The work of Machado de Assis in the United States: study of the paratexts of the first translations (1952-1984)

Abstract

The proposed research aims at reuniting and studying the paratexts of the American editions of Machado de Assis' work, more specifically, those produced for the 12 editions of his work published in the United States between the decades of 1950 and 1980. Paratexts, while intermediaries between the literary text and the public that will receive it and for which it must be made attractive, is understood here as verbal productions that serve for presenting a literary work to a more or less specific collectivity. As such, by adopting as a theoretical fundament the work of French critic Gérard Genette, and by making use of studies on translation in the context of inter-American relations, the research first seeks to identify and organize the paratexts of the above-mentioned editions in a systematized whole, to analyze them in a second moment and understand in what way translators and editors interpreted and framed Machado de Assis through paratextual production. The proposed research starts at and converses with the study developed by supervising professor Hélio de Seixas Guimarães, of the University of São Paulo, on the circulation and the reception of the first translations of the work of Machado de Assis to English, in the context of the United States from 1950 onwards, with support by FAPESP through a Research Grant - Regular (Proc. 20/02389-6). Based on the primary sources, the editions in their original format, collected by the supervising professor of the project, the research expects to reach conclusions that contribute to a better understanding of the role and influence of the referred paratexts in a crucial moment of internationalization of Brazilian literature: the propagation of Machado de Assis' work over the first four decades in which it started to circulate in English, mainly through translations and editions carried out in the United States. (AU)