Date: April 24, 2007
Special to The Well at MHC

One of the tasks that a language professor is often called on to do is provide English meaning to a message in the foreign, or second language. There are two opportunities: interpreting and translating.  A speech delivered by someone in one language is interpreted into another, while a written message is translated from language to language.  Dr. Gregory A. Clemons will go on sabbatical during the academic year 2007-08; he will translate a novel written by a writer from Argentina who is virtually unheard of in the United States.  He will prepare an edited translation of one of Manuel Mujica Lainez´s novels, Crónicas reales.  Editorial Sudamericana in Buenos Aires, one of Latin America´s biggest and most prestigious publishers, first published it in 1967.  While there are English translations of at least one of his works, Bomarzo, there is not yet one of Crónicas reales.  Other than a small number of articles and books about him, few non-Spanish speakers know about Manuel Mujica Lainez (1911 – 1984), whose works include short stories, novels, biographies, and essays.  Yet, he has a solid reputation in Argentina and his many literary works testify to his central place in the study of Argentine culture and literature.  In a February 3, 2006 article about Mujica Lainez in Página 12, an online magazine in Spanish, Sylvia Saiíta and Luis Alberto Romero note Mujica´s sharp and ironic criticism of the Argentine upper classes.  They indicate that his novels take readers from mythical places ruled by feudal lords to a modern Argentina infused with decadent elites.

Manuel Mujica Lainez began his career as a journalist in 1932 writing for the Argentine newspaper La Nación and by the 1940s he was publishing art criticism in the same newspaper.  In 1949 he published his first two novels, Aquí vivieron and Misteriosa Buenos Aires, and in 1951 he ran for senator as a Partido Democrático candidate.  Throughout the 1950s he continued publishing novels.  In 1962 his third novel Bomarzo was published, which Alberto Ginastera made into an opera and debuted in Washington, DC on May 19, 1967.  John J. Church writes on OperaWorld.com that the opera was banned from the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires because then-mayor Eugenio Schettini claimed it was “obsessed with sex, violence, and hallucinations.”  Nevertheless, both Ginastera and Mujica Lainez won the Pulitzer Prize for the opera and the libretto. 

In addition to the actual translation Dr. Clemons´ book will include four elements.  First, he will link Mujica´s modern “Chronicle” and the chronicling of Latin America in the historic sense. Second, by incorporating bibliographic information from Mujica´s papers, he will place the author within what is called the “Boom” movement of Latin American literature of the 60s and 70s.  Third, the impact of politics of the Perón years on Mujica´s novel and his critique of the Peronist establishment are central elements at play in this novel.  Finally, Dr. Clemons will provide a bibliography on Manuel Mujica Lainez´s works, his life, and critical projects about his works.  The title in English will be “Royal Chronicles” and it lays out the history of the von Orbs family, a fictional hodgepodge of remarkable characters.  This family is fictitious, yet, as Greg´s edition will show, there are parallels with people and events from the unstable years of Argentine history leading up to the military junta of 1976.

Clemons notes that this novel is unique because it was written during some of the most unsettling years of contemporary Argentine history.  As David Rock indicates in his history Argentina, 1516-1987: From Spanish Colonization to Alfonsín, “social groups, classes, parties, corporate institutions…were locked in almost perpetual conflict” (p. 332).  Attempts at civil government failed in large part because the military constantly interfered, growing stronger with each coup.  Between 1966 and 1973 tremendous unrest from both the left and the right terrorized Argentine society.  By March 1976 one more civilian government was toppled by the military, which once again took political control of the country.  This coup was intended to return Argentina to “Western and Christian” values by completely reorganizing Argentine society.  While it was one of many military coups in Argentina since the early twentieth century it exercised “greater strength and freedom of maneuver than any of its military predecessors” (p. 367), ushering in seven years of terror.  The result was the Guerra Sucia, or Dirty War, in which 30,000 people, mainly Argentines, were arrested, tortured, and executed.

The translation of this novel will be of interest to scholars in Latin American literature, non-Spanish speaking specialists of Latin American and Argentine culture, and the growing interest by general audiences for modern Latin American literature in English translation. In particular, Dr. Clemons´ translation offers readers the chance to become acquainted with one of Mujica´s work.  His corpus is often considered important to the history of Argentine literature but it is frequently underrepresented or not included in canonical studies.  Dr. Clemons values the translation process as a useful tool to any classes at Mars Hill College.  As a native speaker of English with near-native abilities in speaking, writing, and reading in Spanish, Dr. Clemons´ extensive experience, both travel and study, in Spanish-speaking countries has allowed him to learn about the different dialects and usages of the Spanish language.  Juggling the nuances of Spanish and making them understandable in English and vice versa are challenges all students face when learning a second language.  This translation will allow Professor Clemons to bring specific examples of his research to classes for discussions about semantics, syntax, nuances in vocabulary and idiomatic expressions, etc.  This translation will serve as an excellent resource for courses on composition, structure of the Spanish language, history of Argentine literature, even a course on Literature in Translation, partnered with the English department, for example.  Dr. Clemons already incorporates one chapter of the Spanish version of the novel into SPA 450, the Capstone as well as the Senior Seminar for Spanish majors.  One of the requirements for that class is translating chapter 10 (the novel has twelve chapters) into English as an exercise in written translation.  At the close of this project Professor Clemons expects to publish the translation and edition of this novel.  He will be giving a paper on the aspects of humor in this novel at the September 2007 meeting of the Latin American Studies Association meeting in Montreal, Canada.

Dr. Clemons has sought the assistance of other professors of Spanish from the Appalachian region.  In order to facilitate his work on the translation of Crónicas reales.  Dr. Susan Carvalho, Professor of Hispanic Studies at the University of Kentucky, and Dr. Jackie Bixler, Alumni Distinguished Professor of Spanish at Virginia Tech University, have both expressed interest in this project and have agreed to be readers and/or editors during his year off.  In addition, Dr. Daniel Ferreras of West Virginia University has agreed to provide useful suggestions about semantic issues that will arise during the translation process.

During this coming summer Dr. Clemons plans to devote June to reading the novel again and checking his translation with the Spanish original and ironing out linguistic problems.  He also plans to read Mujica´s other works to get a clear idea about his writing style.  In July he plans to finish the second draft of the actual translation.  During August and September 2007 Professor Clemons will spend time at Princeton University to work with Mujica Lainez´s papers held in its Rare Books and Special Collections Library.  Included in this collection are manuscripts, others´ writings about Mujica, and correspondence he received from family and friends.  Clemons hopes to establish the context in which Mujica developed as a writer and in which he wrote Crónicas reales.  Prof. Ricardo Piglia, of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Princeton University, has generously agreed to assist Dr. Clemons with my project while there.  Prof. Piglia is one of Latin America´s most widely published fiction writers today.  Back in North Carolina, Clemons will dedicate October, November, and December to completing the translation and “modernizing” it for a wider audience, including specific explanations of historic events and persons for those not familiar with Argentine history, literature, or politics.  Each of the twelve chapters in Crónicas reales is dedicated to a famous writer or person with whom Mujica had connections.  But outside of Argentina these names are unknown, so Clemons hopes to provide bibliographic information about these individuals.  During the first few months of 2008 Dr. Clemons will write the introductory material to accompany the translation.  The author´s references to actual events are not immediately obvious, so in the Spring of 2008 Clemons will do additional research on-line, through interlibrary loan, and at Duke University and the North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which together form the Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies collection.