On the methodology of translation, Martí, while already on the Cuban battlefield, and just a few days before his death in a skirmish at Dos Ríos, wrote to a friend’s child the following:
(. . .) translation has to be natural; it should appear as if the book had been written in the language of the translation, since that is how good translations can be perceived (. . .) the French language in L’Histoire Générale is concise and direct, the same as I want your Spanish to be in your translation (. . .) Notice then how careful you must be when translating, so that the translation can be understood and be elegant, and the translated book, (. . .) does not remain in the same strange language in which it was before (“Carta a María Mantilla” in Obras Completas, Vol.20: 216-220; my translation).
One more point before proceeding to analyze some examples of Martí’s work as a translator: In the prologue to his Misterio (Mistery), which is a translation of Called Back by Hugh Conway –whose real name was Frederick John Fargus—José Martí writes: “to translate is not to make one’s name stick out at the expense of the author, but to put the whole author in the words of the native (that is, target) language, avoiding, at all times, to show the one who is doing it” (Obras Completas, Vol. 24: 40; my italics, my translation).
These comments speak very highly of Martí’s quality as a translator and, perhaps more importantly, as a true selfless professional in a field where he could have excelled –and made some financial profit—on account of his extraordinary literary talent.
Here are some examples of the quality of Martí’s work as a translator. The following is his translation from English into Spanish of Fable, Ralph Waldo
Emerson’s version of a fable by Aesop. Numbers in brackets show a few translation techniques and procedures employed by Martí. A brief analysis of each follows below.
“Fable”
“Cada uno a su oficio”, [1] Del filósofo norteamericano Emerson
The mountain and the squirrel
La montaña y la ardilla
Had a quarrel,
Tuvieron su querella: [2]
And the former called the latter “Little Prig;”
“¡Váyase usted allá, presumidilla!” [3]
Dijo con furia aquélla; [4]
Bun replied,
A lo que respondió la astuta ardilla: [5]
“You are doubtless very big;
“Sí que es muy grande usted, muy grande y bella; [6]
Analysis:
[1] In the very title, Martí adapts the original “Fable” to the Spanish “Cada uno a su oficio” (Each to his craft/trade) which reads and “sounds” very well in Spanish, without suggesting the idea of something imaginary, which the Spanish cognate fábula would undoubtedly do. It is important to remember here that Martí published this translation as part of his writings for children in one of his most ambitious and beautiful projects: a magazine/journal under the title La edad de oro (The Golden Age). His version of the title is therefore based on content and not on the formal aspects of the fable in English. This can be considered an example of adaptation.
[2] Perfect harmony/correspondence between form and content. As a resourceful translator, Martí here manages to keep the rhythm and alliteration of the original: squirrel / quarrel become ardilla / querella while beautifully remaining 100% faithful to the original content.
[3] An example of addition. In English the mountain is calling the squirrel names. In Spanish, by adding the scornful command Váyase usted allá, Martí keeps the tone of the original while, through the use of the next word presumidilla (presumido: conceited, vain, worsened by the use of the belittling diminutive –illa) he masterfully maintains the alliteration and rhythm of the first two verses.
[4] Obvious addition too, but by no means unnecessary here. By adding the adverbial phrase con furia (angrily here) Martí highlights the idea of the mountain’s anger and arrogance.
[5] Marti’s translation of Emerson’s Bun for la astuta ardilla (the astute/smart squirrel) not only clarifies the relatively obscure appellative used in the original, but by using ardilla, the translation text manages to maintain the rhyme with presumidilla explained above. Example of expansion for the sake of form and content clarification
[6] This is a great example of Martí’s mastery of Spanish. He translates the English linear syntactic pattern Subject + linking verb + adverb + adverb + adjective into Spanish by combining an adverb (sí) with a partial inversion (adverb + adjective + pronoun) with a repetition of the first two elements in the inversion plus the addition of an adjective (bella) as a compliment to the mountain, still within the formal framework of alliteration, but making use of the Latin language features of Spanish as to word order flexibility. When read in Spanish, a native speaker of this language cannot help but “feel” the irony of the repetition and the addition of the compliment, not to mention the excellent poetic “curve” of the whole expression in Spanish!