Feminist translation and the power of removing voices from confinement

Abstract

Among the many consequences caused by the covid-19 pandemic, an old problem has intensified due to confinement: the oppression that is perpetrated against women in a patriarchal system still in force. In this sense, feminist movements have, for many years, produced dialogues with different fields to remove this unjust system, which subjugates and confines women ”“ literally and symbolically. This work, therefore, seeks to present the contribution of translation in this sense, highlighting the perspective of feminist translation, which, for decades, has been offering theoretical and methodological tools to give voice to women confined to the context in which they wrote. Thus, with the objective of contributing to remove the work of women writers ignored by the publishing market, this work presents, in addition to a brief historical review of feminist theories of translation, data that show that many Latin American women are still not translated into Portuguese. As a way of contributing to the essential work of giving voice to these women, it is presented a summary of the life and work of one of the most powerful and affirmative Argentine writers of the early 20th century, Alfonsina Storni, who claimed, precisely, in her work, a fair and liberating space for women ”“ however, even so, almost a century after his death, Storni’s work remains practically unknown in Brazil. As an illustration of this effort, this paper presents a Portuguese translation of “Hombre pequeñito”, a poem by Storni that enunciates the voice of a woman who wants to leave the confinement to which she is subjected. It is understood, as a result of the proposed discussion, the need, still far from being met, to present countless other voices, through translation into Portuguese, for the Brazilian public, taking them out of the isolation of their starting context.