João Guimarães Rosa

[DouglasM]

Just an update about the translation of Grande Sertão: I watched a transmission with Alison Entrekin, the translator, in which she said she needs another year to complete the work and submit it to the editor, so it will probably be published sometime in 2022.

 

[tiganeasca]

?

 

[SpaceCadet]

I could not resist any longer... It's been sitting on my TBR shelf for more than a year now, and it kept calling my attention and... well, I've succumb and started reading it. I am approximately half way through. No comment until reach the end and digest it all. But so far... I can only thank you Douglas (or whoever first brought this one up) for bringing this book to my attention.

 

[Leseratte]

Guimaraes Rosa's works are not widely spread in the spanish speaking market either. However, there are at least a couple translations, one of them by Angel Crespo, who also translated Dante's Comedia and is claimed as one of the best translations available. This edition is quite old so you cannot buy it in a normal library but I've seen it in a few second-hand bookshops.

Thanks for opening this thread, Douglas. Judging from this excerpt, this new translation is maybe the one, that is most close to the original. It is less conventional than the first one (titled The Devil to Pay in the Backlands) and not based on pidgin English, but rich in neologism as is the translation by Felipe W.Martinez.
Another good approach to Rosa is The Third Bank of the River if this a translation of Primeiras Histórias as I think it is. This collection is wonderful but I don´t know the translation. I saw that it is available on Amazon and by far not as expensive as the few surviving copies of The Devil to Pay in the Backlands.

 

[Leseratte]

Interesting! I have read some criticism, but I guess you have an important point in regards to the difficulty of translating such authors.

I'm curious now: aside from Rosa and Joyce, what are other authors, writing in other languages, that provide the same level of challenge when it comes to translation? Never read it, but I heard Berlin Alexanderplatz can be a part of this list.

I think it certainly can!

 

[Leseratte]

Transferring two links from the Recent Purchases/Borrowings Thread.
An article by Noemi Jaffe about Guimarães Rosa:

Guimarães Rosa: The Writer of Love and Transcendence

By Noemi Jaffe Speaking Portuguese is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing for the beauty of the language, for the literature it has produced and for the cultures it represents, in Brazil, Portu…

glli-us.org

The opening paragraphs of the translations into English by Felipe W.Martinez:

João Guimarães Rosa Grand Sertão Grand Sertão: Veredas

João Guimarães Rosa Grand Sertão Grand Sertão: Veredas

www.academia.edu

 

[Leseratte]

Paths of Guimarães Rosa (Portuguese):

A viagem de Guimarães Rosa ao grande sertão

Neste dia, em 1967, falecia o escritor brasileiro que se lançara em uma jornada pelo interior de Minas Gerais

aventurasnahistoria.uol.com.br

 

[Ben Jackson]

A lot of people has talked about Rosa's Devil Pay in the Backlands. Apart from this work, can you guys recommend another key work?

 

[Benny Profane]

A lot of people has talked about Rosa's Devil Pay in the Backlands. Apart from this work, can you guys recommend another key work?

"Sagarana" and "Tutameia" (I don't know if both are available in English).

About this article on the beginning of this thread:

"Está no inferno? Abrace o 'djanho', leve pro chão e finalize-o".

"Are you in hell? Embrace the devil, take him for the ground and finnish him."

 

[Benny Profane]

A book about his career on Diplomacy (Portuguese):

http://funag.gov.br/biblioteca/download/Guimaraes_digital.pdf

 

[Z--]

Friends -- I've only recently begun exploring Brazilian literature, falling for the wonderful de Assis and Lispector. I've been very interested to read Guimaraes Rosa.

On that front, any word Alison's English translation of Grande Sertão? Last I saw on her website, looks to be aiming for 2023-2024, but curious for those of you might have more information.

 

[Benny Profane]

Friends -- I've only recently begun exploring Brazilian literature, falling for the wonderful de Assis and Lispector. I've been very interested to read Guimaraes Rosa.

On that front, any word Alison's English translation of Grande Sertão? Last I saw on her website, looks to be aiming for 2023-2024, but curious for those of you might have more information.

Thank you for your interest on Brazilian Literature. I do recommend this book: https://archive.org/details/braziliantales00gold

About Grande Sertão: Veredas, unfortunately, no.

 

[Z--]

Thank you for your interest on Brazilian Literature. I do recommend this book: https://archive.org/details/braziliantales00gold

About Grande Sertão: Veredas, unfortunatelly, no.

Thank you, Benny. I'll check these out. Do you have an opinion on Andrade's Macunaima?

Very sad to hear that we must wait longer. Alas. The first excerpt posted by the translator four years or so ago appeared fantastic to me. I can only hope that this edition will -- to the extent possible -- grant English-speakers greater insight and visibility to an author, whom, by all accounts, appears to be a very highly-rated.

 

[Benny Profane]

Thank you, Benny. I'll check these out. Do you have an opinion on Andrade's Macunaima?

Very sad to hear that we must wait longer. Alas. The first excerpt posted by the translator four years or so ago appeared fantastic to me. I can only hope that this edition will -- to the extent possible -- grant English-speakers greater insight and visibility to an author, whom, by all accounts, appears to be a very highly-rated.

Yes, I have. I don't like Macunaíma and Mário de Andrade's works, in general, but you could appappreciate them.

Well, it's very sad, indeed. The problem is that, in my country, the culture and arts in general are seen as "dead loss" and nobody minds about intellectual working.
Unfortunately, since I searched about the progress of translation, Alison was complaining about lack of incentives for translating.

 

[Leseratte]

Friends -- I've only recently begun exploring Brazilian literature, falling for the wonderful de Assis and Lispector. I've been very interested to read Guimaraes Rosa.

On that front, any word Alison's English translation of Grande Sertão? Last I saw on her website, looks to be aiming for 2023-2024, but curious for those of you might have more information.

I looked it up today. The translation has already got an important award though it isn't finished. The good news it that it is being sponsored by Italy Cultural, one of the most important cultural institutes of Sao Paulo linked to a big bank. That is a warrant that the translation is going to be finished.
The trouble of translating a complex doorstopper like Grande Sertao is that the translation doesn't pay itself in money. So the translator has to interrupt it often and translate easier stuff.

 

[Leseratte]

Mario de Andrade is one of the most important Brazilian Modernists. He was a poet, and he wrote short stories and novels. He was extremely innovative as to language and treatment of themes.

 

[Z--]

Yes, I have. I don't like Macunaíma and Mário de Andrade's works, but you could appappreciate them.

Well, it's very sad, indeed. The problem is that, in my country, the culture and arts in general are seen as "dead loss" and nobody minds about intellectual working.
Unfortunately, since I searched about the progress of translation, Alison was complaining about lack of incentives for translating.

This is unfortunately true in many places these days. Many hardly read nowadays, so I'm very happy to have found a forum like this to discuss our passion.

You seem very knowledgeable with respect to Brazilian literature, and I'd be immensely grateful for your recommendations!

I looked it up today. The translation has already got an important award though it isn't finished. The good news it that it is being sponsored by Italy Cultural, one of the most important cultural institutes of Sao Paulo linked to a big bank. That is a warrant that the translation is going to be finished.
The trouble of translating a complex doorstopper like Grande Sertao is that the translation doesn't pay itself in money. So the translator has to interrupt it often and translate easier stuff.

This is highly reassuring - thank you, Leseratte. Fingers crossed; I really respect this translator for taking her time, even if it means that we must wait longer. Will be excited to see your thoughts when this is out!

 

[Leseratte]

This is unfortunately true in many places these days. Many hardly read nowadays, so I'm very happy to have found a forum like this to discuss our passion.

You seem very knowledgeable with respect to Brazilian literature, and I'd be immensely grateful for your recommendations!

This is highly reassuring - thank you, Leseratte. Fingers crossed; I really respect this translator for taking her time, even if it means that we must wait longer. Will be excited to see your thoughts when this is out!

Thanks, Z --! As for Mário de Andrade, here are some links that might interest you and others that want to know more about this writer:

Mário de Andrade - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Brazilian Week of Modern Art celebrates 100 years

The Brazilian Week of Modern Art which took place in São Paulo at the Teatro Municipal in February 1922 is considered one of our richest and most interesting artistic movements. It bares our ties to European (specially French) art and literature and shows how through the concept of...

www.worldliteratureforum.com

This is a short link in this forum. It is mainly about the context of Mário de Andrade. At the end of it there is a copy of the film Macunaína, by Joaquim Pedro de Andrade with French under titles, a favorite of mine.

 

[Benny Profane]

This is unfortunately true in many places these days. Many hardly read nowadays, so I'm very happy to have found a forum like this to discuss our passion.

You seem very knowledgeable with respect to Brazilian literature, and I'd be immensely grateful for your recommendations!

Thank you for your kind words!

I don't know about your native language, but if it's English, I have some recomnendations of novels, for example.

Well, I'd like to recommend as a point of start reading the works by Machado de Assis and José de Alencar.
Lately, Aluíso Azevedo and Coelho Netto (the first Brazilian nominated to Nobel Prize)..
After, First Wave of Brazilian Modernism (Oswald de Andrade, Mário de Andrade, Manuel Bandeira, Raul Bopp, José Américo de Almeida, etc).
Then, Second Wave of Brazilian Modernism (Jorge Amado, Raquel de Queiroz, José Lins do Rego, etc).
After, Third Wave of Brazilian Modernism, Magic Realism and Post-Modernism (Clarice Lispector, Lygia Fagundes Telles, Lêdo Ivo, José J Veiga, etc).
And Brazilian New Sincerity (Caio Fernando Abreu, João Silvério Trevisan, João Gilberto Noll, etc).

Good luck, my dear!

 

[Leseratte]

Thank you for your kind words!

I don't know abour your native language, but if it's English, I have some recomnendations of novels, for example.

Well, I'd like to recommend as a point of start reading the works by Machado de Assis and José de Alencar.
Lately, Aluíso Azevedo and Coelho Netto (the first Brazilian nominated to Nobel Prize)..
After, First Wave of Brazilian Modernism (Oswald de Andrade, Mário de Andrade, Manuel Bandeira, Raul Bopp, José Américo de Almeida, etc).
Then, Second Wave of Brazilian Modernism (Jorge Amado, Raquel de Queiroz, José Lins do Rego, etc).
After, Third Wave of Brazilian Modernism, Magic Realism and Post-Modernism (Clarice Lispector, Lygia Fagundes Telles, Lêdo Ivo, José J Veiga etc).
And Brazilian New Sincery (Caio Fernando Abreu, João Silvério Trevisan, João Gilberto Noll, etc).

Good luck, my dear!

If one doesn´t know the prose author, it is usually good to start with the short fiction or the chronicles if he has written any.
By the way Snake Norato by Raul Bopp can also be found in English translation on the thread Celebration of 100 Years of Brazilian Week of Modern Art.