The first Lysistrata’s Brazilian translations

context and reception

Abstract

The first translations of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata in Brazil date only from the sixties of the last century. In 1964, Mário da Gama Kury (Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 1964) publishes the play entitled A Greve do Sexo, in volume that included A Revolução das Mulheres (Ecclesiazusae); in 1967, Millôr Fernandes translated it at the request of actress Ruth Escobar, who staged it in the same year in a production with great repercussions in São Paulo – the translation, however, would only be published ten years later (1977). These translations had great commercial success and are still read and published today, although the comedy has received new versions since then. Understanding that they are products of their time and represent forms of reception of the ancient legacy, I intend to investigate how the Brazilian historical-cultural context determined a) the choice of this comedy, previously neglected by publishers and absent from the stages; b) the options adopted by the translators to translate the work. At the same time, I will point out how they determined the reception of comedy in Brazil, which goes beyond the literary scope, contributing to turn the character into a symbol of political resistance and feminist activism under the military dictatorship.