Gregory Rabassa
Encyclopedia
Gregory Rabassa is a renowned literary
translator
from Spanish
and Portuguese
to English
who currently teaches at Queens College.
, U.S.
, into a family headed by a Cuba
n émigré. After serving during World War II
as an OSS
cryptographer and receiving a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth
, Rabassa enrolled as a graduate student at Columbia University
, where he eventually earned a doctorate. He taught for over two decades at Columbia University
before accepting a position at Queens College.
He works primarily in Spanish
and Portuguese
. He has produced English-language
versions of the works of several major Latin American novelists, including Julio Cortázar
, Jorge Amado
and Gabriel García Márquez
. On the advice of Cortázar, García Márquez waited three years for Rabassa's schedule to become open so that he could translate One Hundred Years of Solitude
. He later declared Rabassa's translation to be superior to his own Spanish original.
Typically, Rabassa translates without reading the book beforehand, working as he goes.
Rabassa had a particularly close and productive working relation with Cortázar, with whom he shared lifelong passions for jazz and wordplay. For his version of Cortázar's novel, Hopscotch, Rabassa received a National Book Award
for Translation.
Rabassa currently teaches at Queens College, where he is a Distinguished Professor. In 2006, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts
.
He has written a memoir detailing his experiences as a translator, If This Be Treason: Translation and Its Dyscontents, A Memoir.
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
translator
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
from Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
and Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
to English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
who currently teaches at Queens College.
Life and career
Rabassa was born in Yonkers, New YorkYonkers, New York
Yonkers is the fourth most populous city in the state of New York , and the most populous city in Westchester County, with a population of 195,976...
, U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, into a family headed by a Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n émigré. After serving during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as an OSS
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
cryptographer and receiving a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
, Rabassa enrolled as a graduate student at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, where he eventually earned a doctorate. He taught for over two decades at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
before accepting a position at Queens College.
He works primarily in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
and Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
. He has produced English-language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
versions of the works of several major Latin American novelists, including Julio Cortázar
Julio Cortázar
Julio Cortázar, born Jules Florencio Cortázar, was an Argentine writer. Cortázar, known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, influenced an entire generation of Spanish speaking readers and writers in the Americas and Europe.-Early life:Cortázar's parents, Julio José Cortázar and...
, Jorge Amado
Jorge Amado
Jorge Leal Amado de Faria was a Brazilian writer of the Modernist school. He was the best-known of modern Brazilian writers, his work having been translated into some 49 languages and popularized in film, notably Dona Flor and her Two Husbands in 1978...
and Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...
. On the advice of Cortázar, García Márquez waited three years for Rabassa's schedule to become open so that he could translate One Hundred Years of Solitude
One Hundred Years of Solitude
One Hundred Years of Solitude , by Gabriel García Márquez, is a novel which tells the multi-generational story of the Buendía family, whose patriarch, José Arcadio Buendía, founds the town of Macondo, the metaphoric Colombia...
. He later declared Rabassa's translation to be superior to his own Spanish original.
Typically, Rabassa translates without reading the book beforehand, working as he goes.
Rabassa had a particularly close and productive working relation with Cortázar, with whom he shared lifelong passions for jazz and wordplay. For his version of Cortázar's novel, Hopscotch, Rabassa received a National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
for Translation.
Rabassa currently teaches at Queens College, where he is a Distinguished Professor. In 2006, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts
National Medal of Arts
The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts. It is the highest honor conferred to an individual artist on behalf of the people. Honorees are selected by the National Endowment for the...
.
He has written a memoir detailing his experiences as a translator, If This Be Treason: Translation and Its Dyscontents, A Memoir.
Selected translations
- Juan BenetJuan Benet-Early life:Benet was born in Madrid. At the start of the Spanish Civil War, his father died, and he left for San Sebastian with his family to find refuge. They stayed there until 1939, when they returned to the capital. In 1944, he completed his high school education and in 1948 he entered into...
- Return to Region
- A Meditation
- Jorge FrancoJorge FrancoJorge Franco was a Portuguese Olympic fencer. He competed in the team sabre event at the 1952 Summer Olympics.-References:...
- Rosario TijerasRosario TijerasRosario Tijeras is a Colombian film based on the book of the same name written by Jorge Franco. The film was released in Colombia in 2005. In that same year the film had its North American premiere at the American Film Institute festival in Hollywood. The film also was nominated for a Goya Award...
, 2004 ("Rosario TijerasRosario TijerasRosario Tijeras is a Colombian film based on the book of the same name written by Jorge Franco. The film was released in Colombia in 2005. In that same year the film had its North American premiere at the American Film Institute festival in Hollywood. The film also was nominated for a Goya Award...
")
- Rosario Tijeras
- Julio CortázarJulio CortázarJulio Cortázar, born Jules Florencio Cortázar, was an Argentine writer. Cortázar, known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, influenced an entire generation of Spanish speaking readers and writers in the Americas and Europe.-Early life:Cortázar's parents, Julio José Cortázar and...
- HopscotchRayuelaHopscotch is a novel by Argentine writer Julio Cortázar. Written in Paris and published in Spanish in 1963 and in English in 1966, the English translation by Gregory Rabassa won the 1967 U.S. National Book Award. Hopscotch is an introspective stream-of-consciousness novel where characters...
, 1966 ("Rayuela") - A Manual for ManuelLibro de ManuelLibro de Manuel is a novel by Julio Cortázar published in 1973.-Summary:The novel is a blueprint that synthetizes the controversy of politics and social movements during the 1970s...
, 1978 ("Libro de Manuel") - 62: A Model Kit62: A Model Kit62: A Model Kit is a novel by Julio Cortázar published in 1968. The book is a literary experiment that ranks among the most important novels written in Spanish in the 20th century. It was written in Paris between Hopscotch and the release of Around the Day in Eighty Worlds in 1967....
, ("62: Modelo para Armar")
- Hopscotch
- Gabriel García MárquezGabriel García MárquezGabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...
- One Hundred Years of SolitudeOne Hundred Years of SolitudeOne Hundred Years of Solitude , by Gabriel García Márquez, is a novel which tells the multi-generational story of the Buendía family, whose patriarch, José Arcadio Buendía, founds the town of Macondo, the metaphoric Colombia...
, 1970 ("Cien años de soledad") - The Autumn of the PatriarchThe Autumn of the PatriarchThe Autumn of the Patriarch is a novel written by Gabriel García Márquez in 1975.A "poem on the solitude of power" according to the author, the novel is a flowing tract on the life of an eternal dictator...
, 1976 ("El otoño del patriarca"), for which he received the Pen Translation Prize. - Chronicle of a Death ForetoldChronicle of a Death ForetoldChronicle of a Death Foretold is a novella by Gabriel García Márquez, published in 1981...
, 1982 ("Crónica de una muerte anunciada") - Leaf StormLeaf StormLeaf Storm is the common translation for Gabriel García Márquez's novella La Hojarasca. First published in 1955, it took seven years to find a publisher...
("La hojarasca")
- One Hundred Years of Solitude
- Clarice LispectorClarice LispectorClarice Lispector was a Brazilian writer. Acclaimed internationally for her innovative novels and short stories, she was also a journalist...
- The Apple in the Dark, 1967 ("A maçã no escuro," 1961)
- Luis Rafael SánchezLuis Rafael SanchezDr. Luis Rafael Sánchez a.k.a. "Wico" is a Puerto Rican playwright. Possibly his best known play is La Pasión según Antigona Pérez , a tragedy based on the life of Olga Viscal Garriga-Early years:...
- Macho Camacho's Beat, 1983 ("La guaracha del Macho Camacho")
- José Lezama LimaJosé Lezama LimaJosé Lezama Lima was a Cuban writer and poet who is considered one of the most influential figures in Latin American literature....
- ParadisoParadiso (1966 novel)Paradiso was the only novel by Cuban poet José Lezama Lima to be completed and published during his lifetime. The narrative consists of the childhood and youth of José Cemí, told in a highly baroque experimental style, and depicts many scenes which have remarkable resonances with Lezama's own life...
("Paradiso")
- Paradiso
- Mario Vargas LlosaMario Vargas LlosaJorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquis of Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian-Spanish writer, politician, journalist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate. Vargas Llosa is one of Latin America's most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading authors of his generation...
- Conversation in the CathedralConversation in the CathedralConversation in the Cathedral is a 1969 novel by Peruvian writer and essayist Mario Vargas Llosa, recognized as one of his major works. It is a portrayal of Peru under the dictatorship of Manuel A. Odría in the 1950s, and deals with the lives of characters from different social strata...
("Conversación en La Catedral")
- Conversation in the Cathedral
- Machado de Assis
- Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas ("Memórias Póstumas de Bras Cubas")
- Quincas BorbaQuincas BorbaQuincas Borba is a novel written by the Brazilian writer Machado de Assis. It was first published in 1891. It is also known in English as Philosopher or Dog?-External links:* '** ** ** ** ...
("Quincas Borba")
- António Lobo AntunesAntónio Lobo AntunesAntónio Lobo Antunes, GCSE, MD ; born 1 September 1942) is a Portuguese novelist and medical doctor.-Life and career:António Lobo Antunes was born in Lisbon as the eldest of six sons of João Alfredo de Figueiredo Lobo Antunes , prominent Neurologist and Professor, close collaborator of Egas Moniz,...
- Fado AlexandrinoFado AlexandrinoFado Alexandrino is a novel by Portuguese author António Lobo Antunes. It was published in Portuguese in 1983 and in English translation by Gregory Rabassa in 1990...
("Fado Alexandrino") - The Return of the Caravels ("As Naus")
- Fado Alexandrino
- Osman LinsOsman LinsOsman Lins was a Brazilian novelist and short story writer. He is considered to be one of the leading innovators of Brazilian literature in the mid 20th century...
- Avalovara ("Avalovara")
- Jorge AmadoJorge AmadoJorge Leal Amado de Faria was a Brazilian writer of the Modernist school. He was the best-known of modern Brazilian writers, his work having been translated into some 49 languages and popularized in film, notably Dona Flor and her Two Husbands in 1978...
- Captains of the Sand ("Capitães da Areia")
External links
- Profile: "A Translator's Long Journey, Page by Page" (New York Times)
- http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/2255PEN audio interview with Gregory Rabassa and Edith GrossmanEdith GrossmanEdith Grossman is an award-winning American translator specializing in English versions of Spanish language books. She is one of the most important translators of Latin American fiction in the past century, translating the works of Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, Nobel laureate Gabriel García...
] - "The Translator in His Labyrinth: A Profile of Gregory Rabassa" (Fine Books & Collections)