Entre Terra Sonâmbula e Sleepwalking Land: as (im)possibilidades da tradução literária.

Abstract

Between Terra Sonâmbula and Sleepwalking Land: the (im)possibilities of literary translation. The author of a literary work has influences from social practices consistent to the historical moment and the sociocultural context of an era. Similarly, the translator's strategies result from historical and ideological conditions that often lead to the conclusion of a translation. Since Mia Couto’s writing process takes place while breaking with a Western logic configuration, as evidenced in his transgressing narratives, this study aims to present the strategies applied in the translation of Terra Sonâmbula into English, Sleepwalking Land. It also conducts to a descriptive study of the original work and its translation from the perspective of Translation Theory and the Cultural Studies, rising issues involving language, society and culture. In order to develop the analysis of both texts simultaneously, the categories were established through the organization of the original text and the translated text in parallel. In addition, the corpora of this research consist of the literary work of Mia Couto, Terra Sonâmbula, originally written in Portuguese, and its translation into English, Sleepwalking Land, by David Brookshaw. Firstly, the present study aims to observe how the translator has dealt with some linguistic features present in Terra Sonâmbula, which has marked the descriptive features of the first phase. The analysis focuses on the perception of the cultural significance in Translation Studies, as a means to understand how local elements of Mozambican culture were implemented in the overall context of the English language, through the domestication and foreignization strategies, discussed by Venuti (1995) and the deforming tendencies discussed by Berman (2012). Findings show that the domestication strategy was prevalent in Sleepwalking Land, resulting on the mitigation of cultural significance in Terra Sonâmbula. Concerning foreignization, the findings point to a no less coercive process of cultural redefinition, since it contributes to perpetuation of stereotypes and undermines the symmetry of cultural interrelation. Thus, through the discussion of the cultural aspects, we conclude that the concepts of equivalence and fidelity not sit the literary translation process and the deconstruction of these illusory notions must be understood both in theory and practice of translation.