Re-Discovering Brazilian Literary History: the Case for Translation (original) (raw)
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Brazilian Transcreation and World Literature
Journal of World Literature, 2016
How does one translate an avant-garde classic? How might a translation mediate between experimentalism and canonicity as a work travels away from its culture of origin? This article studies Héctor Olea’s Spanish translation of Mário de Andrade’s Macunaíma (1928) as one response to these questions from a Latin American translation zone. First translated for the Barcelona publishing house Seix Barral (1977), his work soon traveled back across the Atlantic to be re-edited into a critical edition for Biblioteca Ayacucho (1979). This article examines letters from the publisher’s archive to demonstrate that debates over the novel as avant-garde art, literary ethnography, or Brazilian national allegory influenced their views on translation. By including two incompatible translation approaches—transcreation and thick translation—the volume reveals an unresolved paradoxical treatment of cultural hybridity at the heart of the text.
Post-colonial translation, visibility and exoticism: the Brazilian case
Tradução & Comunicação, 2010
This article draws on the relation between Pos-colonial Studies, Brazilian linguistic formation and the visibility of Brazilian Portuguese in the globalized world. Considering the process of construction of Brazilian society and language, the objective of this paper was to show how the process of mingling and hibridization of several different languages and cultures, resulting from the process of colonization and slavery, generated what we chose to call a new "plural" language. Additionally, this article defends that concepts applied to other former colonies are always applicable to Brazil, due to the peculiar form Brazil developed its relations with its colonizer(s) also developed in a singular ways, which included the temporary transformation of the "colony" in "metropolis". Next, we try to discuss the processes that allowed the empowering of popular language in Brazil and the procedures that might empower Brazilian language in the world. We highlight, in special, the question of nationalism in the first period of Brazilian Modernism and the advent of Oswald de Andrade's ideas of "anthropophagy". We also discuss the use of "code-switching" techniques, as well as of (neo)anthropophagic ones. In order to do that, examples of Brazilian translated literature and of the dissemination of Brazilian popular music using those techniques are displayed.
Brazilian Transcreation and World Literature Macunaíma Journeys from São Paulo to Caracas
Journal of World Literature, 2016
How does one translate an avant-garde classic? How might a translation mediate between experimentalism and canonicity as a work travels away from its culture of origin? This article studies Héctor Olea's Spanish translation of Mário de Andrade's Macunaíma (1928) as one response to these questions from a Latin American translation zone. First translated for the Barcelona publishing house Seix Barral (1977), his work soon traveled back across the Atlantic to be re-edited into a critical edition for Biblioteca Ayacucho (1979). This article examines letters from the publisher's archive to demonstrate that debates over the novel as avant-garde art, literary ethnography, or Brazilian national allegory influenced their views on translation. By including two incompatible translation approaches—transcreation and thick translation—the volume reveals an unresolved paradoxical treatment of cultural hybridity at the heart of the text. Keywords Macunaíma – Mário de Andrade – Héctor Olea – untranslatables – transcreation – Biblioteca Ayacucho How should an avant-garde classic be translated? How might a translation mediate between experimentalism and canonicity? Macunaíma: o herói sem nenhum caráter (Macunaíma: the hero without any character) (1928) by Mário de Andrade (1893–1945) is a central text of the avant-garde movement known as Brazilian modernismo. Borrowing stories and narrative techniques from indigenous cultures and European avant-gardes, this novel provokes debate about the placement of indigenous and European cultural forms in Brazilian cul
The history of translation in Brazil through the centuries: In search of a tradition.pdf
A World Atlas of Translation., 2019
This report attempts to give an overview of the history of translation and interpretation in Brazil from the 16th century to the present. It seeks to show important historical characters, works and processes in Translation Studies in Portuguese America in order to discover a possible Brazilian translation tradition. The main paradigms of the History of Brazilian translation are also found in the historical events that took place during each century. In brief, the essay is a panoramic and critical view for non-specialists of the history of the Brazilian tradition of interpretation and translation.
OTHER MODES OF THE FOREIGN VIEWPOINT ON BRAZILIAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE
The first class: transits of Brazilian literature abroad [electronic resource] /organization Pedro Meira Monteiro ; translation John Norman. – São Paulo: Itaú Cultural, 2014; pp. 190-197. English version of: A primeira aula: trânsitos da literatura brasileira no estrangeiro Available in Portuguese and Spanish Text (PDF) ISBN 978-85-7979-055-3
Concepts and Contests in the Translation of Indigenous Poetics in Brazil
This study examines the creative and theoretical engagement of contemporary Brazilian translators with the specificities of the translation of lowland South American Indigenous verbal arts into Portuguese. Amerindian verbal arts, as a field of scholarly interest, have been mobilizing the commitment and expertise of more and more linguists, ethnologists, and translation and literature researchers in the country. As the applicability of concepts such as " literature " , " poetry " and " verbal arts " to Amerindian poetics is questioned by many of them, this article offers a critical review of recurring tensions in scholarly discourse. Résumé : Cette étude présente l'engagement créatif et théorique des traducteurs brésiliens contemporains avec plus particulièrement la traduction de l'art verbal des autochtones des basses terres d'Amérique du Sud vers le portugais. L'art verbal amérindien, en tant que domaine de recherche universitaire, mobilise de plus en plus l'engagement et l'expertise de linguistes, d'ethnologues, de traductologues et de chercheurs en littérature dans le pays. L'application de concepts tels que ceux de " littérature " , " poésie " et " art verbal " à la poétique autochtone étant largement remise en question par bon nombre d'entre eux, cet article propose un examen critique des tensions récurrentes que l'on retrouve dans les discours savants.
Scientia Traductionis
CARLOS S. C. TEIXEIRA lice Leal's Is the glass half empty or half full? Reflections on translation theory and practice in Brazil is a thorough study of many different topics that are relevant to Translation Studies these days. The book is ambitious in the sense that it addresses topics as diverse as translator professionalization (and the status of the profession), the goals of Translation Studies, the institutionalisation of Translation Studies, essentialism vs. non-essentialism, theory vs. practice, and translator training. It also goes beyond the scope of Translation Studies by touching on epistemological issues such as modern vs. post-modern theories, scientism, and the role of higher education. The 'glass' allegory in the title of the book is used by Leal to illustrate how different standpoints can affect the perception of the same object. It also allows her to talk about optimism vs. pessimism, since deconstruction has often been accused of being pessimistic and nihilist. Finally, it serves the purpose of showing how two apparently opposite concepts (full vs. empty) can actually be part of the same integral understanding of a given object; this brings in the opportunity to introduce the Derridian concept of double bind. Although the title also announces that the book will focus on Brazil, the topics that are covered are universal enough to be of interest to scholars in many countries. When the topics are specifically Brazilian, any cultural references are explained in detail, so the foreign reader will find it easy to follow the discussions. On the structural level, the book has several useful (backward and forward) cross-references. While these can make the text sound repetitive at times, they also allow for a non-linear reading and turn the book into a good reference work. The chapter titles are well chosen and typographical errors are hardly to be found, indicating a positive concern with the reader and sound proofreading. The book is divided into four parts. In Part I, Leal presents the main concepts that will be dealt with and the questions that will be addressed throughout the book. Parts II and III are dedicated to two Brazilian scholars-Rosemary Arrojo and Paulo Henriques Britto, respectively-who represent opposing views on the topics covered in the book. Finally, Part IV wraps up the discussion raised in Part I and illustrated in Parts II and III.
Translating brazilian poetry: a blueprint for a dissenting canon and cross-cultural anthology
2011
With the aim of creating a new anthology in English of canonical and contemporary Brazilian poetry from 1922 to the present day, this thesis investigates both the Brazilian poetic canon and the cross-cultural Anglo-Brazilian poetic canon. It examines the formation and selection criteria of anthologies in both literary cultures, and strategies and approaches for poetry translation. Finally it discusses three of the poets and their poems chosen for the project, analyses the translations, and evaluates the finished product.
THE COLONIAL REVERBERATIONS OF LIVRARIA DO GLOBO TRANSLATIONS IN 1930S BRAZIL
Cadernos de Tradução, 2019
This paper investigates early postcolonial Brazil through the lens of one of its most prominent publishers, Livraria do Globo, seeking to define the links between literary translation and supposedly receding colonial power. In an analysis of nine English-language translations by this publisher in the 1930s, what at first made little sense in terms of coherent translation policy actually evinced a still powerful colonial influence. France, Portugal and England seemed to struggle within the pages of these books, while Brazilian nationalism and the systematization of Brazilian Portuguese simultaneously unfolded.