The Pennsylvania State University Schreyer Honors College
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THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY SCHREYER HONORS COLLEGE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF O TRISTE FIM DE POLICARPO QUARESMA (THE SAD FATE OF POLICARPO QUARESMA), A NOVEL BY LIMA BARRETO SAMUEL BOROWIK SPRING 2014 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a baccalaureate degree in English with honors in English Reviewed and approved* by the following: Lisa Sternlieb English Honors Adviser Thesis Supervisor Thomas Oliver Beebee Professor of Comparative Literature and German Thesis Reader * Signatures are on file in the Schreyer Honors College. ABSTRACT The thesis presented below is a translation from Portuguese to English of the novel O Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma (The Sad Fate of Policarpo Quaresma), written by the Brazilian author Lima Barreto—first serialized in 1911, then published in book format in 1915. The current translation was aided in part by two other translations: one by Robert Scott-Buccleuch, printed in 1978, and a newer translation by Mark Carlyon, published in 2011. i TABLE OF CONTENTS Part One ................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter I: The Guitar Lesson ........................................................................................... 1 Chapter II: Radical Reforms ............................................................................................ 19 Chapter III: Genelício’s News ......................................................................................... 36 Chapter IV: Disastrous Consequences of a Petition ......................................................... 53 Chapter V: The Bibelot .................................................................................................... 68 Part Two ................................................................................................................................... 85 Chapter I: At “Tranquility” .............................................................................................. 85 Chapter II: Thorns and Flowers ....................................................................................... 100 Chapter III: Goliath .......................................................................................................... 115 Chapter IV: “I ask for strength, depart now” ................................................................... 136 Chapter V: The Troubadour ............................................................................................. 153 Part Three ................................................................................................................................. 171 Chapter I: Patriots ............................................................................................................ 171 Chapter II: You, Quaresma, Are a Visionary ................................................................... 189 Chapter III: …And Soon Became Silent… ...................................................................... 206 Chapter IV: Boqueirão ..................................................................................................... 225 Chapter V: The Goddaughter ........................................................................................... 243 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 258 The Sad Fate of Policarpo Quaresma Translated by: Samuel Borowik To: João Luís Ferreira Le grand inconvenient de la vie réelle et ce qui la rend insupportable à l’homme supérieur, c’est que, si l’on y transporte les principes de l’idéal, les qualities deviennent des défauts, si bien que fort souvent l’homme accompli y réussit moins bien que celui qui a pour mobiles l’égoisme ou la routine vulgaire.1 Renan, Marc-Aurèle 1 “The great inconvenience of real life and what renders it unbearable to the superior man is that, if one transports ideal principles into it, qualities become defects, in such a way that, often, the accomplished man ends worse than the man driven by egotism or vulgar routine.” Part One Chapter I: The Guitar Lesson As usual, Policarpo Quaresma, better known as Major Quaresma, got home at 4:15 in the afternoon. This had been happening for more than twenty years. Leaving the War Arsenal, where he worked as Subsecretary, he searched in greengrocers for some fruit, cheese (sometimes), and, always, bread from the French bakery. He did not waste even an hour in these steps, in such a way that, at around 3:40, he would take the streetcar without missing a beat, stepping in his doorstep, in a street removed from São Januario, at exactly 4:15 as if he was an astral apparition, an eclipse—indeed, a mathematically determined phenomenon, foreseen and predicted. The neighborhood already knew his habits so well that in Captain Claudio’s home, where it was common have dinner at around 4:30, the Dona2 would yell to the maid when she saw him walk by: “Alice, look at the time! Major Quaresma has already gone by.” And so it was every day, for almost thirty years. Living in his own house3 and having other sources of income besides his salary, Major Quaresma could have a way of life superior to his bureaucratic resources, enjoying, from his neighbors, the respect and consideration deserved of a wealthy man. He received no one at home. Despite being courteous to his neighbors, who judged him weird and misanthropic, he lived in monkish isolation. If he had no friends close by, he had no enemies either, and the only disaffection he received was from Doctor Segadas, a somewhat 2 For practical reasons, I will leave all uses of dona in Portuguese. Though the term is not untranslatable, a full rendition of the word would sound clumsy. In my first draft, I had put “mistress,” then thought of “lady of the house,” but thought, at last, best to leave the word alone, since it is used so frequently in the novel. In short, dona is a means of address to women, married or not, young or old, tinged with respect, but, as with many terms of respect, used ironically as well. 3 The casa própria, or owned house, is, to this day, a symbol of considerable status in Brazil. 1 famous clinician, who could not believe that Quaresma had books: “If he’s not a graduate, why? Pedantism!” The Subsecretary did not show his books to anyone, but when the windows of his living room library were opened, one could always see from the street the shelves filled from top to bottom. Such were his habits. Lately, however, he had changed a bit, and this provoked some comments from the neighbors. In addition to his goddaughter’s father4 and his goddaughter, the only ones who visited him up until then, another person was seen entering his house three times a week and on specific days: a short man, thin and pale, with a guitar in a canvas bag. Right away, this fact intrigued the neighborhood. A guitar in such a respectable household! What would happen?5 And, in the same afternoon, one of the Major’s most beautiful neighbors invited a friend, and both passed their time going to and fro, measuring their steps, stretching their necks when they passed by the weird Subsecretary’s open window. Their spying was not futile. Seated at the sofa, with the stranger by his side, holding the pinho6ready to play, the Major listened attentively: “Look, Major, this way.” And the strings vibrated slowly in a wounded note; then, the master would add: “This is ‘re,’ OK?” But it was not necessary to make an official announcement; the neighborhood soon concluded that the Major was learning to play the guitar. What? Such a serious man getting into 7 such foolish things! 4 The term used here is compadre. It can mean both a close friend, a godfather, or the father of someone’s godchild. For precision’s sake, I rendered it as “godfather’s daughter.” 5 During the time the book takes place, in the late 19th century, guitars were seen as instruments played solely by ex- slaves and the lower classes, hence the bourgeois neighbors’ horror. 6 Slang for guitar, meaning “pine.” 7 The word used here, malandragem, is very hard to translate. It can mean something foolish, tinged with criminality and idleness. A malandro is someone who is street-smart, cunning, and leaning towards criminality. 2 A sunny afternoon—a March sun, strong and implacable—there at around four o’clock, the windows of a barren São Januário Street suddenly filled up, from one side to the next. Even in the General’s house, there were girls at the windows! What was it? A battalion? A fire? None of these: Major Quaresma, with his head lowered, taking small steps as slowly as an oxcart, ascended the street with the wanton guitar under his arm. True, the guitar was decently wrapped in paper, but these trappings did not hide its shape. Given this scandalous fact, the deserved public consideration and respect for Major Policarpo Quaresma somewhat declined. He was lost, insane, they said. However, he serenely continued in his studies, because he had not even noticed this decline. Quaresma was a thin, small man, who wore a pince-nez, always with eyes lowered, except when locking his attention towards someone or something. Then, from behind the lenses his eyes took a fierce penetrating light, as if he wanted to enter into the soul of the person or thing he studied. Despite this, he always looked down, as if guiding himself by the tip of the goatee that decorated his chin. He always dressed in a tailcoat—black, blue, or grey, striped cloth,