Here is an interview with Eirin Mouré
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2010/02/poetries-languages-and-selves-the-being-of-erin-moure/
In the light of this and any other factors, namely the preface to Sheep's Vigil by a Fervent Person (anthology, pp. 160-165), comment on text II's "transelation" by Erin Mouré (p. 165)
In the preface we learn that to Erin Mouré, translating Fernando Pessoa's heteronym Alberto Caeiro's poetry wasn't merely done with the intent to bring to life Pessoa's literary inheritance to an English speaking community, but instead to establish a sort of dialogue. As Mouré explains in her preface, as she read one or two lines of Pessoa, she would follow with a line and translation of her own as a form of response. This dynamic is clearly seen for instance in the II text, "Transelation" (p.165).
ReplyDeleteThroughout the poem there's a clear interplay, a relation between Caeiro's poems and her own all throughout the body of the text. A few poignant examples of this is seen where instead of staying literal she applies the original framework to encompass her own personal reality, like in verse 2, "I walk up Winnett to Vaughan Road all the time" or in the last stanza "To love is to abide in innocence, hey, I'm still amazed... And I'm 45, just pulling my T-Shirt on..." In sum, Mouré's "Transelation" is not based on fidelity in the original sense, but instead on creative engagement, thus becoming a hybrid space where Pessoa's poetry and her subjectivity can clearly coexist thus displaying how translation can also be an interpritive act.
ReplyDeleteErín Mouré's interview helps explain what she means by calling Sheep's Vigil by a Fervent Person a "transelation" rather than a translation. She argues that translation is not simply carrying meaning from one language to another but a meeting between texts, languages, and selves. The translator inevitably becomes part of the work, bringing their own experiences, voice, and perspective into the poem.
Instead of copying Caeiro's pastoral Portuguese setting exactly, Mouré brings the poem into her own world, introducing elements of Canada and her own lived experience. This reflects what she describes in the interview as the constant "folding and refolding" of texts. The goal is not to recreate an untouched original, but to allow the poem to live again in a new language, place, and body. In this sense, Mouré's "transelation" becomes a conversation with Caeiro rather than a faithful reproduction of him.
-Clarita Kroon
Translating poetry is a delicate matter, approached very differently by different schools of thoughts: while at times the fidelity to the original text is valued as the ultimate goal, there are many instances in which translators prioritise an accurate rendition of the poetical sense of the text rather than its mere literal translation.
ReplyDeleteAuthor Erín Moure might be seen as being closer to attempting the second approach – but she operates in such an unprecedented way that she seems to be effectively creating a new category for herself. She is aware of it, too, as she coins for her work the term ‘Trans(e)lation’, a name which includes the elation she feels and the e of her own name.
She ‘transelates’ particularly Pessoa, whose poem "Sheep’s Vigil by a Fervent Person" she defined as “a text of multiplied subjectivities” in her interview with Sina Queyras. A more literal translation would not have worked, she seems to imply, as it would not have “respected the excess subjectivity”.
Upon reading her translation of Pessoa’s “O meu olhar é nitido como um girasol”, the reader might be puzzled by the second verse, where she substitutes the generical “andar pelas estradas” with “walk up Winnett to Vaughan Road”, so as to indicate the roads that are specific to her own lived experience. This immediately changes the expectation created by the fact that the two texts – the original and the translation – are visually juxtaposed as in “traditional” translations. It is a trans(e)lation, as previously mentioned, and the approach to the reading will inevitably be somewhat different: the wandering eye of the reader will jump from Pessoa’s verses to Moure’s ones, not to check the accuracy of the translation, but precisely to be thrilled by how diverging it often is, while at the same time, managing to similar in the emotion it evokes.
An example of this is in the first stanza, where Moure translates the verses in which Pessoa – or rather, Caeiro – describes his amazement upon observing the world, similar to a child gaining consciousness and realising they’re born. In Moure’s words: “I feel like a child in a T-shirt / amazed by just being born / and realizing “hey, I’m born”…
Her translation has a less sober tone than Pessoa’s verses, as it is very simple and comedic in tone, especially through the image of a child in a T-shirt: but in this way, it manages to capture the child-like wonder in an astonishing manner. This image she uses again in the last two verses, which are not even trying to relate to certain specific lines in Pessoa’s poem as they are her own addition: “hey, I’m still amazed… / And I’m 45, just pulling my T-shirt on…”.
Moure’s work is great at reflecting upon the "excess of subjectivities" that is present not only in Pessoa - though it is lampant in his oeuvre - but in all poetry in general: a poem is usually overflowing with possible interpretations of which we can only catch a glimpse, that is, our own trans(e)lation. Moure’s publishing of her trans(e)lations allows us to experience also the inner process that takes place in her mind upon reading Pessoa, and challenges the traditional understanding of the practice of translation.
I forgot to change the user's name! I am adding it here
Delete- Erina Puka