Maltese literature in the language of the other: a case study in minority literatures’ pursuit of ‘majority’ = A literatura maltesa na linguagem do outro: um estudo de caso das literaturas minoritárias em busca da ‘maioridade’
This paper explores some of the difficulties faced by so called minority literatures in attracting both popular and critical notice, particularly in view of the fact that recourse to the vernacular can foreclose dissemination of works in significant markets. Theconsequence, it seems, is that minorit...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universidade Estadual de Maringá
2009-01-01
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| Series: | Acta Scientiarum: Language and Culture |
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| Online Access: | http://periodicos.uem.br/ojs/index.php/ActaSciLangCult/article/view/394/394 |
| Summary: | This paper explores some of the difficulties faced by so called minority literatures in attracting both popular and critical notice, particularly in view of the fact that recourse to the vernacular can foreclose dissemination of works in significant markets. Theconsequence, it seems, is that minority literatures are in effect compelled to negotiate the encounter with readerships in those markets in the language of the other. This compels a number of difficult choices which can take on a distinctly ethical and/or political character, and which hinge on further complexities involving issues like translation, nationhood, and otherness. Those difficulties and choices are explored, in the paper, through a discussion of the specific challenges of Maltese literature: a case study that, in the context of the paper’s concerns, takes on particular significance in view of the unceasing debates within Maltese cultural history on the tensions between insularity and openness, authenticity and hybridity, identity and otherness, peripherality and majority.<br><br>As dificuldades enfrentadas pelas assim chamadas literaturas minoritárias para chamar atenção crítica e popular sãoinvestigadas, especialmente porque o recurso à língua maternal local poderá barrar a disseminação de obras literárias de mercados literários significativos. Parece que as literaturas minoritárias são obrigadas a negociar o encontro com leitores nos mercadoscaracterizados pelo idioma do outro. Várias escolhas significativas devem ser feitas com características éticas e políticas distintas, ligados, frequentemente, a outros fatores complexos que envolvem questões de tradução, nacionalidade e alteridade. Nesse ensaio,analisam-se essas dificuldades e escolhas por meio de uma discussão sobre os desafios específicos da literatura de Malta: um estudo de caso que toma significados particulares diante dos debates incessantes no contexto da história cultural maltesa sobre as tensões entre a insularidade e a abertura, entre a autenticidade e o hibridismo, entre a identidade e a alteridade, entre a periferia e a maioria. |
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| ISSN: | 1983-4675 1983-4683 |