Women's collaboration across literature and sport
What is it about?
This article shows that activities that can seem very different, such as literature and mountaineering, can instead be closely connected. I show how mountaineering is a very 'narrative' sport, and I focus on the circulation of mountaineering books in translation. In particular, I look at how the important memoir of the first ascent of Annapurna, by Maurice Herzog, was translated into English by two women climbers, Nea Morin and Janet Adam Smith, collaboratively. I look at their choices in the English version and discuss how this could change our understanding of the text if compared to the French version. I also highlight how it is significant that two women climbers translated this classic, establishing a parallel between their collaborative translation and their practice of manless climbing.