The construction of an Other in the editions and translations of the work of Carolina Maria de Jesus

Abstract

This article investigates how translations and different editions of the Afro-Brazilian writer Carolina Maria de Jesus’ journals were used to construct a specific image of 1960s Brazil for a foreign audience. This article debates the power of representation not only by authors but also by editors, publishers, and translators, that is to say the entire publication process, which often limits authors’ decision-making powers. I compare the edition and translation strategies used by Audálio Dantas in the publication of Quarto de despejo (1960) and by David St. Clair in the translation Child of the dark (1962) to the strategies used in Meu estranho diário (1996), translated as The unedited diaries of Carolina Maria de Jesus (1998) by Nancy P.S. Naro e Cristina Mehrtens. In this analysis, intersections of race, gender, and class are fundamental to the international portrayal of De Jesus. I discuss translation as the tool for making these constructions possible, as well as their political reach.