A expressão do absurdo existencial

Do conto “A Viagem”, de Yusuf Idris

Abstract

A well-known writer of modern Egyptian literature, Yūsuf Idrīs portrays both the reality of his time in social productions and an absurd world of self-reflection and existential pursuit. The latter characterizes his short story “The Journey” presented here, translated with the intention of reflecting the absurdities of the original in its theme, rhythm and narrative style. Thus, the translation of the short story retained unusual Arabic constructions, such as the use of inverted syntactic order (with the verb at the end of the sentence), the repetition of words and expressions, the recurrent use of reticence, and the preference for coordinated over subordinate clauses. Another complex aspect of the translation is the Egyptian colloquialisms, used by the narrator to address different characters in a derogatory and satirical manner, and which were translated, as much as possible, by colloquialisms of similar meanings and uses in Portuguese.