Traducir Libro de Manuel: una propuesta para jugar con Cortázar y sus palabras
Translating Libro de Manuel: A Proposal to Play with Cortázar and His Words

Author(s): Mara Imbrogno
Subject(s): Language studies, Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Philology
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Cortázar; Libro de Manuel; word plays; phraseological units; literary translation
Summary/Abstract: Libro de Manuel (1973) has, like the other works of Julio Cortázar, a very complex narrative structure, characterized by multiple changes of narrator, alteration or absence of punctuation and interpolation of other textual genres. In addition, the narration entails a continuous reflection on language and the translation of one language (and one culture) to another. Translating this novel to another language (in this case, to Italian) represents a stimulating challenge, because it means entering the labyrinth of techniques and resources Cortázar deploys to play with the words and the reality they represent. This article aims to reflect on the challenges that Libro de Manuel proposes to the translator with his plurilingualism and with an incessant and genial manipulation of the language that goes from the alteration of words and phrases made to the invention of the chimerical and extravagant language with the which one of the characters expresses his vision of the world (and that of its author). And my purpose is to find solutions for the many dilemmas that any literary translation proposes, and which are multiplied in a novel in which the author’s political and existential reflection merge with a deep reflection on language and its infinite possibilities.

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