The Maritime Micro-Gestures in Elizabeth Bishop’s Brazil Poems and Translations
Published 2021-06-29
Copyright (c) 2021 Magdalena Edwards
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Abstract
ABSTRACT: The North American poet Elizabeth Bishop published poems about Brazil as well as translations of the work of some of her Brazilian contemporaries, including Clarice Lispector and Carlos Drummond de Andrade. This essay examines a selection of Bishop’s Brazil poems and translations that perform maritime micro-gestures—that is, subtle movements of the sea and connected bodies of water—in order to consider the insights and dangers contained therein. I discuss these gestures in the spirit of the new media theorist Vilém Flusser and argue that Bishop’s poems can teach us to better examine our own ways of looking at the world and ourselves and to recognize that things are often not quite what they seem.
KEYWORDS: Vilém Flusser; Clarice Lispector; Carlos Drummond de Andrade; poetry; translation; gesture; micro-gesture; sea; water; ocean; maritime; Brazil
RESUMO: A poeta norteamericana Elizabeth Bishop publicou poemas sobre o Brasil e traduções de alguns dos seus contemporâneos brasileiros, incluindo Clarice Lispector e Carlos Drummond de Andade. Este ensaio examina uma selecção de poemas e traduções de Bishop sobre Brasil que cumprem micro-gestos marítimos —ou seja, movimentos sutis do mar e das aguas ligadas— para considerar os conhecimentos e perigos incluídos. Eu analiso os “gestos” de Bishop pensando no teórico da cultura da mídia Vilém Flusser e argumento que os poemas de Bishop nos podem ensinar como melhorar nosso processo de examinar nosso olhar para o mundo e ao nossos mesmos, para entender que as vezes as coisas não são exatamente o que parecem ser.
PAL AVRAS-CHAVE: Vilém Flusser; Clarice Lispector; Carlos Drummond de Andrade; poesia; tradução; gesto; micro-gesto; mar; água; oceano; marítimo; Brasil