Impressions of a Nineteenth Century Traveller of Amazonia

Abstract

The goal of this article is to comment on the translation of chapter XXII of A Voyage up the River Amazon, by William H. Edwards, as well as the translation strategies proposed. In the chapter, Edwards deals with the bureaucracy, tax, immigration, climate, and the white man needed for a civilizing mission of Amazonia. The prejudice against the Portuguese, the indigenous people and the blacks pervades the text in a more or less explicit way. The prejudice, the arrogance, and the civilizing raptures are not sparse in the travel literature of that period; and, in our translation, we highlight as much Edwards’ intolerance as the impressionist trait of his narrative.