Heavens on Earth
Page 34
The first “foreign world” terminology the reader encounters in the novel proper is a phrase in Esperanto: Ekfloros keston de Learo. In Esperanto, the word ekflori means “to bloom or flower” and thus suggests an opening, in this case the opening of a section narrated by a Learo (a.k.a. Lear). Kesto in Esperanto means a “box, chest, or coffer,” which might suggest a box such as those found in the archives, or in this case perhaps an archived document, as in an entry, report, or manuscript. The ending of the section is indicated by the Esperanto phrase Slosos keston de Learo. In Esperanto, the word slosi means, “to lock,” suggesting the closing or ending of the section. Each “chapter,” or section, opens and closes with the phrases Ekfloros keston de and Slosos keston de, followed by the Esperanto version of the narrator’s name.
There is another term that comes up several times in relation to some work that one of Lear’s companions in L’Atlàntide is doing with “quicks.” The word “quick” is recognizable as an English word, but it is also an Esperanto word, and in both languages it can mean “alive” or “living.” From the context, it would seem that the character is doing some type of experiments with live animal matter. Because this is a science-fiction world, the term “quicks” does not make any more logical sense in the original Spanish text than in English translation and the meaning of the word is left up to the interpretation of the reader in both languages.
The greatest challenge in translating the sections narrated by Hernando stems from the fact that his sections reflect not just one foreign world, but rather three. There is of course the early colonial world in which he lives, but there are also enough references to the Pre-Columbian world that it is very much present in the novel. Moreover, the early colonial world in which Hernando lives is inhabited and governed, by the religious of the Franciscan order on the one hand, and the colonial government on the other. Challenges also arose from the fact that Boullosa incorporates pieces of text taken from historical narratives and archival documents, the latter of which are characterized by both high formal and colloquial registers, a circuitous writing style, archaic language, and non-standardized spelling.
Throughout the sections narrated by Hernando, I have tried wherever possible to translate using language that coincides with the outside sources Boullosa uses so as to reflect the time in which he was living. In order to do this, I turned to the historical thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, especially when it came to finding the right idiomatic expression that would coincide best with the early sixteenth century. What was most interesting about attempting to use words, phrases, and expressions that would have been contemporary to Hernando’s time was discovering that so many of the phrases and expressions we use today actually date back to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This reminds me of something Umberto Eco wrote in the “Postscript” to The Name of the Rose, where he mentions the feedback he received from readers and critics who complained that sometimes one character or another sounded too modern, and Eco writes that “in every one of these instances, and only in these instances, I was actually quoting fourteenth-century texts.” So, despite the fact that we know that languages change over time, perhaps some aspects evolve much more slowly than we think.
Traveling through space and time with Lear, Estela, and Hernando while I translated their lives was a remarkable journey. It was a thrill to jump back and forth among their realms—from L’Atlàntide in the post-apocalyptic future, to Mexico City of the 1990s, back into early colonial New Spain, and forward again into the future. Throughout the process I endeavored to balance my fidelity to the author and the original text while translating the stories of the novel in a way that is readable, if not entirely comfortable, for an English-language audience. My goal was to translate in a reasonably faithful and clear prose that does not domesticate Boullosa’s novel, but would allow the English-language reader to experience the foreign in Heavens on Earth and, moreover, to appreciate the foreignness on the many levels—language, culture, time periods, settings—present in the novel.
I would like to thank Carmen Boullosa, first and foremost, for giving me permission to translate this fascinating text; Charles Hatfield for introducing me to the novel; Lourdes Molina and Lilly Albritton for being there throughout; Rainer Schulte for being my mentor for more than a decade; Benjamin, always; George Henson for introducing me to Will Evans, and finally Will himself along with the staff at Deep Vellum for their commitment to publishing this novel for the English language readers.
SHELBY VINCENT
Dallas, TX, 2017
CARMEN BOULLOSA is one of Mexico’s leading novelists, poets, and playwrights. She has published over a dozen novels, two of which were designated the Best Novel Published in Mexico by the prestigious magazine Reforma—her second novel, Before, also won the renowned Xavier Villaurrutia Prize for Best Mexican Novel; and her novel La otra mano de Lepanto was selected as one of the Top 100 Novels Published in Spanish in the past 25 years. Her most recent novel, Texas: The Great Theft won the 2014 Typographical Era Translation Award, was shortlisted for the 2015 PEN Translation Award, and has been nominated for the 2015 International Dublin Literary Award. Boullosa has received numerous prizes and honors, including a Guggenheim fellowship. Also a poet, playwright, essayist, and cultural critic, Boullosa is a Distinguished Lecturer at City College of New York, and her books have been translated into Italian, Dutch, German, French, Portuguese, Chinese, and Russian.
SHELBY VINCENT is the managing editor of Translation Review and a lecturer and research associate at the University of Texas at Dallas, where she earned her PhD in the Humanities with a focus on literary translation studies. In her free time, she is a literary translator, and has contributed to the translation of Woman Street Artists of Latin America (Manic D Press), as well as translating Carmen Boullosa’s Heavens on Earth. She is currently translating another book by Carmen Boullosa, La virgin y el violin (The Virgin and the Violin).
Thank you all for your support. We do this for you, and could not do it without you.
DEAR READERS,
Deep Vellum Publishing is a 501c3 nonprofit literary arts organization founded in 2013 with a threefold mission: to publish international literature in English translation; to foster the art and craft of translation; and to build a more vibrant book culture in Dallas and beyond. We are dedicated to broadening cultural connections across the English-reading world by connecting readers, in new and creative ways, with the work of international authors. We strive for diversity in publishing authors from various languages, viewpoints, genders, sexual orientations, countries, continents, and literary styles, whose works provide lasting cultural value and build bridges with foreign cultures while expanding our understanding of how the world thinks, feels, and experiences the human condition.
Operating as a nonprofit means that we rely on the generosity of tax-deductible donations from individual donors, cultural organizations, government institutions, and foundations. Your donations provide the basis of our operational budget as we seek out and publish exciting literary works from around the globe and build a vibrant and active literary arts community both locally and within the global society. Donors at various levels receive personalized benefits for their donations, including books and Deep Vellum merchandise, invitations to special events, and recognition in each book and on our website.
In addition to donations, we rely on subscriptions from readers like you to provide an invaluable ongoing investment in Deep Vellum that demonstrates a commitment to our editorial vision and mission. Subscribers are the bedrock of our support as we grow the readership for these amazing works of literature from every corner of the world. The investment our subscribers make allows us to demonstrate to potential donors and bookstores alike the support and demand for Deep Vellum’s literature across a broad readership and gives us the ability to grow our mission in ever-new, ever-innovative ways.
In partnership with our sister company and bookstore, Deep Vellum Books, located in the historic
cultural district of Deep Ellum in central Dallas, we organize and host literary programming such as author readings, translator workshops, creative writing classes, spoken word performances, and interdisciplinary arts events for writers, translators, and artists from across the globe. Our goal is to enrich and connect the world through the power of the written and spoken word, and we have been recognized for our efforts by being named one of the “Five Small Presses Changing the Face of the Industry” by Flavorwire and honored as Dallas’s Best Publisher by D Magazine.
If you would like to get involved with Deep Vellum as a donor, subscriber, or volunteer, please contact us at deepvellum.org. We would love to hear from you.
Thank you all. Enjoy reading.
Will Evans
Founder & Publisher
LIGA DE ORO ($5,000+)
Anonymous (2)
LIGA DEL SIGLO ($1,000+)
Allred Capital Management
Ben & Sharon Fountain
David Tomlinson & Kathryn Berry
Judy Pollock
Life in Deep Ellum
Loretta Siciliano
Lori Feathers
Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk
& Joshua Frenk
Matthew Rittmayer
Meriwether Evans
Pixel and Texel
Nick Storch
Social Venture Partners Dallas
Stephen Bullock
DONORS
Adam Rekerdres
Alan Shockley
Amrit Dhir
Anonymous (4)
Andrew Yorke
Anthony Messenger
Bob Appel
Bob & Katherine Penn
Brandon Childress
Brandon Kennedy
Caitlin Baker
Caroline Casey
Charles Dee Mitchell
Charley Mitcherson
Cheryl Thompson
Christie Tull
CS Maynard
Cullen Schaar
Daniel J. Hale
Deborah Johnson
Dori Boone-Costantino
Ed Nawotka
Elizabeth Gillette
Rev. Elizabeth & Neil Moseley
Ester & Matt Harrison
Farley Houston
Garth Hallberg
Grace Kenney
Greg McConeghy
Jeff Waxman
JJ Italiano
Justin Childress
Kay Cattarulla
Kelly Falconer
Lea Courington
Leigh Ann Pike
Linda Nell Evans
Lissa Dunlay
Maaza Mengiste
Marian Schwartz & Reid Minot
Mark Haber
Marlo D. Cruz Pagan
Mary Cline
Maynard Thomson
Michael Reklis
Mike Kaminsky
Mokhtar Ramadan
Nikki & Dennis
Gibson
Olga Kislova
Patrick Kukucka
Patrick Kutcher
Richard Meyer
Sherry Perry
Steve Bullock
Suejean Kim
Susan Carp
Susan Ernst
Stephen Harding
Symphonic Source
Theater Jones
Thomas DiPiero
Tim Perttula
Tony Thomson
SUBSCRIBERS
Ali Bolcakan
Andre Habet
Andrew Bowles
Anita Tarar
Anonymous
Ben Fountain
Ben Nichols
Blair Bullock
Cameron Leader-Picone
Charles Dee Mitchell
Chris Sweet
Christie Tull
Courtney Sheedy
Daniel Galindo
David Tomlinson & Kathryn
Berry
David Travis
David Weinberger
Dawn Wilburn-Saboe
Elaine Corwin
Elizabeth Johnson
Geoffrey Young
Holly LaFon
Horatiu Matei
James Tierney
Jeffrey Collins
Jill Kelly
Joe Milazzo
John Schmerein
John Winkelman
Kevin Winter
Kimberly Alexander
Lesley Conzelman
M.J. Malooly
Margaret Terwey
Martha Gifford
Mary Brockson
Michael Elliott
Michael Filippone
Mies de Vries
Neal Chuang
Nhan Ho
Nicholas R. Theis
Patrick Shirak
Peter McCambridge
Rainer Schulte
Robert Keefe
Ronald Morton
Shelby Vincent
Steven Kornajcik
Suzanne Fischer
Tim Kindseth
Todd Jailer
Tom Bowden
Tracy Shapley
William Fletcher
William Pate
AVAILABLE NOW FROM DEEP VELLUM
MICHÈLE AUDIN · One Hundred Twenty-One Days
translated by Christiana Hills · FRANCE
CARMEN BOULLOSA · Texas: The Great Theft · Before · Heavens on Earth
translated by Samantha Schnee · Peter Bush · Shelby Vincent · MEXICO
LEILA S. CHUDORI · Home
translated by John H. McGlynn · INDONESIA
ANANDA DEVI · Eve Out of Her Ruins
translated by Jeffrey Zuckerman · MAURITIUS
ALISA GANIEVA · The Mountain and the Wall
translated by Carol Apollonio · RUSSIA
ANNE GARRÉTA · Sphinx · Not One Day
translated by Emma Ramadan · FRANCE
JÓN GNARR · The Indian · The Pirate · The Outlaw
translated by Lytton Smith· ICELAND
NOEMI JAFFE · What are the Blind Men Dreaming?
translated by Julia Sanches & Ellen Elias-Bursac · BRAZIL
CLAUDIA SALAZAR JIMÉNEZ · Blood of the Dawn
translated by Elizabeth Bryer · PERU
JOSEFINE KLOUGART · Of Darkness
translated by Martin Aitken · DENMARK
YANICK LAHENS · Moonbath
translated by Emily Gogolak · HAITI
JUNG YOUNG MOON · Vaseline Buddha
translated by Yewon Jung · SOUTH KOREA
FOUAD LAROUI · The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers
translated by Emma Ramadan · MOROCCO
LINA MERUANE · Seeing Red
translated by Megan McDowell · CHILE
FISTON MWANZA MUJILA · Tram 83
translated by Roland Glasser · DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
ILJA LEONARD PFEIJFFER · La Superba
translated by Michele Hutchison · NETHERLANDS
FORTHCOMING FROM DEEP VELLUM
Eduardo Berti · The Imagined Land
translated by Charlotte Coombe · ARGENTINA
ALISA GANIEVA · Bride & Groom
translated by Carol Apollonio · RUSSIA
FOUAD LAROUI · The Tribulations of the Last Sjilmassi
translated by Emma Ramadan · MOROCCO
MARIA GABRIELA LLANSOL · The Geography of Rebels Trilogy: The Book of Communities; The Remaining Life; In the House of July & August
translated by Audrey Young · PORTUGAL
PABLO MARTÍN SÁNCHEZ · The Anarchist Who Shared My Name
translated by Jeff Diteman · SPAIN
BRICE MATTHIEUSSENT · Revenge of the Translator
translated by Emma Ramadan · FRANCE
SERGIO PITOL · Mephisto’s Waltz: Selected Short Stories
translated by George Henson · MEXICO
SERGIO PITOL · Carnival Triptych: The Love Parade; Taming the Divine Heron; Married Life
translated by George Henson · MEXICO
ÓFEIGUR SIGURÐSSON · Öræfi: The Wastel
and
translated by Lytton Smith · ICELAND