The Paratexts of the Brazilian Translations of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the paratexts found in the first edition (fi rst printing only) of each of the fi ve translations of A portrait of the Artist as
a Young Man (1916), by James Joyce (1882-1941), in Brazilian  Portuguese. From cover to back cover, including prefaces, illustrations, and other paratexts, the fi ve translations (1945, 1992, 2013, 2014, and 2016) differ considerably. The rationale of this paper lies in the fact that the reception of an author in a target culture does not depend only on how his or her text is translated but also on the paratexts that “envelop” it. So A Portrait is not read in Brazil through the translations of its text only, since the ways in which the original paratexts (title and epigraph) and the added ones (notes, for example) are translated signifi cantly affect the reading experience.

Keywords: Paratexts; titles; Joyce; translation; Portuguese language.