Spanglish, translation and narratology in Fiebre Tropical, by Julián Delgado Lopera

Abstract

This paper shows an analysis of Spanglish in Fiebre tropical, by Julián Delgado Lopera, and in the Brazilian translation, Febre tropical, by Natalia Borges Polesso. The novel is about a Colombian teenager who migrates with her mother and sister to Miami, where they meet her aunt and grandmother and become part of an evangelical church. We use narratological categories of implied author, implied translator, implied reader, narrator and narratee, based on Schiavi (1996), Hermans (1996) and O’Sullivan (2003), to identify the communication among these entities, considering Spanglish. Analysis indicates an implied author who seeks communication in Spanglish, with little explanation; the implied reader would therefore be someone who understands Spanish, infers meaning by context or has gaps in their reading. The implied translator sees keeping Spanish as relevant, but expects a more complete reading, and offers paratextual notes and a glossary; therefore, the implied reader would understand Portuguese, but not necessarily Spanish or English. The narrator uses Spanglish with little clarification; therefore, expects a narratee who understands Spanish, contextually infers meaning or follows the story with gaps. She presents explanations for cultural elements from her original and new contexts, indicating the expectation of a narratee who does not know them. The analysis indicates that it might be expected for linguistic and cultural sharing in multilingual texts to be incomplete.