Translating Historical Trans Life-Writing

Abstract This essay presents the authors’ reflections on translating historical trans life-writing into English as collaborative work. It is based on the authors’ conversations over the past three years, comparing their positionalities and skill sets as educators, activists (Cheryl), and scholars (Margarita). Specifically, they discuss their work on translating biographical narratives by and about a Russian-Ukrainian hero of the Napoleonic wars and celebrated trans author Aleksandr Aleksandrov (Nadezhda Durova) (1783–1866). As the authors suggest throughout the article, translating trans biographies into English creates specific challenges when working with texts originally written in more gendered languages. The authors argue that Aleksandrov's transmasculine self-presentation, obvious in the original Russian, was erased in previous English translations that have embedded him in the canon of nineteenth-century women writers. The authors reflect on the challenges associated with reclaiming Aleksandrov's gender identity in the process of collaborative translation of secondary sources.