The Translator’s Visibility: Scenes from Contemporary Latin American Fiction (Literatures, Cultures, Translation)

At the intersection of translation studies and Latin American literary studies, The Translator's Visibility examines contemporary novels by a cohort of writers – including prominent figures such as Cristina Rivera Garza, César Aira, Mario Bellatin, Valeria Luiselli, and Luis Fernando Verissimo – who foreground translation in their narratives. Drawing on Latin America's long tradition of critical and creative engagement of translation, these novels explicitly, visibly, use major tropes of translation theory – such as gendered and spatialized metaphors for the practice, and the concept of untranslatability – to challenge the strictures of intellectual property and propriety while shifting asymmetries of discursive authority, above all between the original as a privileged repository of meaning and translation as its hollow emulation. In this way, The Translator's Visibility show that translation not only serves to renew national literatures through an exchange of ideas and forms; when rendered visible, it can help us reimagine the terms according to which those exchanges take place. Ultimately, it is a book about language and power: not only the ways in which power wields language, but also the ways in which language can be used to unseat power. At the intersection of translation studies and Latin American literary studies, The Translator's Visibility examines contemporary novels by a cohort of writers - including prominent figures such as Cristina Rivera Garza, Cesar Aira, Mario Bellatin, Valeria Luiselli, and Luis Fernando Verissimo - who foreground translation in their narratives.0 Drawing on Latin America's long tradition of critical and creative engagement of translation, these novels explicitly, visibly, use major tropes of translation theory - such as gendered and spatialized metaphors for the practice, and the concept of untranslatability - to challenge the strictures of intellectual property and propriety while shifting asymmetries of discursive authority, above all between the original as a privileged repository of meaning and translation as its hollow emulation. In this way, The Translator's Visibility show that translation not only serves to renew national literatures through an exchange of ideas and forms; when rendered visible, it can help us reimagine the terms according to which those exchanges take place. Ultimately, it is a book about language and power: not only the ways in which power wields language, but also the ways in which language can be used to unseat power Cover 1 Contents 8 Introduction: Against Propriety 10 I. A Tradition of Translation 11 II. The Translator’s Visibility 25 1 Monsters and Parricides 32 I. Tea for One 38 II. In the Name of the Father 44 III. Of Bastards and Clones 49 2 Foreign Correspondence 64 I. A Few Notes on (Un)Translation 68 II. Fragments of a Vessel 73 III. The Problem with False Friends 79 IV. The Problem with True Friends 83 V. Best Enemies 92 3 Writing in the Margins 96 I. On the (Foot-)Printed Page 102 II. The Hermeneutic (Com-)Motion 109 III. A Re-writer on the Edge 119 IV. Playing Along 124 4 Writing off the Map 130 I. Carpet and Fringe 138 II. Quite a View You’ve Got Here 143 III. Into the Woods 152 Coda: Reading for Distance 160 Acknowledgments 166 Bibliography 169 Index 190 Introduction: Against propriety. A tradition of translation -- The translator's visibility -- Monsters and parricides : misadventures in textual reproduction. Tea for one -- In the name of the father -- Of bastards and clones -- Foreign correspondence : the politics of untranslatability. A few notes on (un-)translation -- Fragments of a vessel -- The problem with false friends -- The problem with true friends -- Best enemies -- Writing in the margins : the case of Mario Bellatin. On the (foot-)printed page -- The hermeneutic (com-)motion -- A re-writer on the edge -- Playing along -- Writing off the map. Quite a view you've got here -- Into the woods -- Coda: Reading for distance "At the juncture of translation theory and literary criticism, The Translator's Visibility reveals the radical notion of creativity behind the motif of translation in contemporary Latin American fiction, and explores the cultural and political implications of the unique relationship this gesture establishes between language and power"-- Provided by publisher