Chekhov in Brazil: theater and translations

• Grant number: 11/23455-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: April 01, 2012
• End date: April 30, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Comparative Literature
• Principal Investigator: Bruno Barretto Gomide
• Grantee: Rodrigo Alves Do Nascimento
• Supervisor: Anna Muza
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 10/02592-4 - Chekhov in Brazil: theatre and translations, BP.MS

Abstract

This project aims to present the current stage of the research that survey the historical-critical study of the major translations and drama performances of Anton P. Chekhov (1860-1904) in Brazil, made between 1930 and 2010. This research justifies the proposal of a month of research at the University of California - Berkeley, which will allow the contact to the necessary comparative literature and strengthen the contacts with the Slavist Americans. It is known that the standard stanislavski scenario, who designed the texts of Chekhov in Russia at the end of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century’s in the West, has established a specific reading of the drama in Chekhovian terms of what is now known as Chekhov (a Chekhov "melancholy", " twilight singer," "reader from the province tedium " or even the great "artist of the Russian soul"). We intend to draw this arc of reception that begins in Russia, goes through Europe and the United States and try to understand to what extent the Brazilian theater (through their editorial preferences and scenic views) dealt with this paradigm, going from student amateur theater productions of the 1940s to the post-dramatic deconstructions of recent years. Within this process (non-linear, as previously noted), emerges the problem of dialogue between the periphery and relevance of European-American mediation in manufacturing, reassurance and breaking of the Russian drama readings and the "correct ways" of performance. For the realization of such research, contact with researchers, artists and Slavist libraries, and comparative studies in the United States will be crucial. (AU)