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Neohelicon (2016) 43:577589
DOI 10.1007/s11059-016-0325-1
Albert Braz1
Published online: 9 May 2016 Akadmiai Kiad, Budapest, Hungary 2016
Abstract A dening characteristic of peripheral literatures is their dependence on translation to enter world literature. However, in order for translated texts to circulate beyond the cultures in which they are produced, they must survive the act of being rendered into other languages. This is something that does not always occur in creative translations, which usually aim to re-imagine the source text rather than to reproduce it. Thus if the translation differs signicantly from the source text, such as Erin Mours Sheeps Vigil by a Fervent Person: A Transelation of Alberto Caeiro/ Fernando Pessoas O Guardador de Rebanhos, it is not self-evident that the original will be able to enter the world literary system.
Keywords World literature Translation Erin Mour/Eirin Moure Alberto
Caeiro/Fernando Pessoa Heteronyms
One of the most exciting developments in contemporary comparative literature is the increasing acceptance of the functional paradigm. As David Porter suggests in the 2011 issue of Profession, it is extremely productive to approach literature not with the Herderian assumption that every text incarnates the culture of its origin but with the proposition that every text is always a hybrid product of multiple origins and is always on its way to someplace else (2011, 253). That is, texts should be assessed according to their trajectory across both space and time rather than their genre or national genealogy. Yet even if one rejects the validity of the concept of literary nationality, it is not self-evident that the functional paradigm is necessarily going to lead to a more diverse or equitable world of letters. After all, the main challenge in world literature continues to be the fact that most texts can only enter
& Albert Braz [email protected]
1 Department of English and Film Studies, University of Alberta, 3-5 Humanities Centre,
Edmonton, AB T6G 2E5, Canada
http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s11059-016-0325-1&domain=pdf
Web End = http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s11059-016-0325-1&domain=pdf
Web End = The uneven world of letters: textual migration, translation, and world literature
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its hallowed domain through what Georg Brandes termed the lamentable necessity of translation (1899, 63; see also Braz 2014). The shift toward functionalism does not seem to alleviate this problem. On the contrary, it is likely to...