An italian translator in XIXth century Brazil and his reflections on the act of translating

Abstract

In Brazil, in the years of 1842 and 1843, the Gemidos poéticos sobre os túmulos and the Ramalhete poético do parnaso italiano were published by the Italian Luiz Vicente De Simoni, who was living in our country. These books contain, in the preface, relevant reflections about the theory and practice of translation. The translator describes the concept of “fidelity”, an important term to the discussions on translation, contrasting with the French school of the belles infi dèles. To this concept he addes the “taste”, which presence is essential in the work of the translator. The present article wants to bring back the same aspects of the refl ections about the act of translating by this translator of the XIX century. Keywords: Translation. Theory. De Simoni. Brazil. XIXth Century.