Fictional Translations: Pablo Neruda’s “Oda al actor,” by Ilan Stavans

Fictional Translations: Pablo Neruda’s “Oda al actor,” by Ilan Stavans Poetry [email protected] Mon, 06/26/2023 - 13:48 Photo by throgers / FlickrIn what follows, I have created three heteronyms to render Pablo Neruda’s “Oda al actor” into English. They are presented in chronological order by date of birth. Their views on translation are dramatically different: one specializes in baroque styles but looks at Neruda to achieve the opposite—“simplicity as art”; another uses ChatGPT to “delegate responsibility”; and a third, part of Gen Z, believes in “humility in language as a strategy to liberate the world.” These are their bios and philosophical stands: Born in Manchester and raised in Bogotá, Jacinta Candelaria (1933–2007) studied at the London School of Economics before moving to Phoenix, where she was part of the Chicano Movement. Candelaria translated Tomás Rivera’s And the Earth Did Not Part (1981), then engaged with baroque Latin American writers such as Severo Sarduy (Christ of Rue Jacob, 1987), José Lezama Lima (Havana: City of Columns, 1993), and Gustavo Pardeles (Loveless Love, 1996). Her penchant for ornamented authors is in contrast with the simplicity of Neruda, whose work she repeatedly translated (Ode to Typography, 2004; Album of Birds, 2005; and Sea Quake, 2006). “The translation’s task, I’ve learned over time,” Candelaria stated in an interview in The Telegraph (August 6, 1999), “is to vanish without... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'

[ World Literature Today | 2023-06-26 18:48:50 UTC ]
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