Ruses of the weak: Self-translation as linguistic and patriarchal subversion in Puerto Rican writer Rosario Ferré’s writing

Authors

  • Aurora Sambolín-Santiago Temuco Catholic University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.mut.v12n2a07

Keywords:

self-translation, linguistic hybridity, postcolonial literature, Puerto Rican literature, linguistic subversion

Abstract

Linguistic subversion has been a paradigm-breaking tool for many writers to rise against the literary canon and the homogenization of national identities all over Latin America at different times in history. In this context, Rosario Ferré’s writing is analyzed. Ferré grew up as a member of the Puerto Rican 70’s Generation, which drove conceptualizations about Puerto Rican hybrid identities. These conceptualizations called into question a Hispanophile national identity that some of the island’s institutions and political organizations had made official, in opposition against the US colonialist attempts to linguistically and culturally assimilate Puerto Rican people. In this literary setting, Rosario Ferré’s case stands out due to her sociopolitical position, her particular incursion into the US literary market with English written publications linguistically and culturally “contaminated” by the Spanish language and due to her subversive self-translation practice. In one of The House on the Lagoon storylines, Ferré elegantly theorizes about her self-translation practice, which is analyzed in this article.

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Author Biography

Aurora Sambolín-Santiago, Temuco Catholic University

Assitant Professor of the Translation Career of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of the Catholic University of Temuco.

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Published

2019-09-06

How to Cite

Sambolín-Santiago, A. (2019). Ruses of the weak: Self-translation as linguistic and patriarchal subversion in Puerto Rican writer Rosario Ferré’s writing. Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana De Traducción, 12(2), 475–499. https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.mut.v12n2a07