Abstract
Jorge Luis Borges, primarily known for his original short fiction, also published many translations of other authors’ works over the course of his life, as well as essays on translation theory. Borges proclaimed his own ‘periphrastic’ approach to translation, taking the opportunity to effect changes in his versions of other writers’ works rather than simply attempting to render the source texts into Spanish. In order to examine the strategies employed by Borges in his translations of English-language prose fiction, this paper will consider three texts translated by Borges alongside the original versions: “The Red-Headed League” by Arthur Conan Doyle, and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” and “The Purloined Letter.” Analysis of these texts will demonstrate the extent to which Borges is prepared to put into practice the theory of radical innovation that he outlines in his essays on literary and translation theory.
Highlights
Jorge Luis Borges, primarily known for his original short fiction, published many translations of other authors’ works over the course of his life, as well as essays on translation theory
In order to examine the strategies employed by Borges in his translations of English-language prose fiction, this paper will consider three texts translated by Borges alongside the original versions: “The Red-Headed League” by Arthur Conan Doyle, and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Facts in the Case of M
Valdemar” and “The Purloined Letter.”. Analysis of these texts will demonstrate the extent to which Borges is prepared to put into practice the theory of radical innovation that he outlines in his essays on literary and translation theory
Summary
Jorge Luis Borges, primarily known for his original short fiction, published many translations of other authors’ works over the course of his life, as well as essays on translation theory. Borges’ versions are in all cases shorter than their source materials: Borges writes two words for every three in Poe’s and Conan Doyle’s texts. The same process can be found in “La Liga de los Cabezas Rojas”: in both stories, Borges makes the case itself seem less obvious, with the result that the intelligence of the detectives Dupin and Holmes receive even greater emphasis than in the source texts. The versions Borges presents of Poe and Conan Doyle’s texts are in many ways more similar to each other than to their respective sources In his translations, Borges puts into practice the principles of periphrasis that he sets out in his theoretical essays, demonstrating his lack of interest in literalness and in dogmatic reverence for the individual author of the source materials. Like any work of art, the texts are simultaneously derivative and original in their own right: to quote Venuti, “there are no originals, only translations” (83)
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