Writing, wounding, translating: the corps à corps of writing between Memoirs of prison and Memóires de prison

Abstract

We argue that Memoirs of prison, by Graciliano Ramos, and its translation in Mémoires de prison, enact the notion of writing as the opening of a wound that Jacques Derrida's thought gives rise. That wound in writing mourns and testifies to the moment of its emergence that is no longer present. The narrative process in Memoirs of prison sets in motion a constant struggle to exhume the traumatic past, reopening the wound for the reader's testimony. The French translation unfolds from the contact with the “hardships” of Graciliano's pungent narrative, in such a way that impressions from this contact influence the transformations translators operate in the text body. In this scenario, a "corps à corps", to which Derrida (2007) alludes, takes place in language and writing. Through this movement, the original, which is not complete and immune to fissures, is wounded, but at the same time, it survives and keeps testifying in the translation. We reflect on how trauma writing generates a wound in Graciliano's testimony and how Mémoires de prison reveals that wound, while turning its opening even wider. Our analysis is based on the first volume of the book - Voyages - and its translation.