“Travelling in the Family”: Elizabeth Bishop’s Brazilian Autobiographical Voice

The aim of this paper is to analyze Bishop’s interest in Brazilian autobiographical works especially The Diary of Helena Morley and poems by Carlos Drummond de Andrade that she translated into English and included among her own poems. Of particular interest is the privileged dialogue established bet...

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Main Author: Myriam Bellehigue
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Association Française d'Etudes Américaines 2019-09-01
Series:Transatlantica
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/12049
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author Myriam Bellehigue
author_facet Myriam Bellehigue
author_sort Myriam Bellehigue
collection DOAJ
description The aim of this paper is to analyze Bishop’s interest in Brazilian autobiographical works especially The Diary of Helena Morley and poems by Carlos Drummond de Andrade that she translated into English and included among her own poems. Of particular interest is the privileged dialogue established between these translations and Bishop’s own autobiographical texts, either in verse or in prose, both published and unpublished during her lifetime. Particular attention is paid to the treatment of oblivion defined as both forgetfulness and omission. Oblivion strikes as the “vivid force” that shapes most of these autobiographical works and pushes both poets to explore their childhood “tropisms,” that is to say, according to Sarraute’s definition, micro-movements, intimate dramas that affect the child’s subconscious and that the adult tries to grasp at years later through uncertain language. The aim of the autobiographical return is not to recreate a whole life but to retrieve the emotional traces left by a few episodes.
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spelling doaj-art-9465a3a11a8049858e27d679d501234e2025-01-30T10:46:28ZengAssociation Française d'Etudes AméricainesTransatlantica1765-27662019-09-01110.4000/transatlantica.12049“Travelling in the Family”: Elizabeth Bishop’s Brazilian Autobiographical VoiceMyriam BellehigueThe aim of this paper is to analyze Bishop’s interest in Brazilian autobiographical works especially The Diary of Helena Morley and poems by Carlos Drummond de Andrade that she translated into English and included among her own poems. Of particular interest is the privileged dialogue established between these translations and Bishop’s own autobiographical texts, either in verse or in prose, both published and unpublished during her lifetime. Particular attention is paid to the treatment of oblivion defined as both forgetfulness and omission. Oblivion strikes as the “vivid force” that shapes most of these autobiographical works and pushes both poets to explore their childhood “tropisms,” that is to say, according to Sarraute’s definition, micro-movements, intimate dramas that affect the child’s subconscious and that the adult tries to grasp at years later through uncertain language. The aim of the autobiographical return is not to recreate a whole life but to retrieve the emotional traces left by a few episodes.https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/12049autobiographymemoryintertextualitytranslationElizabeth BishopCarlos Drummond de Andrade
spellingShingle Myriam Bellehigue
“Travelling in the Family”: Elizabeth Bishop’s Brazilian Autobiographical Voice
Transatlantica
autobiography
memory
intertextuality
translation
Elizabeth Bishop
Carlos Drummond de Andrade
title “Travelling in the Family”: Elizabeth Bishop’s Brazilian Autobiographical Voice
title_full “Travelling in the Family”: Elizabeth Bishop’s Brazilian Autobiographical Voice
title_fullStr “Travelling in the Family”: Elizabeth Bishop’s Brazilian Autobiographical Voice
title_full_unstemmed “Travelling in the Family”: Elizabeth Bishop’s Brazilian Autobiographical Voice
title_short “Travelling in the Family”: Elizabeth Bishop’s Brazilian Autobiographical Voice
title_sort travelling in the family elizabeth bishop s brazilian autobiographical voice
topic autobiography
memory
intertextuality
translation
Elizabeth Bishop
Carlos Drummond de Andrade
url https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/12049
work_keys_str_mv AT myriambellehigue travellinginthefamilyelizabethbishopsbrazilianautobiographicalvoice