The Construction of Interlingual Heterogeneity in the Spanish Version of Sandra Cisneros's Narrative Work

MARÍA LAURA SPOTURNO

Massachussetts

Congreso; SECOND INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY; 2011

Journal of Arts and Sciences

This research project, which is a continuation of my doctoral studies, relates the theory of enunciative heterogeneity (Authier-Revuz, 1984, 1995) and the operation of language deterritorialization (Deleuze and Guattari, 1975) to explain the complexity of discourse in the Spanish version of Sandra Cisneros?s fiction. The focus of attention will be placed on certain translation aspects of the Chicana writer?s narrative work which are associated with the linguistic-cultural phenomenon described as interlingual heterogeneity (Spoturno, 2010). More specifically, I will examine the recreation of the forms and marks of interlingual heterogeneity, which actualize language deterritorialization and become the most salient trait of Cisneros?s fiction, to later assess the consequences of such an analysis for Translation Studies. Following Authier-Revuz?s (1984) concept of enunciative heterogeneity, I have defined interlingual heterogeneity as an enunciative-discursive phenomenon which, inscribed in the domain of interdiscursive dialogism (Bakhtin [1952-3] 1982), manifests itself through the marks and forms arising in discourse as a result of the processes of linguistic-cultural negotiation and translation materialized in the constant and constitutive encounter of English and Spanish in Cisneros?s work. To articulate this new concept, I have made use of the distinction put forward by Bruce-Novoa ([1980] 1999) concerning interlinguism as an inherent quality of Chicana literature, Arteaga?s (1997) contribution relating to the phenomenon of double expression in Chicano discourse and the notion of enunciative heterogeneity in Authier-Revuz?s theory. Thus, the general goal of this research project is to contribute to the field of Translation Studies, particularly to the area of literary translation. I will argue that interlingual heterogeneity manifests a double dimension in the translation of Cisneros?s work, arising from the hybrid linguistic-cultural nature of the original, which is now rendered again into Spanish. This project has two specific objectives: 1. To examine the translation strategies designed by Liliana Valenzuela in the Spanish version of Cisneros?s fiction to render the forms of interlingual heterogeneity, which become particularly evident in the use of paratextual elements, proverbs and sayings, and the reflexive and pragmatic dimension of enunciation; 2. To analyze the writing and reading practices enacted in the source and target texts, with an emphasis on the construction of the voice in charge of the global enunciation of the narrative texts; i.e. the discursive image or ethos (Ducrot, 1984; Amossy, 1999) that assumes (discursive) responsibility for the texts. In the case of reading dynamics, it will be noted that both the source and target texts call for a cultural-discursive competence on the part of the reader who must fill in textual gaps in order to make sense of discourse.