PLAGIARISM AND THE INVISIBILIZATION OF THE TRANSLATOR:

THE CASE OF THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES TRANSLATIONS INTO PORTUGUESE

Abstract

The aim of this article is to highlight the invisibility of the translator through recurring instances of plagiarism in translations of The Origin of species by Charles Darwin (1809-1882) into Portuguese. Despite its translations into several languages during the author's lifetime, the first Portuguese edition translated by physician Joaquim Dá Mesquita Montenegro Paúl (1875-1946), based on the French translation by Edmond Barbier, was only published in 1913. This translation remained the only one available for decades and was readily available in Brazil due to transatlantic book trade. In the 1970s, however, a long tradition of plagiarism of Paúl's text was introduced in Brazil, flooding the market with various editions and reprints alienated from its original translator. Hemus was the first to do it, subsequently licensing the text to many more publishing houses, but Martin Claret, Madras and Pradense also contributed with plagiarisms of their own, occasionally leading to the publication of genuine translations as a form of retraction. In the context of the cultural transfer of Darwin's work from England, passing through France to reach Portugal, and finally arriving in Brazil, the objective is to explore plagiarism as an editorial market appropriation that seeks to render the translator as invisible as possible.