The “Poetic Of Residues” of Carolina Maria De Jesus in the Unedited Diaries

Abstract

Carolina Maria de Jesus' writing is marked by a characteristic hybridism between complex constructions, sophisticated words and linguistic deviations from the cultured norm of Brazilian Portuguese. Such language inhabits an in-between place: it lies on the threshold between Carolina's subaltern condition and her aspiration to belong to the dominant group. The paradoxical nature of Carolinian writing represents a complex challenge for the translation field. To reflect on this process, the present work aims to discuss the translation into English of the last released part from the author's diaries. How do we find Carolinian “poetics of residues” (FERNANDEZ, 2008) in The unedited diaries of Carolina Maria de Jesus, a book translated by Nancy P. S. Naro and Cristina Mehrtens? The research is qualitative in nature and, within the scope of Translation Studies, falls within the field of comparison of translations and their source texts (WILLIAM; CHESTERMAN, 2002). The results point to attempts to conserve this kind of poetic, so that the reader of the target version can also be faced with the coexistence between the cult and the marginal of the Carolinian style.