TRANSLATION AS “CONTINUITY OF LIFE” OF CENT BALLADES BY CHRISTINE DE PIZAN

Abstract

Translating poses questions regarding the representation of oneself and the Other, such as, for example, how to translate other people's pain, the experience of another woman so far from mine? While there is distance, there may be closeness between author and translator. The translation presented in this work is motivated by readings (ZUMTHOR, 2009) of the work and on the work of Christine de Pizan, specifically the Cent Ballades (1399) and its biographical elements, a work created after the death of her husband, when Christine launched herself in her career and achieved the attention and favor of those who could allow her to make a living from writing. For this reason, I propose to discuss how translation practice challenges the translator who, by assuming the voice of another woman and another temporality, allows her to continue living. I understand “continuing the life of the text” not just as a re-reading or an update, but a form of criticism that is made about a “singular form of life” (CARDOZO, 2021) of the text that is translated. To complete the journey of another woman’s voice, I use the notions of Berman (2013), whose principle of literary translation, called “translation analytics”, occurs through a “reflection on the ethical, poetic and thinking dimension of translating”. Therefore, I present Ballads XVII, XVIII and XX of the Cent Ballades, to demonstrate how I translated them and which elements were observed in the translation exercise.