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Institute for Applied Linguistics, College of Arts and Sciences at Kent State University
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Sample translations submitted: 1
Spanish to English: ¿Existe la literatura universal?
Source text - Spanish ¿Existe la literatura universal?
Babelia reabre el debate sobre la existencia de una narrativa global que inauguró Goethe con el término Weltliteratur
Virginia Collera
BABELIA - 12-01-2008
El 31 de enero de 1827 Goethe escribió. "[...] Me gusta echar un vistazo a lo que hacen las naciones extranjeras y recomiendo a cualquiera que haga lo mismo. Hoy día la literatura nacional ya no quiere decir gran cosa. Ha llegado la época de la literatura universal y cada cual debe poner algo de su parte para que se acelere su advenimiento. [...]
". Es un extracto de una conversación entre el autor alemán y su secretario J. P. Eckermann (incluida en Conversaciones con Goethe, Acantilado). Goethe acuñó el término Weltliteratur para, según Martín de Riquer, "indicar una idea de una literatura realmente universal, que implica que todas las literaturas del mundo pueden tener el mismo valor y atractivo". El universo literario no parece discutir la autoría del término: Goethe es el progenitor de la "literatura universal".
Esta Historia se propone estimular "el apetito de leer" y servir "de mapa en el interminable y maravilloso viaje por la literatura universal". Y Babelia se propone reabrir el debate en torno a la literatura universal. ¿Existe una verdadera literatura universal?
"Si yo, un bantú que vive en el siglo XXI, vibro con los escritos de Homero, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Dostoievski, Victor Hugo, Ralph Ellison, Chinua Achebe o García Márquez, es porque son historias universales muy bien contadas. Los clásicos del Mundo Antiguo describen, básicamente, el mismo universo que todos sus descendientes: los sentimientos que impulsan al ser humano, llámense amor, odio, ambición, lealtad, traición, bondad o maldad. Sólo que cada época, y cada cultura, lo expresan con rasgos estéticos propios", Donato Ndongo.
"Claro que existe, sí, la literatura universal existe, lo que no existe es la literatura nacional, que es un invento del siglo XIX con fines pedagógicos", Javier Cercas.
"En la actualidad, la idea de literatura universal que sustentó Goethe está muy traicionada, no ha tenido las consecuencias que él quería, no es una piedra angular entre distintos pueblos. Hoy en día el concepto de literatura universal no es una realidad porque se desconocen otras literaturas. El reto de la literatura poscolonial supone desmontar la idea de la literatura universal y deslegitimar su idea unívoca, también existen otras literaturas y hay que dar una visión de ellas. Las literaturas poscoloniales deben hacer de la literatura universal una utopía concreta", Wilfrid Miampika.
Entre ambas posturas, Enrique Vila-Matas: "Existe la literatura universal, pero sospecho que el concepto engloba sólo las literaturas de Occidente: lo que Goethe denominó Weltliteratur o literatura universal. Así que tal vez no existe. Además, la literatura no necesita calificativos. Universal, por otra parte, es redundante. Total, que no lo sé".
En estos tiempos de world wide web, amazons y kindles es posible asomarse casi a la literatura de cualquier país, sin embargo, el futuro de la literatura universal está teñido de negro. "Vivimos en una sociedad mediática, globalizada y multicultural. La posmodernidad es heterogénea y caótica. Y soy pesimista: los consensos se basarán en correcciones políticas, grupos de presión y criterios ajenos a la calidad literaria tradicional. Si hubiera en el futuro algo parecido a una literatura global va a depender de una suma confusa de todas las limitaciones particulares que acabo de negar: idioma, nación, grupo, raza, género, minoría, continente, etcétera", opina Juan Antonio González Iglesias, poeta y profesor de filología clásica en Salamanca. Suárez Girard comparte su pesimismo. "La traducción ha hecho que las literaturas se influyan, se renueven y enriquezcan, aunque en ese proceso también tiendan en ocasiones a empobrecerse, asemejándose unas a otras y, quizá, a desaparecer. Todo ello forma parte del aspecto dinámico de la literatura universal, cincelado, desmoronado y vuelto a cincelar por las sucesivas generaciones y sus cánones. Para que predomine el lado enriquecedor y renovador sobre el destructor son fundamentales el interés y el respeto hacia el autor; hacia las demás culturas, los estudios de humanidades y el cultivo de la lectura como algo nutritivo y placentero a la vez. Esto que digo son perogrulladas, pero no parece que estén en la onda de los tiempos que corren".
Translation - English Does a World Literature Exist?
Babelia reopens the debate over the existence of a global narrative that was initiated by Goethe with his term Weltliteratur
Virginia Collera
(Originally appeared in BABELIA - December 1, 2008. Translated by Laura Collins)
On the 31st of January, 1827, Goethe wrote, “…I therefore like to look about me in foreign nations, and advise everyone to do the same. National literature is now rather an unmeaning term; the epoch of World literature is at hand, and everyone must strive to hasten its approach.”—Conversations of Goethe with Eckerman and Soret (Translated from German by John Oxenford. London: George Bell & Sons, 1874.)
Literary expert Martín de Riquer says of Goethe that he coined the term Weltliteratur in order to “indicate the idea of one true world literature, implying that all literatures of the world have the same universal value and appeal.” There appears to be no argument in the literary world about the authorship of the term: Goethe is the father of “world literature.”
This History proposes to stimulate a desire to read and serve as “a map to guide us in the never-ending and wonderful journey through world literature.” Now Babelia proposes to reopen the debate surrounding world literature. Does a world literature truly exist?
(In favor:)
Donato Ndongo of Equitorial Guinea, author—“I find that the works of Homer, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Dostoievski, Victor Hugo, Ralph Ellison, Chinua Achebe or García Márquez deeply resonate with me, a Bantu living in the twenty-first century, because they are well-told stories with universal appeal. The classics of the Old World basically describe the same world as that of their descendents: the sentiments that drive humanity, whether called love, hate, ambition, loyalty, betrayal, goodness or evil, are the same. The only difference is that each epoch and each culture expresses these sentiments with its own esthetic characteristics.”
Javier Cercas, Spanish novelist—“Yes, it exists. Of course, world literature exists. What does not exist is national literature, which is an invention of the nineteenth century for pedagogical purposes.”
(Against:)
Wilfrid Miampika of the Republic of Congo, now at the University of Alcalá, Spain—“Presently, the idea of world literature as Goethe affirmed it has been betrayed. It hasn’t had the outcome he desired; it is not the similar cornerstone that joins different peoples. Nowadays, the concept of world literature is not a reality because we are simply ignorant of other literatures. The challenge of postcolonial literature is to dismantle the idea of a world literature and discredit the notion that it speaks with one voice. Other literatures exist also, and we must consider them. Postcolonial literature should make the utopia of one world literature a reality.”
Between these opposing stances, Enrique Vila-Matas, Spanish novelist and short story writer—“An international literature exists, but I suspect that the concept only includes the literature of the West: the literature Goethe designated as Weltiteratur or world literature. So perhaps it doesn’t exist. Furthermore, literature shouldn’t need qualification. “World”, for instance, would be redundant. All in all, I really couldn’t say.
In these times of the World Wide Web, Amazon, and Kindles, it is possible to view almost any literature of any country; however, the future of world literature looks grim. “We live in a media-driven, global, multicultural society. Postmodernism is heterogeneous and chaotic. I am a pessimist: consensus will be based on political correctness, special interest groups, and criteria that depart from the established standards of traditional quality literature. If in the future there is to be something resembling a global, or world literature, it will depend on a confusing conglomeration of all of the constraints I have just decried: language, nation, group, race, gender, minority, continent, etc.,” says Juan Antonio González Iglesias, poet and professor of Classical Languages in Salamanca, Spain. Anne Helène Suárez Girard, prominent literary translator, shares his pessimism. “Translation,” she states, “has made it so that individual works are gaining influence, being renewed and being enriched, although sometimes they are also weakened, begin to resemble other works, or perhaps even to disappear. This all forms a part of the dynamic aspect of world literature: chiseled, destroyed, and chiseled once again by successive generations in their canons. In order to ensure that what is enriching and renovating prevails over what is destructive. We must maintain interest and respect toward the author, other cultures, and studies of the humanities, and to cultivate reading as something both nutritional and enjoyable at the same time. What I am saying may seem obvious, but it seems to be out of step with current thinking.
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Years of experience: 1. Registered at ProZ.com: Sep 2007.
There are several things about me that you won't find on my resume. For instance, I'm married and have grown children. I'm formally trained in classical guitar. I won a national sewing contest as a girl and I'm a member of the oldest book club in the world.
What you really need to know, though, is that I am mature, focused and committed. I have the ability to work with people of all ages and backgrounds and have learned to be resilient. I am knowledgeable about a wide range of subjects and have the ability to anticipate the needs and reactions of others.
And finally, I intend to live forever. So far, so good.
