E morreram felizes para sempre: tradução comentada, a quatro línguas, de Manor

Abstract

The present work consists of the commented translation of Manor, a short story with a homoaffective storyline, and a fantastic background of vampirism written by Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, pioneer of LGBT activism. The translation took place in four languages: German, English, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese. It was used two pre-existing translations of the short story – one in English and one in Spanish – to support the translation of the short story from the original in German into the Brazilian Portuguese version presented here. However, in the face of divergences between the original in German and the English and Spanish-speaking versions, it was decided to keep both the semantic load and the phrasing construction of the original as far as possible. The theoretical background brought up in the comments concerns Ulrichs’ active militancy for the LGBT cause and the customary use of vampirism as a metaphor for any conduct that does not fit the standard of normality defined by a certain society. Finally, it is pointed out that the main characteristic of Manor consists in the fact that it presents a homoaffective history, and not a homoerotic one, as proof that homosexuality would not be a deviation of character, but rather a congenital characteristic of the individual.