Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

The Transatlantic Circulation of Novels Between Europe and Brazil, 1789-1914 pp 145–170Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The Brazilian Novels O Guarany and Innocencia Translated into German: National Production and the Bestseller in the Long Nineteenth Century

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: New Directions in Book History ((NDBH))

Abstract

This chapter presents several German translations of the Brazilian novels O Guarany by José de Alencar and Innocencia by Alfredo de Taunay that were published between 1872 and 1914. It explains the circumstances of these translations and their publication, as well as the role of translators and the personal, institutional, political, and media networks that facilitated their realisation. The important role of the cultural activities of the first generations of scholars and researchers of Brazilian culture is revealed, as is that of the translators and publishers who appropriated, transformed, and gave new context to these two “Brazilian novels”.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    See the bibliography of German translations of the works by José de Alencar and Visconde de Taunay in KÜPPER, Klaus. Bibliographie der brasilianischen Literatur. Prosa, Lyrik, Essay und Drama in deutscher Übersetzung. Frankfurt am Main, 2012, pp. 6–7 and pp. 385–87. Küpper mentions a fourth translation of O Guarany in the Blumenauer Zeitung of 1895. He claims the translation to be by Teuto-Brazilian Rudolf Damm, but, published on Saturdays as feuilletons from 1 June to 28 December 1895, this translation – except for the preface dated May 1870 in Rio de Janeiro and signed “The Translator” – is – in spite of some cuts in the fictional text – a republication of the first German translation published by E. G. L. in the Roman-Magazin des Auslandes.

  2. 2.

    “Si le livre circule comme toute marchandise, il a en revanche la spécificité de donner matière, comme tout texte, à des interprétations qui sont autant d’appropriations et de recontextualisations. Toute insertion dans une bibliothèque, pour ne pas parler des traductions, le rend disponible pour la culture d’acceuil dont il peut devenir une nouvelle pierre de construction. Il est à la fois un élément étranger et un élément adopté, et cette double nature invite tout particulièrement à associer l’histoire du livre à une approche méthodologique en termes de transferts culturels.” ESPAGNE, Michel. “Transfers culturels et histoire du livre”, in: BARBIER, Frédéric (ed.). Histoire et Civilisation du Livre. Revue internationale, vol. 5. Geneva, 2009, pp. 201–18, esp. p. 216.

  3. 3.

    For the circumstances of their publication and circulation, see LAJOLO, Marisa. “O preço da Literatura: Gonçalves Dias e a profissionalização de um escritor brasileiro oitocentista”, in: ABREU, Márcia, and SCHAPOCHNIK, Nelson (eds). Cultura Letrada no Brasil. Objetos e práticas. São Paulo, 2005, pp. 61–73, esp. pp. 66–8.

  4. 4.

    “objeto de maior surpresa haver entre nós quem escreva, do que se ouvissem falar do descobrimento de um poema antediluviano”, Gonçalves Dias to D. Pedro II, 5 May 1857, in: LOUSADA, Wilson (ed.). “Correspondência ativa de Antônio Gonçalves Dias”, in: Anais da Biblioteca Nacional, vol. 84, [1964], Rio de Janeiro, 1971, p. 218.

  5. 5.

    See WOLF, Ferdinand. Le Brésil Littéraire. Histoire de la Littérature brésilienne suivie d’un choix de morceaux tires des meilleurs auteurs brésiliens. Berlin, 1863, p. 1.

  6. 6.

    “essentiellement réaliste, social e subjectif” (id., ibid, p. 235).

  7. 7.

    “déborde maintenant tous les autres en Europe” (id, ibid., p. 235).

  8. 8.

    Id., ibid., p. 240. O Guarany was published in 1857 as feuilleton in the Diário do Rio de Janeiro, which also published a book edition in the same year. The book’s second edition, revised by Alencar, would only be published in 1864. Apart from the difficulty of access to the paper, the shortness of the comment is also explained by the fact that Wolf was a good friend of Domingos José Gonçalves de Magalhães, author of the epic poem A confederação dos Tamoios (1856), the object of intense controversy brought up by José de Alencar. O Guarany came out in a certain way as a ‘response’ from Alencar to Magalhães.

  9. 9.

    “peut prétendre à bon droit à être regardée comme vraiment national; en cette qualité elle a sa place marquée dans l’ensemble des littératures du monde civilisé”, WOLF, Le Brésil Littéraire, p. 242.

  10. 10.

    For the context of Goethe and Brazil, see XAVIER, Wiebke. “De Montaigne a Martius: o mundo brasileiro no gabinete de Goethe em Weimar”, in: FILHO, Alexandrino (ed.). Montaigne e seu tempo. João Pessoa, 2010, pp. 269–86.

  11. 11.

    “grâce aux facilités de communication, un échange littéraire entre des contemporains est possible à un niveau transnational, voire mondial”, JURT, Joseph. “Traduction et transfert culturel”, in: LOMBEZ, Christine, and KULESSA, Rotraud von (eds). De la Traduction et des transferts culturels. Paris, 2007, pp. 93–112, esp. p. 95.

  12. 12.

    On Alencar and Humboldt in Ubirajara, see XAVIER, Wiebke. “Ethnographische Schriften zu Brasilien und Humboldt-Rezeption in José de Alencars indianistischen Erzählung Ubirajara”, in: XAVIER, Wiebke, and ZEUCH, Ulrike (eds). Kulturelle Übersetzung: Das Beispiel Brasilien. Göttingen, 2010, pp. 217–24. (Das achtzehnte Jahrhundert, vol. 34, 2/2010.)

  13. 13.

    See SCHWADERER, Richard. “José de Alencars indianistische Romane O Guaraní (1857) und Iracema (1865). Erzählstrukturen und Ideologie”, in: BRIESEMEISTER, Dietrich, FLASCHE, Hans, and KÖRNER, Karl-Hermann (eds). Aufsätze zur portugiesischen Kulturgeschichte 18 (1983), pp. 52–69.

  14. 14.

    “Risse” (id., ibid., p. 68).

  15. 15.

    “devorava”, ALENCAR, José de. “Como e por que sou romancista”, in: ALENCAR. O Guarani. Romance brasileiro. 2 vols. Rio de Janeiro, 1951, vol. 1, pp. 49–74, esp. p. 65.

  16. 16.

    “combates heróicos de Marryat” id., ibid., p. 65.

  17. 17.

    See VASCONCELOS, Sandra Guardini Teixeira. “Cruzando o Atlântico: Notas sobre a recepção de Walter Scott”, in: ABREU, Márcia (ed.). Trajetórias do Romance. Circulação, leitura e escrita nos séculos XVIII–XIX. São Paulo, 2008, pp. 351–74, esp. pp. 373–4.

  18. 18.

    See HASUBEK, Peter. “Das Geheimnis des schwarzen Ritters oder Scott und Immermann“, in: STARK, Susanne (ed.). The Novel in Anglo-German Context – Currents and Affinities. Berlin, 1999, pp. 117–28.

  19. 19.

    Through the character of the naturalist scientist Meyer, Taunay also refers to Humboldt and other German travellers.

  20. 20.

    For the analysis of cultural transfers at the textual level, see the categories developed by AIXELÁ, Javíer Franco. “Cultural-specific items in translation”, in: VIDAL, C. & ÁLVAREZ, R. (eds). Translation, Power, Subversion. Clevendon, 1996, pp. 52–78.

  21. 21.

    ALENCAR, José de. “Der Guarany. Brasilianischer Roman. Frei aus dem Portugiesischen übertragen von E.G.L.”, in: JANKE, Otto (ed.). Roman-Magazin des Auslandes enthaltend die besten Romane des Auslandes in guten Übersetzungen. Berlin. No. 10, 1872, pp. 1–31; no. 11, 1872, pp. 81–112; no. 12, 1872, pp. 161–74; no. 13, 1872, pp. 241–79, and no. 14, 1872, pp. 343–62. In 1873, the same text is published as a collection in book form, without the translator’s initials; the adverb ‘freely’ is also taken from the title.

  22. 22.

    JANKE, Otto. 50 Jahre Deutsche Roman-=Zeitung. Festschrift zum fünfzigjährigen Jubiläum 1863–1913. Berlin, 1913, p. 11.

  23. 23.

    On the popularity of such foreign novels in the context of popular library check-out statistics in Germany, see MARTINO, Alberto. Die Deutsche Leihbibliothek. Geschichte einer literarischen Institution (1756–1914). Wiesbaden, 1990, p. 688.

  24. 24.

    “une partie intégrante de l’existence culturelle”, BERMAN, Antoine. L’épreuve de l’étranger. Culture et traduction dans l’Allemagne romantique. Herder, Goethe, Schlegel, Novalis, Humboldt. Schleiermacher, Hölderlin. Paris, 1984, pp. 25–6.

  25. 25.

    “instruments de la constitution de l’universalité”, id., ibid., p. 29.

  26. 26.

    See BACHLEITNER, Norbert, and WOLF, Michaela. “Übersetzungen als ‘gatekeeper’? (Selbst) Zensur als Voraussetzung für die Aufnahme in das literarische Feld der späten Habsburgermonarchie”, in: MERKLE, Denise, O’SULLIVAN, Carol, DOORSLAER, Luc van, and WOLF, Michaela (eds). The Power of the Pen. Translation & Censorship in Nineteenth-century Europe. Vienna, 2010, pp. 29–53.

  27. 27.

    “une transformation des attentes à l’endroit des traductions”, CHEVREL, Yves, D’HULST, Lieven, and LOMBEZ, Christine. “Bilan”, in: CHEVREL, Yves, D’HULST, Lieven, and LOMBEZ, Christine (eds). Histoire des traductions en langue française. XIXe siècle 1815–1915. Lagrasse, 2012, pp. 1247–76, esp. p. 1252.

  28. 28.

    ALENCAR, José de. “O Guarany”, in: ALENCAR, José de. Obra completa, vol. 2: Romance histórico, Alfarrábios. São Paulo, 1964, pp. 1–280, esp. pp. 276–80.

  29. 29.

    Id., ibid., p. 279.

  30. 30.

    See ALENCAR, “Der Guarany”, in: Roman-Magazin, no. 10, 1872, p. 21.

  31. 31.

    On censorship in nineteenth-century Prussia, see STARK, Gary D. Banned in Berlin: literary censorship in imperial Germany, 1871–1918. New York and Oxford, 2009 (Monographs in German history, vol. 25), pp. 8ff.

  32. 32.

    “pela república e a sua dedicação ao rei”, ALENCAR, “O Guaraní”, in: ALENCAR. Obra completa, vol. 2, p. 30; ALENCAR, “Der Guarany”, in: Roman-Magazin, no. 10, 1872, p. 4.

  33. 33.

    See id., ibid., p. 5.

  34. 34.

    ALENCAR, “Der Guarany”, in: Roman-Magazin, no. 14, 1872, p. 362.

  35. 35.

    ESPAGNE, “Transfers culturels et histoire du livre”, p. 34.

  36. 36.

    ALENCAR, Der Guarany. Brasilianischer Roman von J. de Alencar. Nach der zweiten vom Autor verbesserten Auflage, ed. by Maximilian Emerich. 2 parts, Pt. 1: Die Abenteurer. Pt. 2: Die Aymorés. Falkenberg O/S, 1876.

  37. 37.

    See Polybiblion: revue bibliographique universelle. Vol. 2, Paris, 1876, p. 184 and p. 297.

  38. 38.

    See biographical data on the military man in BENTO, Cláudio Moreira. “Brummer. Os primeiros Pontoneiros do Exército Brasileiro”, in: O Tuiuti 85 (2013), pp. 4–15; see also the rare manuscript documents in Arquivo nacional, Secção História Cx831, Pae5.

  39. 39.

    See BENTO, “Brummer. Os primeiros Pontoneiros do Exército Brasileiro”, p. 11.

  40. 40.

    See ORDENS DO DIA. Segundo Corpo do Exército em Operações na Republica do Paraguay ao comando do Conde de Porto Alegre – Tem. Gen. Manoel Marques de Souza. Rio de Janeiro, 1872, vol. 1, pp. 359–67; see also “Decreto militar Duque de Caxias à Emerich”, in: Arquivo Nacional, Secção História Caixa 831, Pae5, Doc. 350.

  41. 41.

    Mario de Alencar to Arno Philipp, 26 June 1925 (three pages), in: Acervo do Museu e Arquivo Histórico Professor Hermann Wegermann – MAHP, Caixa AP 04, pasta 2.

  42. 42.

    “wahren Dichter”, EMERICH, Maximilian. “Vorrede des Bearbeiters”, in: ALENCAR, Der Guarany, Pt. 1: Die Abenteurer, 1876, pp. 3–4, p. 3.

  43. 43.

    “und Consorten”, id., ibid., p. 3.

  44. 44.

    “zum ersten Male einen brasilianischen Original-Roman”, id., ibid., p. 3.

  45. 45.

    “den Werth des Originals”, id., ibid., p. 3.

  46. 46.

    ALENCAR, Der Guarany, p. 53.

  47. 47.

    EMERICH, “Vorrede des Bearbeiters”, in: ALENCAR, Der Guarany, p. 4.

  48. 48.

    “se parece tanto com os do ilustre romancista Americano, como as várzeas do Ceará com as margens do Delaware”, ALENCAR. “Como e porque sou romancista”, in: ALENCAR, O Guarani. Romance brasileiro, p. 68.

  49. 49.

    EMERICH, “Vorrede des Bearbeiters”, in: ALENCAR, O Guarani. Romance brasileiro, p. 4.

  50. 50.

    “l’impulseur de toute une littérature nationale”, RICARD, Louis-Xavier de. “A Rémy Couzinet”, in: ALENCAR, José de. Le fils du soleil. Paris, 1902, pp. v–vii, p. vi.

  51. 51.

    For the context of Ricard’s translation into French, see the chapter in this volume by Ilana Heineberg.

  52. 52.

    RICARD, “A Rémy Couzinet”, in ALENCAR, O Guarani. Romance brasileiro, p. vii.

  53. 53.

    Id., ibid., p. viii.

  54. 54.

    For the Franco-Brazilian context of translation, see the chapter by Ilana Heineberg in this volume, pp. 146–8.

  55. 55.

    Taunay’s letters to Arno Philipp are in class 02 of ALAPH (Arquivo Literário Arno Philipp – Arno Philipp’s Literary Archive, at the Universidade Regional Integrada do Alto Uruguai e das Missões – URI – Frederico Westphalen Campus (FW), in the collection of Museu e Arquivo Histórico Professor Hermann Wegermann – MAHP in Panambi, and in the private collection of Armin Philipp, Arno Philipp’s grandson. See the micro-history of the letters in MITIDIERI, André Luis, and PIAIA, Miquela. “Inocência e Taunay na Colônia de Neu-Wurttemberg. Inocência and Taunay at the Neu-Wurttemberg Colony”, in: RevLet – Revista Virtual de Letras 5.1 (2013), pp. 183–203.

  56. 56.

    See PHILIPP, Arno. “Visconde de Taunay. Biographische Skizze” [1899], in: TAUNAY, Innocencia. Poetische Erzählung aus Brasilien. Von Alfredo d’Escragnolle, Visconde de Taunay. Vom Verfasser genehmigte Übersetzung von Arno Philipp. Porto Alegre, 1922, pp. v–xii, esp. p. x.

  57. 57.

    PHILIPP, Arno. “Vorwort des Übersetzers” [1899], in TAUNAY, Innocencia. Poetische Erzählung aus Brasilien, pp. i–iv, esp. p. ii. For the circumstances of this French translation, see the chapter by Ilana Heinberg in this volume; see also the analysis of Olivier Du Chastel’s translation in WIMMER, Norma. “Um romance brasileiro traduzido para o francês: Inocência”, in: Tradução e Comunicação 1 (2006), pp. 54–63.

  58. 58.

    “belletristisches Meisterstück”, PHILIPP, Arno. “Vorwort des Übersetzers” [1899], in: TAUNAY, Poetische Erzählung aus Brasilien, p. ii.

  59. 59.

    “an den Klippen des Urtextes”, id., ibid., p. ii.

  60. 60.

    “Hinterwäldler”, id., ibid., p. iii, and for example in the fictional text TAUNAY, Innocencia. Poetische Erzählung aus Brasilien, p. 10.

  61. 61.

    See Viscount of Taunay to Arno Philipp, 15 October 1897. In: Armin Philipp’s private collection and ALAPH class 02 b URI-FW, CX 02.2. The expression “La vache enragée” (The furious cow) refers to the Carnival parade “Promenade de la Vache enragée” by the artists and residents of the Montmartre district in Paris, organised as a protest against the great parades of the ‘Boeuf gras’ (Fat ox) of other districts of Paris in 1896 and 1897. This expression is also used to refer to the poor conditions of those who live in misery.

  62. 62.

    Hartleben is an Austrian publishing house famous for publishing low-cost entertainment foreign novels. From the 1840s they published the collection Lese-Cabinet der neuesten und besten Romane aller Nationen, reprinted by publishing house Otto Dreyer in Berlin in 1900. Cf. BACHLEITNER, Norbert, and WOLF, Michaela. “Übersetzungen als ‘gatekeeper’?”, pp. 41–2; on Hartleben, see also BACHLEITNER, Norbert. “Übersetzungsfabrik C.A. Hartleben. Eine Inspektion”, in: AMANN, Klaus, LENGAUER, Hubert, and WAGNER, Karl (eds). Literarisches Leben in Österreich 1848–1890. Vienna, Cologne, and Weimar, 2000, pp. 319–39.

  63. 63.

    See MITIDIERI and PIAIA. “Inocência e Taunay na Colônia de Neu-Wurttemberg”, p. 189.

  64. 64.

    Taunay to Philipp, 29 December 1898, in: Armin Philipp’s private collection and ALAPH, class 02 b026-1898 URI-FW CX 02.2; see also MITIDIERI and PIAIA, “Inocência e Taunay na Colônia de Neu-Wurttemberg”, p. 190.

  65. 65.

    Dreyer and Company had an international contact network, including the publishing houses of Laemmert & Co. and Hartleben, headquartered in Vienna and Leipzig.

  66. 66.

    TAUNAY, Visconde de. Innocencia. Brasilianischer Roman, [Tradução Carl Schüler]. Berlin, [1903].

  67. 67.

    “panthéon culturel”, ESPAGNE. “Transferências culturais e História do Livro”, p. 34.

  68. 68.

    See TAUNAY, Innocencia. Brasilianischer Roman, pp. 7–11.

  69. 69.

    SCHÜLER, Carl. “Alfredo de Taunay. Eine biografische Skizze”, in: TAUNAY. Innocencia. Brasilianischer Roman, pp. 197–200, esp. pp. 199–200.

  70. 70.

    Id., ibid., p. 200.

  71. 71.

    ALENCAR, José de. Der Guarany. Brasilianischer Roman. Übersetzt von Karl Leydhecker. Berlin, [1911], 1914 (Scherl’s Taschenbücher, vols. 125–31). On the publishing house, see MENGES, Franz. “Scherl, August Hugo Friedrich”, in Historische Commission der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften (ed.). Neue Deutsche Biographie, vol. 22. Berlin, 2005, pp. 698–9.

  72. 72.

    ALENCAR, Der Guarany, 1914, vol. 131, p. 514.

  73. 73.

    Id., ibid., 1914, vol. 130–131, pp. 495–539. The chapters are “On the river Paquequer” (Auf dem Paquequer), “Salve Regina!” (Salve regina), “The Lunch” (Das Mittagsmahl), “The Daughter of the virgin forest” (Die Tochter des Urwalds), and “The Storm” (Der Sturm).

  74. 74.

    For this context between German translations of Alencar’s novels and ethnology, see XAVIER, Wiebke. “O encontro do Ubirajara alencariano com a sua primeira tradução alemã de 1886”, in: PELOGGIO, Marcelo, BEZERRA, Valéria Cristina, and VASCONCELOS, Arlene (eds). José de Alencar: século XXI. Fortaleza, 2015, pp. 267–86.

  75. 75.

    “Herr des Urwaldes”, ALENCAR, Der Guarany, 1914, vol. 131, p. 514.

  76. 76.

    See id., ibid., p. 523.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Natal, Brazil

    Wiebke Röben de Alencar Xavier

Authors
  1. Wiebke Röben de Alencar Xavier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wiebke Röben de Alencar Xavier .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade de Campinas , Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

    Márcia Abreu

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

de Alencar Xavier, W.R. (2017). The Brazilian Novels O Guarany and Innocencia Translated into German: National Production and the Bestseller in the Long Nineteenth Century. In: Abreu, M. (eds) The Transatlantic Circulation of Novels Between Europe and Brazil, 1789-1914. New Directions in Book History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46837-2_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation