CLOTILDE WILSON, CECIL HEMLEY, AND THE GENESIS OF PHILOSOPHER OR DOG? (QUINCAS BORBA)

Abstract

This article deals with Quincas Borba's first English translation, published in 1954 under the title Philosopher or Dog?, by examining the correspondence of the translator Clotilde Wilson with the publishing house Noonday Press, especially with its editor Cecil Hemley. This material gathers unprecedented information about the professor, critic and translator, whose name is associated and somehow ended up obscured by the curious title given to the North American edition of Quincas Borba. In addition to recomposing the translation and publication process, the objective here is to place this specific translation in the context of translations of Machado de Assis's novels published in the 1950s, in order to better understand the conditions that led to the translations and publications in consecutive years of three titles by the writer, who until then had not had any of his books translated into English: Epitaph of a Small Winner in 1952, Dom Casmurro in 1953 and Philosopher or Dog? in 1954.

Keywords:
Quincas Borba; Philosopher or Dog?; translation; edition; circulation