The translation of “Invisible Man”, by Ralph Ellison: the interplay of race and integrationism

Abstract

Relating the surface of a translated text to discourse is one of the focuses in the connection between Translation Studies and African-American literature. In this respect, “Invisible Man”, by Ralph Ellison, and its Brazilian translation, by Márcia Serra, present themselves as material for analyzing contexts which evoke a sense of community and racial identity. Therefore, this paper centers precisely upon nuances in meaning of the linguistic displays of bonding and race. It could be noticed that these aspects were less marked in the translation, whereas the integrationist project featured in the novel was to a certain extent rewritten in words that called forth a sense of racial dichotomy. Thus, the translation displays at once the non-racialized perspective peculiar to the Brazilian view of race and assumptions in regard to the perspective of the African-American Other on race relations.