Chronicle of A translator foretold: Clarice and translation as a Duty

Abstract

Clarice Lispector became known for renovating the intimate prose of Brazilian literature during the 20th century. In addition to being a writer, she was a journalist, a reporter and an interviewer in the Rio de Janeiro press, not to mention her role as a translator, through which she signed the version of about 46 texts, including novels, short stories and plays. However, her translation works were bypassed when the peculiar path of her literary project was discussed in the context of criticism. In this sense, this article aims at a study of the first translation signed by Clarice even before the publication of Perto do Coração Selvagem (1943): the Portuguese version of the short story “Le missionnaire” (1921) by Claude Farrère. In other words, this study seeks to highlight the symptomatic place of translation in face of the writertranslator's project, even before the publication of her very first novel. To do so, starting from the studies of literary translation, this reflection revolves around the Portuguese version of the French tale, seeking to take it as one of the initial milestones of Clarice's journey as a translator. This path has never been dissociated from her project, even when the young Lispector was still unknown in the national literature.