The Chinese lyre in transit: from Machado de Assis to Antonio Feijó

http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1980-4237.2013n14p93Este ensaio é um trabalho em curso sobre a circulação e o diálogo transatlânticos de textos, autores e ideias que alimentaram o orientalismo literário em língua portuguesa. Centra-se especificamente nos movimentos interrelacionados que subjazem à coleção de poesia clássica chinesa em tradução francesa decimonônica, tal como Le Livre de jade, de Judith Gautier, e suas traduções para o português: a “Lyra chineza” de Machado de Assis inclusa em Phalenas (1870) e o Cancioneiro chinez de António Feijó (1890, 1903). Assim, o propósito principal é traçar um mapa dos contatos pessoais e transferências tradutórias que podem ajudar a entender melhor o fenômeno do orientalismo literário e o exotismo em língua portuguesa em quanto complexa rede de textos, autores e tendências estéticas.ABSTRACTThis essay is a work in progress on the transatlantic circulation and dialogue of texts, authors and ideas that fuel literary orientalism in Portuguese language. It focuses specifically on the interrelated movements underlying a nineteenth-century collection of classical Chinese poetry in French translation, i.e. Judith Gautier’s Le Livre de jade (1867), and its translations into Portuguese: Machado de Assis’ “Lyra chineza” as included in Phalenas (1870) and António Feijó’s Cancioneiro chinez (1890, 1903). The main purpose is thus to draw a map of cultural and personal contacts and translation transfers that may help better understand the phenomenon of literary orientalism and exoticism in Portuguese language as an intricate network of texts, authors and aesthetic tendencies. Keywords: Machado de Assis; António Feijó; “Lyra chineza”; Cancioneiro chinez; Translation History; Literary OrientalismThis essay is a work in progress on the transatlantic circulation and dialogue of texts, authors and ideas that fuel literary orientalism in Portuguese language. It focuses specifically on the interrelated movements underlying a nineteenth-century collection of classical Chinese poetry in French translation, i.e. Judith Gautier’s Le Livre de jade (1867), and its translations into Portuguese: Machado de Assis’ “Lyra chineza” as included in Phalenas (1870) and António Feijó’s Cancioneiro chinez (1890, 1903). The main purpose is thus to draw a map of cultural and personal contacts and translation transfers that may help better understand the phenomenon of literary orientalism and exoticism in Portuguese language as an intricate network of texts, authors and aesthetic tendencies.