Ecolalia de Luís Quintais: para uma proposta de tradução como procura do esquecimento

Abstract

In this article, we intend to analyze the work of the contemporary Portuguese poet Luís Quintais from our own experience of translating from Portuguese into Italian as an attempt to investigate it. We will therefore present the project of the poetic anthology Ecolalia, published in Italy by LietoColle in 2018, whose presentation was made with the author’s presence within the scope of the Pordenonelegge literary Festival. The theme that relates the author’s work and the structure of the Italian anthology is memory. First, we will present the work of Luís Quintais through some poems included in the mentioned anthology. Secondly, we will thus try to apply to our reflection on the work of translation what Walter Benjamin called the process of «reactivation of the echo of the original» (BENJAMIN, 1962: 44) where forgetting is the most important mark to study the poet’s work Portuguese. We will study this aspect trying to question ourselves about the meaning of ‘echolalia’ debated by the Linguistic (HELLER-ROAZEN, 2007), who is also a translator and a specialist in Translation, highlighting the role of memory in aphasic subjects. Finally, we will demonstrate how this aspect of memory is effective for the exercise of translation, both in the activity of professional translators and in our proposal for translation from Portuguese into Italian.

Keywords: Contemporary Portuguese poetry. Luís Quintais. Translation. Memory. Oblivion.