Through the web of translation: a study of Haroldo de Campo´s transcription concept in the poem “Quisera no meu canto ser tão áspero”, by Dante Alighieri

Abstract

The translation concept applied by Haroldo de Campos is an important part of his work. Parting from Bense’s notion, he defends that the identity of a literary text resides in the articulation of the networks of aesthetic information, emphasizing that each text has a singular order of signs. It is up to the translator to read and rewrite this information, with eyes fixed on the translation understood as criticism and creation (CAMPOS, 2006). The transgressive perspective of luciferin translation (CAMPOS, 2005, p. 180) is based on a gesture of insubmission to the content of the source text, in regards to the exercise of the translation of the sign itself. The idea is to turn the translated text into a kind of original, transforming the translator into a “creator”. Furthermore, to Campos this would be the only way, especially when it comes to poetry. The goal of this article, therefore, is the study of this translation aspect in the poem “Quisera meu canto ser tão áspero”, by Dante Alighieri, a transcription conducted by Campos. The recreation of the “stony lyre” which is a singular scheme of rhymes that culminates in isomorphism: woman/stone – the melopoeia posted as a strong use of language, etc., invite us to reflect about Campos’s translation method, perceiving the poet who inhabits the translator’s doing.