in the 1950s
• 3 Freelancing for BBC radio in the 1960s
• 4 Working with the moving image in the 1970s
• 5 A celebrated translator in the 1980s
• 6 Conclusion – Dear conjunction (1991–2010)
• Index