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Our Sonnets from the Portugese

September 2007

The Lusophone world spans three continents and half a dozen countries, from Brazil to Mozambique and points in between. Grounded in European traditions and informed with local custom, this multivocal literature reflects both its shared Portuguese heritage and a cornucopia of contemporary regional innovations. With José Eduardo Agualusa , Rosa Alice Branco, Alexander Cuadros, Mia Couto, Manoel de Barros, Augusta Faro, Rubem Fonseca, Teolinda Gersão, Milton Hatoum, Conceição Lima, Alberto Martins, João Melo, Ondjaki, Paulo Polzonoff, and Ana Paula Tavares, set to a soundtrack provided by DJ Spooky. Elsewhere in this issue, Nani Gouri talks with Hisham Matar, Ewa Lipska sets off verbal fireworks, and Asli Erdogan finds William Blake in a seedy Rio bar.

A Dialogue on Translating Germano Almeida

By Daniel Hahn & Clifford E. Landers

Editors’ Note: This month we present the first in a series of dialogues: two translators produce versions of the same text, then discuss their choices and approaches. Here Daniel Hahn and Clifford…

The Best Seller

By Germano Almeida

Rather formal, modest, weighing every word, almost fearful, he held his hand out to me hesitantly.

Translated from Portuguese by Daniel Hahn

The Best Seller

By Germano Almeida

Ceremonious, humble, weighing each word, he extended almost fearfully a timid hand.

Translated from Portuguese by Clifford E. Landers

The Tale of the Sorceress

By Conceição Lima

San Malanzo was old, so old. San Malanzo was poor, so poor.

Translated from Portuguese by Amanda Hopkinson

Petty Tyrants

By Conceição Lima

Petty tyrants / who founded kingdoms at the foot of their sorrow

Translated from Portuguese by Amanda Hopkinson

The House

By Conceição Lima

Here I wanted my house built.

Translated from Portuguese by Amanda Hopkinson

Sign of These Times

By João Anzanello Carrascoza

The couple stopped in the middle of the way to rest.

Translated from Portuguese by Renato Rezende

Halfway to a House

By Rosa Alice Branco

I take light from the closet drawers. The first day / of fall.

Translated from Portuguese by Alexis Levitin

An Interview with José Eduardo Agualusa

By Paulo Polzonoff Jr.

José Eduardo Agualusa, 46, is a growing name in world literature. Born in Huambo, Angola, Agualusa has already been embraced across the Portuguese-speaking literary world—especially in Brazil and Portugal,…

Translated from Portuguese by Paulo Polzonoff Jr. & Anderson Tepper

A Practical Guide to Levitation

By José Eduardo Agualusa

I do not like parties. The idle chat, the smoke, the fatuous talk of drunks, I find them all tiresome.

Translated from Portuguese by Daniel Hahn

The Fat Indian Girl

She reclined on her bed cylindrically, unable to move, filling the feathery fabric with fluff.

Translated from Portuguese by David Brookshaw

The Woman Who Stole the Rain

By Teolinda Gersão

I smiled to myself when I saw just where I had ended up, thanks to this lack of efficiency, a lack which the manager appeared to attribute to the workings of fate or chance.

Translated from Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa

The Book of Wheeling

Today, for some unknown reason, I’ve decided to share with you certain indiscretions that even my wife is unaware of.

Translated from Portuguese by Clifford E. Landers

Devotion

By Manoel de Barros

There was a high wall between our houses.

Translated from Portuguese by Idra Novey

Song of Seeing

By Manoel de Barros

Having lived many years in the scrub grass in the way of birds

Translated from Portuguese by Idra Novey

Comrade António and the Cuban Teachers

“But Comrade António, don’t you prefer to live in a free country?”

Translated from Portuguese by Stephen Henighan

The Ants

By Augusta Faro

Every day the interdental brush probed into hard corners.

Translated from Portuguese by Alison Entrekin

Mandrake

By Rubem Fonseca

I was White and had fianchettoed my bishop. Berta was mounting a strong center pawn position.

Translated from Portuguese by Clifford E. Landers

From “The History of the Bones”

By Alberto Martins

I wanted to get out of there.

Translated from Portuguese by Idra Novey

Intrusive Reader in the Night

By Milton Hatoum

“I am a reader and I came to settle accounts with you.”

Translated from Portuguese by Idra Novey

I brought flowers . . .

By Ana Paula Tavares

I brought flowers / They’re not all white, Mother

Translated from Portuguese by Richard Zenith