Research Article

The Translator in Limbo: Angela Carter’s “The Loves of Lady Purple” as a Metaphor of Translation

Volume: 5 Number: 2 October 31, 2025
TR EN

The Translator in Limbo: Angela Carter’s “The Loves of Lady Purple” as a Metaphor of Translation

Abstract

This article proposes a reading of Angela Carter’s short story “The Loves of Lady Purple,” often studied through feminist and psychoanalytic lenses, as a metaphor for the act of translation. Through the eerie symbiosis between the inarticulate marionette and the puppet master whose articulating fingers animate her, the paper investigates the interdependence between source and target languages. The puppet, lifeless yet suggestive of autonomy, becomes a simulacrum of the original text, while the puppet master performs the translator’s role, poised in a liminal space between the real and the semblance of the real. Drawing on Walter Benjamin’s concept of pure language, this article explores the marionette’s language beyond language as an echo of the utopian linguistic essence underlying all translation, an original language of grunt and bark that gestures toward the kinship of tongues. This study also examines the strange duet between the puppet and her master as a metaphor for George Steiner’s hermeneutic model of translation; this model offers a compelling framework for interpreting the relationship between the marionette and her manipulator. This article ultimately argues that “The Loves of Lady Purple” does not simply illustrate translation but rather enacts it, embodying the translator as a spectral figure who inhabits the no-man’s-land between presence and absence, voice and voicelessness, the living and the dead.

Keywords

Ethical Statement

The author of this article confirms that this research does not require a research ethics committee approval. The author of this article confirms that his work complies with the principles of research and publication ethics.

Thanks

I wish to extend my heartfelt gratitude to Professor Dr. Zeynep Z. Atayurt-Fenge for her brilliant translation of Angela Carter’s short story “The Loves of Lady Purple” and for her inspiring lecture on this translation.

References

  1. Atayurt-Fenge, Zeynep Z. “From Puppets to Cyborgs: (Un)ruly Constructions of the Female Body and Femininity in Angela Carter’s ‘The Loves of Lady Purple’ and Lisa Tuttle’s ‘Wives’.” Worcester Papers: Representation of the Body in Fantasy and Gothic Literature, vol. 1, 2014, pp. 75–89.
  2. Bassnett, Susan, and André Lefevere. “Introduction: Proust’s Grandmother and the Thousand and One Nights. The Cultural Turn in Translation Studies.” Translation, History, and Culture, edited by Bassnett and Lefevere, Pinter Publishers, 1990, pp. 1–13.
  3. Benjamin, Walter. “The Task of the Translator.” The Translation Studies Reader, edited by Lawrence Venuti, 3rd ed., Routledge, 2012, pp. 75–83.
  4. Carter, Angela. “The Loves of Lady Purple.” Fireworks: Nine Profane Pieces, Virago, 1988, pp. 27–46.
  5. Creed, Barbara. The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis. Routledge, 1993.
  6. France, Peter. “Translation Studies and Translation Criticism.” The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation, edited by France, Oxford University Press, 2000, pp. 3–10.
  7. Gamble, Sarah. Angela Carter: Writing from the Front Line. Edinburgh University Press, 1997.
  8. Hermans, Theo. “Literary Translation.” A Companion to Translation Studies, edited by Piotr Kuhiwczak and Karin Littau, Multilingual Matters, 2007, pp. 77–91.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

British and Irish Language, Literature and Culture

Journal Section

Research Article

Early Pub Date

October 31, 2025

Publication Date

October 31, 2025

Submission Date

August 18, 2025

Acceptance Date

October 1, 2025

Published in Issue

Year 2025 Volume: 5 Number: 2

APA
Albayrak, G. (2025). The Translator in Limbo: Angela Carter’s “The Loves of Lady Purple” as a Metaphor of Translation. IDEAS: Journal of English Literary Studies, 5(2), 135-148. https://doi.org/10.62352/ideas.1767641
AMA
1.Albayrak G. The Translator in Limbo: Angela Carter’s “The Loves of Lady Purple” as a Metaphor of Translation. IDEAS. 2025;5(2):135-148. doi:10.62352/ideas.1767641
Chicago
Albayrak, Gökhan. 2025. “The Translator in Limbo: Angela Carter’s ‘The Loves of Lady Purple’ As a Metaphor of Translation”. IDEAS: Journal of English Literary Studies 5 (2): 135-48. https://doi.org/10.62352/ideas.1767641.
EndNote
Albayrak G (October 1, 2025) The Translator in Limbo: Angela Carter’s “The Loves of Lady Purple” as a Metaphor of Translation. IDEAS: Journal of English Literary Studies 5 2 135–148.
IEEE
[1]G. Albayrak, “The Translator in Limbo: Angela Carter’s ‘The Loves of Lady Purple’ as a Metaphor of Translation”, IDEAS, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 135–148, Oct. 2025, doi: 10.62352/ideas.1767641.
ISNAD
Albayrak, Gökhan. “The Translator in Limbo: Angela Carter’s ‘The Loves of Lady Purple’ As a Metaphor of Translation”. IDEAS: Journal of English Literary Studies 5/2 (October 1, 2025): 135-148. https://doi.org/10.62352/ideas.1767641.
JAMA
1.Albayrak G. The Translator in Limbo: Angela Carter’s “The Loves of Lady Purple” as a Metaphor of Translation. IDEAS. 2025;5:135–148.
MLA
Albayrak, Gökhan. “The Translator in Limbo: Angela Carter’s ‘The Loves of Lady Purple’ As a Metaphor of Translation”. IDEAS: Journal of English Literary Studies, vol. 5, no. 2, Oct. 2025, pp. 135-48, doi:10.62352/ideas.1767641.
Vancouver
1.Gökhan Albayrak. The Translator in Limbo: Angela Carter’s “The Loves of Lady Purple” as a Metaphor of Translation. IDEAS. 2025 Oct. 1;5(2):135-48. doi:10.62352/ideas.1767641

Cited By

IDEAS: Journal of English Literary Studies is published by The English Language and Literature Research Association of Türkiye (IDEA).