A SUSPENSÃO DOS REFERENTES PELA ORDEM DAS PALAVRAS E O DESAFIO DE TRADUZIR POESIA LATINA

BREVE ANÁLISE DE ENEIDA 1-15.

Abstract

The paper analyzes Aeneid 1-15, paying attention to effects of meaning linked to word order, namely the effect of suspension of referents through the postponement of key words. It then speculates about the difficulties of pouring such effects into a Portuguese language translation. Among such difficulties, attention is given to three: the typological difference between Latin and Portuguese; the tradition of reflections on translation in Portuguese (which attaches great importance to the vernacularity of the target text); and the difficulty of reconciling the reproduction of such word-ordering effects with other relevant formal resources (namely, metrics). He concludes by pointing out possible ways of overcoming these obstacles: respectively, the fact that in our literary history we have a period known for the poetic exploration of syntactic inversions, the Baroque; the existence of translation theories that advocate greater openness to the influence of foreign languages in the vernacular via translation; the possibility of dissociation between metrics and poetry, common since the modernist movements.