Reflections on Translating Nicolas Guillen's Poetry Into English (Critical Essay)

THE art of translating a literary work usually involves a spirit of generosity and goodwill, of wanting to share with a public of one language the treasures produced by a talent that creates in another language. At the same time translation implies a sense of responsibility, a keen awareness of the duty to translate and not to betray, to present to the readers of the language into which the work is being translated its authentic essence. But the theorists have shown that this task is not simple. Throughout the pages of journals such as Babel, one may see the many pitfalls that await the translator and even the opinion that the quest for the satisfactory translation is futile. If there is some indulgence with regard to the translation of prose, the idea that poetry can be effectively translated from one language into another has been known to meet with reservation, skepticism or denial. Many poets have offered their views. For example, the great Nicaraguan poet Ruben Dario placed himself among the demurrers when he wrote: No creo en la posibilidad de una traduccion de poeta que satisfaga. Apenas en prosa se puede dar a entrever el alma de una poesia extranjera. En verso el intento es inutil, asi sea el traductor otro poeta y sea hombre de arte y de gusto [...]. Lo que el lector obtendra sera una poesia [del traductor] [...]. Don Miguel de Cervantes sabia bien lo que se decia con lo del reves de los tapices. (164)