Translating the linguistic apocalypse: The Carpathians in European Portuguese

Translation is everywhere in The Carpathians , both as concept and as linguistic process. Several connections may be made between translation and the metaphorical power of the novel’s Gravity Star to make everything simultaneously absent and present, to make that which is foreign and inaccessible close and known. The aphasia created by the linguistic apocalypse at the heart of the novel highlights the need for new languages to express new worldviews, and resonates with language policies in Aotearoa New Zealand at the time The Carpathians was published. As a privileged mode of close reading, translation offers insights into works of literature at macro and microstructural levels. Accordingly, this article examines the Portuguese version of The Carpathians as a case study, in order to determine how the translation leverages the language issues of its source text, and how different translation strategies highlight the book’s cultural specificity, or, on the other hand, contribute to affiliating it with broader, and more generic, global configurations. Special attention is paid to the translation of linguistic and cultural features that are New Zealand-specific.