Domestication and foreignization in two English translations of A paixão segundo G. H., by Clarice Lispector

Abstract

http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-7968.2017v37n1p90

This article aims to compare the English translation realized by Ronald W. Sousa (LISPECTOR, 2010) with the retranslation by Idra Novey (LISPECTOR, 2012) of A Paixão Segundo G.H., by Clarice Lispector, published in the United States, in order to quantitatively verify Berman’s so called “retranslation hypothesis” (1990), whereby the first translation of a literary work is more ethnocentric than the retranslations. Therefore, we use Francis H. Aubert’s (1998) Modalities of Translation Method (MMT), derived from Jean-Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet’s technical procedures published in 1958 (1995). The theoretical framework presents some ideas on retranslation, from the 1990s to the present, and Venuti’s (1992, 1995) concepts of domestication and foreignization, taking into account their ethical implications.