Translating Sagarana: geopoetry in the journey of Guimarães Rosa
Geopoetry, translation, Sagarana, culture, Sertão
This study began with the translation of three short stories from Sagarana into French: "Sarapalha", "A hora e a vez de Augusto Matraga" and "Duelo", considering that the translation allows a critical reading of the work. In fact, the translation process requires a broad understanding of the text, the way it was conceived and all the elements that compose it in order to recreate them in the other language. In addition, translation is in a space "between places", in liminality – thinking with the Theory of Geopoetry, creating a relationship between two cultures, two worldviews, highlighting similarities and differences. In this way, the translation process has allowed us to grasp the various aspects of the culture and landscapes of the Sertão and to understand the relationship that the inhabitants of the region build with their environment and how these elements become integral parts of the poetry and metaphysical thought of the author. This creates a dialog between the translator, the work, the critics (readers) of the work and the readers of the translation. Within the scope of theories of geopoetry and field literature, which seeks to study the stories of these people from the interior of Brazil, often marginalized and poorly represented in national literature, we analyze how the different aspects of the life of the people from the Sertão are portrayed poetically by João Guimarães Rosa. The writer from Minas Gerais, as a Benjaminian narrator, retains a strong bond with the place where he was born. He returned later to his homeland to work as a doctor. Then he accompanied a cattle drover and, as an ethnoflâneur, continued to write down in notebooks what he saw, heard and felt, collecting the material that would allow him to create a rich and complex work, whose purpose is to reflect and lead the reader to reflect on the human condition.