Two pages by Rubem Braga in Manchete Magazine - A translation of Jacques Prévert's poem “On”

Abstract

The present article analyzes the translation of the poem "On" by Jacques Prévert, done by Rubem Braga. It is a significant text for the chronicler, as he revisits this translation in different contexts at least seven times between 1953 and 1979. Moreover, throughout these recurrences, one recognizes a process of assimilation in which Braga mixes Prevertian verses with his own texts to compose some chronicles. Such a gesture may have been decisive for the fact that the poem was translated into prose in Portuguese. These relationships will be studied as follows: in a first movement, we will demonstrate how Prévert's verses inaugurate a space of profound dialogue with Braga's work, resonating significant elements of the chronicler's poetics. Next, we will seek to understand the place of this translation in the Brazilian context, glimpsing in the "Two Pages by Rubem Braga" of Manchete Magazine (first appearance) a metonymy of the sociocultural and artistic moment of that time. Our hypothesis is that the translation and assimilation of Jacques Prévert's poem filter, in a certain way, Rubem Braga's view of Brazil's issues at that moment.