“The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”, translated by Colombian Carolina Abello Onofre: “I wouldn’t say I got into Frank Baum’s head”

One of the most popular classics of fantasy literature is “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”of Frank Braum, and it is perhaps one of those that has had the greatest number of versions and adaptations. Originally published by the George M. Hill Company from Chicago in 1900, it continues to this day to be one of the most frequently published titles in the book industry in the United States and Europe, with countless translations into different languages.

In Colombia, Pan American Editorial has published one of the most recent editions in Spanish, edited by Miguel Angel Novawith the fabulous translation of Caroline Abello Onofre, and the beautiful illustrations of Monique Pena Herrera.

You may be interested: “Peter Pan”, by JM Barrie, 119 years later, translated by Nicolás Barbosa López and illustrated by Paola Molano

The publication of this new version of the book invites reflection on the profession of literary translator and, above all, the women who devote themselves to it, the visibility of their work and its recognition.

As a kind of balance of the publishing sector in this field, the Colombian translator Caroline Abello Onofre He sat down with Leamos and took the opportunity to talk about his experience translating Baum’s classic.

— Translating a literary classic should be like a dream for any translator. Have you ever read this story?

— Without a doubt, translating a classic is fascinating, because it involves, among other things, giving a new voice to characters that are already known and it is an extremely demanding exercise. However, translating current authors has the charm of the possibility of exchange between translator and writer, which is very enriching.

No, I hadn’t read the full version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; as a child I read a shortened adaptation and being already in college I saw the 1939 musical with Judy Garland. And of course, he also had all sorts of references in his head thanks to popular culture: from the good and the bad witch of wild heart of David Lynchbrowsing a version of SNL in which cut scenes from the 1939 film are shown and we see that Dorothy’s band (played by Anne Hathaway) is joined by the weather-vane hipster rooster who, tired of living in a group, wants to go to Oz to ask for his own apartment, until the version of the muppetsfeaturing African-American actors, in which Toto instead of being a dog is a shrimp and in which Tarantino suggests Kermit the frog various bloody ways to get rid of the Wicked Witch.

All that and an English edition illustrated with collages and photomontages by the British artist Graham Rawle which is certainly unsettling due to the sinister atmospheres it creates from the original text. It was therefore a joy to finally be able to read Baum’s novel to make this translation and discover, among other things, that Dorothy’s shoes were not red but silver! And it seems so banal, because it changes a lot of things…

— Her reaction to a different language and context, as a reader, must not have been too far removed from her perception as a translator. What were the challenges you encountered along the way? Does a book like this enter fully into the writer’s head?

— As a reader and translator, I am very curious, so I can’t help wondering all the time how such an expression could be translated without losing grace or style, or whether the character’s gender is mentioned and if not, who I assume it is etc. But when I read for pleasure, I try to engage with the story and enjoy.

I wouldn’t say I got into the head of Frank Baum, but I read a little about him and the social, economic, cultural, historical context in which he lived to get an idea of ​​this man who disdained higher education and who was a chicken farmer, businessman failure and author of plays. What I tried was to play the ventriloquist by giving voice to the characters in the dialogues.

You may be interested: “El Cristo de espaldas”, by Eduardo Caballero Calderón, or the resurrection of a classic of Colombian literature

— What titles, before that, had been similarly required of him?

— Without claiming to be diplomatic or politically correct, I would say that each translation involves a challenge of another nature, and that its realization requires discipline, rigor, curiosity, research on the work and its author, then immersion in the work to be a bridge between a foreign language and my mother tongue.

— Let’s talk about the profession… There are not many women translators in Colombia, or at least they are little known.

The profession of literary translator has long been made invisible and underestimated, because in wanting to produce a transparent text “that does not look like a translation”, the person who made it possible has been erased. Of course, unless you are Marguerite Yourcenar…that is, someone already highly recognized. Until relatively recently, credit was given to the translator in the book, and I’m talking about Colombia, but it also happens in countries like France, which has a huge publishing industry. Along the way, we must also claim the need to give credit to style editors and proofreaders, since the intervention of each allows the book to come to life. And given the size of the editorial credits, I don’t think there’s a good reason not to because there’s no room. I believe what has been lacking is the will. But little by little things are changing, fortunately.

With regard to the profession of translator as such, I think that in Colombia the modern language courses, I speak of my time as a student in the 90s in Bogotá, were totally focused on pedagogy and translation was not part of the program, unfortunately for those who were not there exclusively for the passion of teaching languages. In France, the country where I currently live, and where I taught Spanish for a few years at university, language degrees have included translation in the curriculum for many years. So here a language student explores this possibility from the very beginning. I was first an English teacher, then a Spanish teacher, then I started working as a translation editor.

I know that the Barbárika collective, which recently translated the complete stories of Virginia Woolf, has several Colombian translators with a long history. This clearly demonstrates that the fact of associating allows this type of interesting projects and generates greater visibility.

You may be interested: “Christmas Song”, Charles Dickens’ classic, translated by Santiago Ochoa Cadavid: “Here, literary translation is and has been a minor occupation”

— What is the soil fertility for translation in the country? Is there government support?

— I think it’s starting to be fertile ground because there’s an interest in doing translations “at home” and that’s great. As for the government, I know that Idartes offers a translation scholarship for the inhabitants of Bogotá, which is very good, but this condition strongly restricts participation. For the rest, I don’t know of any other means of encouraging translation in a concrete way, with a publication, and financially, with real remuneration for the work.

— The opening in the publishing industry is always small. Once inside, how do you analyze the current functioning of the book chain?

— I could not do this analysis because I work freelance. In a utopian world, each publisher should have a team of internal and external translators familiar with the workings of the book chain. I think that’s a question for the editors. The only thing I could say is that I’m happy that there are more and more independent publishers and booksellers because it enriches the offer of reading and pleasure activities around literature.

— Do we need more female translators or more support for female translators?

— I think that as in art, literature, translation, cinema or rock, men entered from the beginning as protagonists, and women were in the shadows and had to gradually gain their place. We must continue to make the profession of translator and the other players in the production of books visible.

It would be great to implement translation fights, like gladiators or wrestling, but translating fragments of a book or poem. This type of public event makes it possible to raise awareness of the existence of the profession and to transcend the stationery sign: “Translations are done”.

— Did you dream of doing this?

“Actually, I have weird dreams and nightmares… and about the job, let’s just say that was in the range of possibilities that I wanted to explore, and that I was happy to have the opportunity to do so. TO DO.

Continue reading: