How Literal is the 1972 Translation Into English of J.L. Borges' Historia Universal de la Infamia?

Abstract

This article analyzes A Universal History of Infamy, the 1972 translation into English of Historia Universal de la Infamia (hereinafter, HUI). While assessing this translation's degree of literality, the authors also characterize how the translation project at stake evolved. Initially, J.L. Borges would have planned to rewrite the book in English (in 1968, with the help of his translator Norman di Giovanni). He later, in 1971, contented himself with attenuating the baroque style of the original prose and ultimately gave up all collaboration. The bulk of the translation was then left to di Giovanni. Textual analysis, combined with data on the translation/publication context of some HUI compositions, allow the authors to explore the hypothesis that the higher fidelity of certain translations is linked to a possible Borges collaboration. While sticking to his overall goal of making the prose of the original flow, di Giovanni's translation often recomposed sentences and incurred interpretation errors.