From Periphery to Center? : The Collector of Treasures by Bessie Head (1977): The Translation and (Mis)reconstruction of an African Woman's Identity in Spanish , Italian and French

Abstract

Bessie Head was a South African writer who has finally entered the great canon of Southern African literatures written in English. Her life experience of suffering, her search for a new life in a new environment and country Botswana, her balanced but disturbing ideas, her interest in women's experience and the high quality of her writing are some of the unavoidable points of interest when dealing with her work. Furthermore, Bessie Head has also been translated into other European languages. This article deals with the Spanish, Italian and French translations of one of her most popular short stories, The Collector of Treasures, which can be regarded as both an intelligent and a very emotive text. In other words, it involves Gender Studies, African identities and Translation and Intercultural Studies at playas well as the travelling of a peripheral text to a set of different European Centres.