19th-Century Spanish-American Women Not Translated in Brazil: A Pilot Study of a Project Under Construction

Abstract

This work is based on the premise that there is an astonishing amount of literary productions by Hispanic-American women – of fundamental historical, political, social and cultural value in their contexts of origin –, which continue to be systematically ignored by the Brazilian publishing market. Based on the collection of various data supported by field research, we developed a research project that has been developed at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and aims to build a database with information on untranslated Hispanic-American women from the 19th century that can serve as a reference for new works, reflections and translations that take these voices out of their confinement. Based on Transnational Feminist Translation Studies, we understand translation not only as a communicative activity, but as a tool with high potential for social intervention that can contribute to the revision of dominant canons, conceptions, and values. In this paper, we present the pilot study of the project that focuses on three countries of three Americas: Mexico (North), Honduras (Central), and Colombia (South). As results, we will indicate the sources of reference researched, both for the identification of the authors in their context of production and for the confirmation of their (non)translation in Brazil; a summary of the data obtained so far; and a brief description of writers considered precursors of literature in the three countries studied. Thus, we intend to contribute to the rewriting of a cartography of Spanish-American translation in Brazil, enabling the introduction of new female voices in the Brazilian publishing market.