“Bahian” Translations of Dante: Tropical Subversions

Abstract

This text addresses translations of Dante’s Comedy by two Bahian intellectuals from the late 19th century. What is being redefined, within the context of Bahia, is the entire image of Dante in Brazil. In 1843, the Italian doctor Luiz Vicente de Simoni composed the Ramalhete poético do parnaso italiano, in which he honored the marriage between Dom Pedro II and Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies by translating Dante’s cantos into Portuguese. However, a few years earlier, Brazilian authors had proposed a different image of Dante from a non-celebratory perspective. In 1836, Gonçalves de Magalhães published Episódio da infernal Comédia ou Da minha viagem ao Inferno, a satire of Brazil in his time. The following year, João Manuel Pereira da Silva characterized Dante as a “proud republican.” Decades later, two men from Bahia, José Pedro Xavier Pinheiro and Barão da Vila da Barra, undertook a full translation of the Divina Commedia. Viewing such translations through a lens that considers Bahia’s cultural context, it can be argued that a new perspective on Dante in Brazil is solidified in Bahia due to its history of slavery – one that is non-celebratory and adopts a critical approach regarding power.