For a literalness applicable to the translation of classical Chinese poetry
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7968.2025.e108470Keywords:
Translation Studies, Cinematism, Walter Benjamin, Wai-lim Yip, Serge MargelAbstract
This article discusses criteria for the literary translation of classical Chinese poetry into Portuguese and phonetic languages, noting the frequent insufficiency of the available translations in relation to the opulence of semiotic resources of the originals. Based on Wai-lim Yip’s concept of mode of apprehension and representation, and on theoretical assessments by Antoine Berman (translation of the letter) and Haroldo de Campos (translation of the sign), the need for a proposal of literalness applicable to the translation of Chinese poetry is asserted. Walter Benjamin’s theory on the evolution of the arts and the representation in cinema is applied to Wai-lim Yip’s analysis of cinematism in Chinese poetic writing, also resorting to François Cheng’s considerations. The article concludes by affirming, based on Benjamin and Yip, the importance of a work oriented by the syntax of the Chinese poem in translation for a literalness that recovers the expressive resources of the original, or its mode of apprehension and representation.
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