Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro Centro de Educação e Humanidades Instituto de Letras Marcela Iochem Valente A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry: Challenges and Trends presented by an African-American play Rio de Janeiro 2009 Marcela Iochem Valente A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry: Challenges and Trends presented by an African-American play Dissertação apresentada, como requisito parcial para obtenção do título de Mestre, ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras, da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Área de Concentração: Literaturas de Língua Inglesa. Orientadora: Profª. Drª. Maria Aparecida Andrade Salgueiro Rio de Janeiro 2009 CATALOGAÇÃO NA FONTE UERJ/REDE SIRIUS/CEHB H249 Valente, Marcela Iochem. A Raisin in the sun by Lorraine Hansberry: challenges and trends presented by an african-american play / Marcela Iochem Valente. – 2009. 102 f. Orientadora: Maria Aparecida Andrade Salgueiro. Dissertação (mestrado) – Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Letras. 1. Hansberry, Lorraine, 1930-1965. A Raisin in the sun – Teses. 2. Teatro africano (Inglês) – Teses. 3. Hansberry, Lorraine, 1930-1965 – Crítica e interpretação. I. Salgueiro, Maria Aparecida Andrade. II. Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Instituto de Letras. III. Título. CDU 820(73)-2 Autorizo, apenas para fins acadêmicos e científicos, a reprodução total ou parcial desta dissertação __________________________ __________________ Assinatura Data Marcela Iochem Valente A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry: Challenges and Trends presented by an African-American play Dissertação apresentada, como requisito parcial para obtenção do título de Mestre, ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras, da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Área de Concentração: Literaturas de Língua Inglesa. Aprovada em 04 de agosto de 2009. Banca Examinadora: ____________________________________________________ Profª. Drª. Maria Aparecida Andrade Salgueiro (Orientadora) Instituto de Letras da UERJ ___________________________________________________ Profª. Drª. Peonia Viana Guedes Instituto de Letras da UERJ ___________________________________________________ Prof. Dr. Antonio Dwayne Tillis Dartmouth College Rio de Janeiro 2009 To my dear family who has always encouraged me to go for my dreams. To my beloved husband for being by my side in every moment and for never letting me down. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to thank God for bringing light to me and giving me strength to go ahead; I would also like to express my gratitude to my family for always supporting and encouraging me to go for my dreams, even if it meant being away from them in another city. Thanks a lot Mom Isabel, Dad Fernando, Grandma Zélia, Grandpa Luis, Ants, Uncles and Brother for following my journey even from a distance. Without your support I would never get here; Someone that is impossible not to thank is my dear husband Carlos. Thanks for your complicity, for always believing in me, for your comprehension during the weekends spent at home and all the nights on the computer working on this dissertation, for your love and for always being by my side; My special thanks to Professor Maria Aparecida Andrade Salgueiro, my advisor, for the knowledge, patience and friendship since undergraduation and for serving as guidance and example to me. Thanks for believing I could do a positive job and for leading me to think of issues I had never thought about before; Thanks to the professors in the Masters Program, for encouraging me and contributing with discussions and questionings that enriched not only this work but also my personal life, especially professor Leila Harris for her availability and great contribution with discussions and material during the two courses taken along this process; Last but definitely not least, special thanks to Professor Peonia Guedes, firstly for awakening my passion for literature during her classes still in the undergraduation course; and also for her incessant kindness, friendship and availability during this entire journey; Without the precious contributions of all of you, this dissertation would not have been possible. Thank you very much! Whatever happened to this nation? Or did it ever exist?...did it ever exist with its freedoms and slogans…the buntings, the goldheaded standards, the songs? With Equality, Liberty…In the West they plow under wheat. Where is America? I say it does not exist. And I say that it never existed. It was all but a myth. A great dream of avarice. David Mamet RESUMO VALENTE, Marcela Iochem. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry: Challenges and Trends presented by an African-American play. 2009. 102 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Literaturas de Língua Inglesa) – Instituto de Letras, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 2009. A presente dissertação tem como objetivo mostrar que o teatro é uma eficiente forma de auto-representação assim como uma poderosa arma para a subversão de valores impostos pela sociedade hegemônica. Quando consideramos o teatro Contemporâneo, principalmente aquele produzido pelos então chamados “grupos de minorias”, podemos encontrar vários autores que fazem de suas obras um protesto contra a opressão, a violência e a discriminação impostas pelo excludente discurso colonial. Um exemplo disso é a obra A Raisin in the Sun da autora afro-americana Lorraine Hansberry. A autora nos mostra que o teatro pode representar uma possibilidade para que os grupos historicamente excluídos tragam a público a situação de opressão vivenciada, protestando contra ela e subvertendo o discurso hegemônico que tende a valorizar apenas obras pertencentes ao cânone. Podemos perceber que na contemporaneidade muitas histórias tidas por muito tempo como “marginais” ou ainda “ex-cêntricas”, como a dos afro-americanos, por exemplo, passaram a ser conhecidas através de produções transgressoras e subversivas que surgiram na tentativa de expressão do self e vieram a dar voz a grupos que até então eram excluídos, ou como Hutcheon os denominou, marginalizados, vindo então a re- escrever suas histórias. Após considerações iniciais relacionadas à teoria do teatro, pretendemos ressaltar através da peça A Raisin in the Sun alguns desafios que “o Outro” encontra na busca por sua identidade e por melhores oportunidades prometidas pelo Sonho Americano. Pretendemos também ressaltar alguns desafios apresentados por tal obra ao longo de um possível processo de tradução visto que esta possui muitas marcas culturais. Por fim, discutiremos alguns desses desafios a serem encarados pela Tradução Intercultural na peça A Raisin in the Sun. Palavras-chave: Teatro afro-americano. Identidades. Gênero. Desconstrução. Tradução Intercultural. ABSTRACT The aim of this dissertation is to show that theater is an effective way of self- representation as well as a powerful weapon used in order to subvert hegemonic values. When considering contemporary drama, mainly the one produced by the so-called “minority groups”, it is possible to find several authors who made of their works site for protest against oppression, violence and discrimination imposed by the excluding colonial discourse. One clear example of such a work is the play A Raisin in the Sun written by the African-American writer Lorraine Hansberry. The author shows that theater can represent a possibility for the historically excluded groups to bring into public awareness the situation of oppression lived by their community, protesting against it and subverting the hegemonic discourse which tends to value just canonical works and stories. In contemporary times, many stories/histories taken for a long time as “marginal” or “ex-centric”, such as the African-Americans’ for example, became known through transgressive and subverting productions that came out as an attempt to express the self, giving voice to groups so far excluded - or as Hutcheon referred to them, “marginalized” - rewriting their stories/histories. After some initial considerations related to the theory of drama, we intend to highlight some of the challenges that “the Other” faces while searching for his/her identity and better opportunities promised by the American Dream in the play A Raisin in the Sun. We also intend to present some of the challenges presented by such work during the translation process due to its strong cultural peculiarities. Besides, we intend to discuss some of these challenges to be faced by Intercultural Translation in A Raisin in the Sun. Key words: African-American Theater. Identities. Gender deconstruction. Intercultural Translation. SUMMARY FIRST WORDS…………………………………………………………………….…….…12 CHAPTER ONE DRAMA: ITS ESSENCE AND TWO ILLUSTRATIVE ASPECTS 1.1 The development of drama ……………………...…………………….….……….…17 1.2 Drama as a Performing Art………………..……...…………………………………...20 1.3 Drama as historical reference…………………………………….………..………..…24 CHAPTER TWO AFRICAN-AMERICAN THEATER: LORRAINE HANSBERRY AND THE DECONSTRUCTION OF THE AMERICAN DREAM 2.1 American Theater: a brief panorama………………………………………………...30 2.2 African-American Theater: the deconstruction of the American Dream..…..........…35 2.3 Lorraine Hansberry: life and work………………………………………...……...…40 CHAPTER THREE LORRAINE HANSBERRY’S A RAISIN IN THE SUN 3.1 An overview of the play……………………………………………..………..…...…47 3.2 The construction of identities in the play…..………………………….….....…….…50 3.2.1 Colonizer X Colonized: The Inevitable Fragmentation.……………….…….…….52 3.2.2 A fragmented subject in A Raisin in the Sun: Beneatha……………….......………53 3.3