This volume contributes to the transnational interpretation of Gombrowicz by bringing together a distinguished group of North American, Latin American, and European scholars to offer new analyses in three distinct themes of study that have not as yet been greatly explored â Translation, Affect and Politics. How does one translate not only Gombrowicz's words into various languages, but the often cultural-laden meaning and the particular style and tone of his writing? What is it that passes between author and reader that causes an affect? How did Gombrowicz's negotiation of the turbulent political worlds of Poland and Argentina shape his writing? The three divisions of this collection address these questions from multiple perspectives, thereby adding significantly to little known aspects of his work.
Frequently asked questions
Simply head over to the account section in settings and click on âCancel Subscriptionâ - itâs as simple as that. After you cancel, your membership will stay active for the remainder of the time youâve paid for. Learn more here.
At the moment all of our mobile-responsive ePub books are available to download via the app. Most of our PDFs are also available to download and we're working on making the final remaining ones downloadable now. Learn more here.
Both plans give you full access to the library and all of Perlegoâs features. The only differences are the price and subscription period: With the annual plan youâll save around 30% compared to 12 months on the monthly plan.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, weâve got you covered! Learn more here.
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Yes, you can access Gombrowicz in Transnational Context by Silvia Dapia in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literature & Literary Collections. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
On the Spanish Translation of Gombrowiczâs Ferdydurke1
Daniel Balderston
As is well known, the first translation of Gombrowicz into any language was the collective translation undertaken by the Polish writer with an unruly group of some twenty friends and acquaintances in the chess parlor of the ConfiterĂa Rex in 1947.2 It was published by Editorial Argos in Buenos Aires in that year with Gombrowicz crediting Virgilio Piñera, the Cuban writer, as leading the group, which was also composed of such people as the Cuban Humberto RodrĂguez Tomeu, the Argentine Adolfo de Obieta (son of Macedonio FernĂĄndez), and many others.3 I wrote about the relations between Ferdydurke and Piñeraâs novel Pequeñas maniobras more than thirty years ago,4 but could not have known then that Gombrowicz gave Piñera nineteen pages related to the project, including seventeen pages of hand-corrected typescript. These were sold by Piñeraâs friend and heir AntĂłn Arrufat (along with other Piñera materials) to the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division of the Firestone Library at Princeton University.5
In what follows, I analyze these pages, most of which correspond to the latter part of what was to be Chapter 9 of the Argos edition. I also refer to the English translation done directly from the Polish by Danuta Borchardt and published by Yale University Press in 2000.6 The importance of these pages is that they show some aspects of the translation process, including handwritten corrections by Gombrowicz. The pages also include a letter from Gombrowicz to Graciela Peyrou and some notes for the preface to the Spanish edition, as well as some notes on style (âDecirâ).
There are several letters from Gombrowicz to Piñera and RodrĂguez Tomeu, written in January 1947 from Cecilia Benedit de Debenedettiâs house in the Sierras de CĂłrdoba town of Salsipuedes.11 In them Gombrowicz speaks of Beneditâs hospitality and support of the translation, at the same time urging Piñera and RodrĂguez Tomeu to carry on with the project. There is also the information that Gombrowicz met Benedit at the home of Antonio Berni, the notable Argentine painter.12 Gombrowicz called Benedit âCondesa,â and refers to his life at this point in Buenos Aires as oscillating between the realm of the âCondesaâ and the area near the Retiro train stations (Gombrowiczâs preferred cruising grounds).
An important page of the Princeton materials is a brief and partly illegible handwritten notation called âDecirâ (Figure 1.2) in Gombrowiczâs handwriting. In it he says the following:
In this note, written on the verso of the page in which he outlines the Spanish edition, he also notes âOjo. Algunas partes del texto no estĂĄn todavĂa corregidas y falta la Ășltima revisiĂłnâ (âAttention: some parts of the text are not yet corrected and the final revision has not been done).â This indicates a concern with the accuracy and style of the translation, something that is also a concern in the note by the translators (perhaps written by Piñera).
Now it is worth examining the translation and comparing it to the Polish version and to the Borchardt translation. On page 5 of the Princeton materials (page 161 of the typescript and page 161 of the Argos edition), we read:
The typescript is identical to the Argos edition here. The Polish version reads:
Pensjonarka spaĆa wĆaĆciwie nie prywatnie, lecz publicznie, nie miaĆa nocnego ĆŒycia prywatnego, a twarda publicznoĆÄ dziewczyny ĆÄ czyĆa jÄ z EuropÄ , z AmerykÄ , z Hitlerem, Mussolinim i Stalinem, z obozami pracy, z chorÄ gwiÄ , z hotelem, dworcem kolejowym, stwarzaĆa zasiÄg niezmiernie rozlegĆy, kÄ cik wĆasny wykluczaĆa.13
The notable change here is the exclusion in the Spanish version of the specific mention of Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin. On the same page, there is an identical typo in the manuscript and in the Argos edition: a reference to Fred Astaire and Gingers, not Ginger, Rogers; a strikethrough eliminates a reference to two zlotys (six in the Polish version).
On this and the following pages it is clear that the handwritten correctionsâin fountain pen in Gombrowiczâs handwriting and in pencil in some other handâcorrespond precisely to the version that was published by Argos. A minor difference appears on page 164 of the typescript: âÂĄOh, el pandemaonio de la colegiala moderna!,â which becomes âÂĄOh, el pandemonium de la colegiala moderna!â on page 163 of the Argos edition. The Polish text reads, âO, pandemonium pensjonarki nowoczesnej!â14 Here the correction of the spelling, in pencil, then cedes to the use of the Latin word. Later in the same paragraph âbellezaâ is corrected to âhermosuraâ and âhermosuraâ to âbeldad,â no doubt because of a prejudice in Spanish style against the repetition of words in near proximity; the English here repeats âbeauty.â15 The passage is interesting in the typescript, since it shows an extended concern with questions of style (Figure 1.3):
Hay algo ultra conmovedor en eso de que sĂłlo las personas sujetas a la disciplina de la bellezahermosura tienen acceso a ciertaos vergĂŒenzasvergonzosos contenidos psĂquicos de la humanidad. ÂĄOh, la muchacha, aquel receptĂĄculo de la infamiavergĂŒenza cerrado con la llave de la hermosura!beldad! AquĂ, aen este temple, cada uno, joven o viejo depositaba tales cosas que posiblemente preferirĂa morir tres veces seguidas y quemarse a fumaza lenta (?) fuego lento antes de que eso fuesen dadoas a la publicidad⊠Y el rostro del siglo â el rostro del siglo XX, del siglo de la confusiĂłn de las edades, aparecĂa dubitativamente como un Sileno,. desde la espesura. (Itâs a wondrous thing that only those constrained by beautyloveliness have access to certain shamesshameful psychological contents of humankind. Oh, a girl, that receptacle of disgraceshame, locked under lovelinessbeautyâs key!â Here, atin this temple, each man, whether young or old brought such things that he would probably prefer to die three times and be roasted slow fume (?) over slow fire rather than publicize themâŠ. And the face of this century â the face of the twenti...
Table of contents
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I Lost in Translation
Part II Cartography of Affect in Gombrowiczâs Works