Les défis de la traduction d'œuvres hétérolingues: L'ambigua avventura de Cheikh Hamidou Kane

When preparing to translate sub-Saharan francophone literatures, also known as heterolinguistic literatures (Grutman, 1997), the cultural question is at the heart of the translation process. In this specific case, even before the translator, it is the sub-Saharan African author himself who performs a transposition from his mother tongue into a European language. His writing language is, in fact, merely the product of a multilingual, multicultural, and polyglossic context. Taking this issue into account, we have chosen to analyze the Italian translation of the famous novel "L'aventure ambiguë" by Senegalese writer Cheikh Hamidou Kane (1961). The examination of the source text and the target text, focusing specifically on the analysis of some elements of the paratextual apparatus, realias, as well as metaphors, reveals the challenges the translator must face when approaching heterolinguistic sub-Saharan texts. Finally, we attempt to outline some criteria that define the profile of a good translator of this type of text.