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Translated written communication involves the participation of at least one author, one translator and one reader. At least one further discourse participant is necessary if this written text is adapted into a spoken medium: the voice-over artist. However, in the spoken medium not only does the number of discourse participants increase, but the voice of this latter discourse participant becomes material. This chapter argues that the introduction of such an additional voice can have a significant impact on the mental representation the audience constructs of the narrative. Taking the example of Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart (2001), I shall illustrate how the translation from English book to German audio-book shifts the narrative's perspective and focalization by shifting the reader's construction of the narrator's embodiment and cultural belonging. The shifts in perspective and focalization in turn, as will be shown, can have an impact on the audience's projection into the story-world and, hence, its empathy with the characters. Furthermore, these shifts can have an impact on the audience's construction of the narrator's attitude towards the characters, which in turn can also affect its own attitude towards the characters and story events. Ultimately, such shifts can have an impact on the audience's world view — an issue that is particularly relevant in the case of narratives of conflict such as Things Fall Apart, where the target audience is part of the other against which the narrative writes.

DOI: 10.1057/9781137310057_11

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