Nísia Floresta, Clarice Lispector and Translating Brazilian Women Writers

Wednesday’s theme at the Conference of Brazilian Women Writers in New York was “Evocando Nísia Floresta” (Evoking Nísia Floresta), and there were several fascinating presentations about Nísia Floresta. I must admit, I had never heard of Nísia Floresta. I learned from Peggy Sharpe, of the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics at Florida State University, that Nísia Floresta (1810-1885) was an abolitionist and a feminist who also championed the cause of educational reform and especially education for women. Floresta wrote novels and Indianist poetry (promoting and admiring native people).

Peggy Sharpe’s paper, entitled “Educating Heroines” was about Floresta’s work on educational reform in the 1830s and 1840s.  Floresta wrote a book in 1842 titled “Conselhos a minha filha” (advice to my daughter) which was very popular. Peggy Sharpe said that through this book, Nísia Floresta was passing on her values as a teacher and mother to the next generation. Before “Conselhos a minha filha,” the role of passing values along to the next generation had been dominated by the clergy. I’m grateful to Peggy Sharpe, Charlotte Liddell (University of Manchester in the UK) and Constância Lima Duarte (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais) for sharing their fascinating analyses of Nísia Floresta and for educating me on this important figure in Brazilian literary history!

In the afternoon, there was a wonderful panel discussion about translating Brazilian women writers. The discussion focused mainly on translating Clarice Lispector. The panel was hosted by Elizabeth Lowe, Earl Fitz, and Gregory Rabassa. Lowe (University of Illinois) and Fitz (Vanderbilt University) are professors and translators, and Gregory Rabassa was actually their professor at CUNY! So their panel was a bit of a reunion–very conversational and informal. I loved it! I had seen Mr. Rabassa a few weeks earlier, in his lively discussion with Nélida Piñon about the translation of her book “Vozes do Deserto“.

Elizabeth Lowe spoke about gender and translation, and she said that the act of translating evokes strong emotions–sometimes even a sense of rivalry between the translator and the author! She said that the act of translating Brazilian women writers catapults them onto a much larger, international stage. She asked the question “what do translations do to the dialog between nations?” Lowe pointed out that Clarice Lispector didn’t express herself as a Jewish Brazilian woman, but rather used her unique style to give a voice to those who aren’t normally heard, like Macabéia in “Hora da Estrela.”

Earl Fitz then discussed the fact that a translator of Clarice does not want to “muddy the waters” of Clarice’s characteristic tone and style. He said that “Clarice’s texts merged the best of poetry and philosophy.” He said that gender, syntax, and tone are crucial to understanding Clarice. Mr. Rabassa continued by saying that he doesn’t handle Clarice differently than other writers because he always focuses on the text instead of the author. However, he said that he likes to ask himself “How would Clarice, with her little quirks and twists, say this in English?” Mr. Rabassa said that it’s helpful to picture Clarice speaking English and to imagine a regionalism to Clarice’s English, like a sertanejo (backlander of Brazil) speaking English. How would that person sound? What kinds of words would she use?

There was a fascinating conversation after the three panelists shared their thoughts. Emanuelle Oliveira, from Vanderbilt University, and Paula Gândara, from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, both asked interesting follow-up questions. There was a discussion about Lya Luft’s use of “morte…ela” (“she” instead of “it” for death) and whether the translator should give death a gender in an English-language edition. I especially enjoyed hearing from Professors Lowe, Fitz, and Rabassa about their experiences with the texts of Clarice Lispector. I just read “Hora da Estrela” recently, and it had made me very curious about the experience of translating Clarice’s intriguing prose.

Next Post: Cecília Meireles’ poetry and political change in Brazil