Cassio de Oliveira
Isaak Babel鈥檚 鈥淕uy de Maupassant鈥
In my presentation, I argue that the act of translation plays a crucial role in enabling the narrator of Isaak Babel鈥檚 masterful short story 鈥淕uy de Maupassant鈥 to manifest his views on art and aesthetics. The narrator of 鈥淕uy de Maupassant鈥 recalls his affair with a woman whom he helped to produce a Russian translation of Maupassant鈥檚 stories. Insofar as their collective translation becomes also an act of interpretation and ironic reenactment of passages from the stories, I demonstrate that translation constitutes the starting point in a chain of actions that also contains interpretation, 鈥渞eality鈥 or 鈥渞eal life,鈥 and that culminates with literary creation 鈥 both Maupassant鈥檚 and Babel鈥檚.