The Flame: Experiência de Tradução: uma proposta de tradução de cinco poemas de Leonard Cohen pelo e através do ritmo em Henri Meschonnic

Abstract

This work looks toward the translation of poetry through the lens of what has been experienced during the translation process. I set myself with the task of translating five poems written by Leonard Cohen found in the book The Flame (2018): “Come Healing”, “Thanks for turning me on”, “Listen to the humming bird”, “Moving On” and “Drank a lot”. Henri Meschonnic’s work supports the theorization towards the poetics of rhythm, which will guide the process of translation, experience and re-production of the effects of the chosen poems. The concepts of rhythm and discourse in Meschonnic direct the listening and writing of the poems in Brazilian Portuguese. Issues like prosodic and syntactic accents, the discourse’s effects and the translator’s role as a critic lead the practice. The poetics of discourse, in Meschonnic, is not a set of rules, but a critique on how to do things and on how we look towards the poem, and this work aims at applying these ideas. It discusses translation as creation and the translator’s role as an authour, my role in this writing, which is crucial to this work and make this experience in translation yearn to be written word. I present what I call the Language of Cohen, which in tandem with the listening to the rhythm base the translation of the selected poems. In conclusion, Meschonnic’s theory makes possible to work on the poem from a perspective that takes in consideration a literary work by itself, and from this, translate the discourse in all that it signifies to the French theoretician.