Book contents
- Alejo Carpentier in Context
- Alejo Carpentier in Context
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Chronology of Alejo Carpentier’s Life and Works
- Chapter 1Introduction
- Part IThe Making of the Author
- Part IIThe Polymath
- Part IIIThe Writer of Fiction
- Chapter 17Alejo Carpentier and Historical Fiction
- Chapter 18Alejo Carpentier’s First Novel
- Chapter 19The Translator as Mediator
- Chapter 20Making Sense of the Senses in Reasons of State
- Chapter 21Carpentier and the Hispanic Tradition
- Chapter 22The Intermediality of Alejo Carpentier’s La consagración de la primavera
- Part IVThe Cuban Revolution
- Part VEnvisioning the Americas
- Part VICarpentier for Debate
- Index
- References
Chapter 19 - The Translator as Mediator
Notes on Translating Alejo Carpentier’s El reino de este mundo
from Part III - The Writer of Fiction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2026
Book contents
- Alejo Carpentier in Context
- Alejo Carpentier in Context
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Chronology of Alejo Carpentier’s Life and Works
- Chapter 1Introduction
- Part IThe Making of the Author
- Part IIThe Polymath
- Part IIIThe Writer of Fiction
- Chapter 17Alejo Carpentier and Historical Fiction
- Chapter 18Alejo Carpentier’s First Novel
- Chapter 19The Translator as Mediator
- Chapter 20Making Sense of the Senses in Reasons of State
- Chapter 21Carpentier and the Hispanic Tradition
- Chapter 22The Intermediality of Alejo Carpentier’s La consagración de la primavera
- Part IVThe Cuban Revolution
- Part VEnvisioning the Americas
- Part VICarpentier for Debate
- Index
- References
Summary
This essay reflects on the challenges and intentions behind translating Alejo Carpentier’s The Kingdom of This World. He examines the delicate balance between fidelity to the original and fluency in English, striving to preserve Carpentier’s baroque style and powerful themes of colonialism, slavery and racism. The chapter delves into the cultural and historical layers of the novel, especially its foundation in lo real maravilloso – a Latin American lens where the marvelous and real coexist. Through personal insight, the author portrays translation as both an impossible and an essential act that revitalizes meaning for contemporary readers.
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- Alejo Carpentier in Context , pp. 232 - 240Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
References
Works Cited
Carpentier, Alejo. The Kingdom of This World. Translated by Harriet de Onís, Noonday Press, Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1957.Google Scholar
Carpentier, Alejo. The Kingdom of This World. Translated by Pablo Medina. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017.Google Scholar
Derrida, Jacques. “From Des Tours de Babel.” Theories of Translation, translated by Joseph F. Graham, edited by Schulte, Rainier and Biguenet, John, University of Chicago Press, 1992, pp. 218–228.Google Scholar
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “Translations.” Theories of Translation, translated by Sharon Sloan, edited by Schulte, Rainier and Biguenet, John, University of Chicago Press, 1992, pp. 60–64.Google Scholar
Venuti, Lawrence. The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation. Routledge, 1995.Google Scholar
Wilson, Emily. “Translator’s Note.” The Odyssey, translated and edited by Wilson, Emily, W.W. Norton, 2018.Google Scholar
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