"Eumaeus" in the "Ulysses" of Joyce/Houaiss: or translation as appropriation of foreign ways of saying

Abstract

The fact that there are seven translations of James Joyce's "Dubliners" could indicate two diametrically opposite situations: on the one hand, that it is possible that the splendour of one of these versions would be able to suppress, temporarily at least, the need for another translation; on the other, that there is something in this book that resisted and keeps resisting to the most obstinate attempts of translation. However, the analysis of these translations will show that there are few differences between their proposals: in general terms, all them (four Brazilians and three Lusitanians) descended from the same project of preserving at any cost the superficial layer of sense, even when it delete some of his most intriguing characteristics (as some idioms of the characters appearing in the narrator's voice, or the numerous coloquial experiences, or the repetitions that create a web of signifiers inside the work). With that in mind and provided with a thorough knowledge of the English text as well as of the Portuguese translations, I undertake another attempt to translate it, an academic attempt with plenty of notes and a solid framework but bringing also to foreground the necessity of recreating a literary work, a work that deserves to be called literature. Hugh Kenner will be the touchstone regarding the Joycean work, while Walter Benjamin will illuminate new paths in translation studies. Guillermo Cabrera Infante, the bright Cuban writer and an admirer of Joyce, was my model of creative possibilities: we do not have a version as good as this one, yet. (AU)