Wide screen with critical essay "translating a poetry of cinema".

This dissertation combines the creative task of translating Víctor Cabrera’s poetry collection WIDE SCREEN (2009) from Spanish into English with a critical study that analyzes the volume to highlight the uniqueness of his writing, the importance of translating such a work for an Anglophone audience, and the challenges that occur in translating this complex collection. Moreover, Cabrera’s writing engages with a variety of cultural works in ways that challenge preconceived notions of language, culture, and medium. The poetry in WIDE SCREEN draws inspiration from the films of American filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, while frequently putting these films into dialogue with works of literature, especially the poetry and critical writing of Octavio Paz. In addition to engaging with other works of art, Cabrera also uses a variety of formal techniques (especially paronomasia and intertextuality) that create complexity and ambiguity in his writing and provide challenges for translation. In my translation, I have attempted to recreate Cabrera’s use of formal techniques or to use analogous ones available in English. I have also collaborated frequently with Cabrera throughout the translation process to determine the appropriateness of solutions for linguistic and cultural challenges. In the critical study "Translating a Poetry of Cinema," I argue for the value that WIDE SCREEN would have if read by Anglo-American readers, noting the uniqueness of the cultural position of a work of poetry by an author from Mexico that is so heavily engaged with films by an American director. Additionally, I draw on theoretical insights in the fields of film, literature, and translation studies to explain the cultural relevance of Cabrera’s poetry as well as how certain aspects of his writing pose important considerations for translation. Drawing on theoretical writing on Neobaroque literature in Latin America (a movement with which Cabrera has been associated), I argue that certain formal elements in WIDE SCREEN have cultural significance within the socio-historical context of Latin American poetry, and I describe why I prioritize these elements in my translation.