Uma recepção francesa de primeiras estórias (1962) de João Guimarães Rosa

Abstract

This paper aims to trace the reception of Primeiras Estórias (1962), by João Guimarães Rosa, in its first French translation published in 1982 by Anne Marie Métailié. The paper begins with Paulo Rónai’s introduction of the author’s oeuvre in France in 1965 in the university journal Caravelle, it then goes on to analyze Rosa’s work, revealing the most notable aspects of the main stories in Primeiras Estórias from both a formal (innovative and pioneering) and diegetic point of view. The French reception of this collection of tales went through several phases, the first of which concerns its translation into French. Despite the excellent reviews by scholars such as Antoine Berman and Henri Meschonnic, the French text, in which the translator strove to maintain Rosa’s innovative linguistic content, faced some resistance, including from the publisher itself, which allowed “corrections” in later versions. After this first moment of formal questioning, new readings, beginning in 2012, have emerged in France in which hermeneutics takes precedence over linguistics or tradutology.