The event will invite researchers who can discuss and theorize translation as a means of projecting and exporting the intangible heritage of a country.

The event’s organization committee will include qualified teaching staff from the Postgraduate Program in Literary Studies (from the Poetics of Translation line of research) who have regularly been engaged in the development of theoretical and practical research in Translation Studies.

For historical reasons, we began with German translators in 2017. Cordisburgo, ¹⁷ or heart-town, is a small town located in Minas Gerais that, since its foundation, has been strongly influenced by German culture. In the aforementioned interview with Günter Lorenz, Guimarães Rosa states:

– And this little world of the Sertão, this original world full of contrasts, is to me the symbol, I would even say the model, of my universe. Thus, the Germanic-founded Cordisburg is the heart of my Swedish-Latin empire. I believe that this genealogy will please you. ¹⁸
(...)
[The state of] Minas is a mountain, mountains, a constructed space, constantly emerging, whose verticality hides static effort; a suspended region that must be scaled. Behind walls, through canyons passing one after another... by twisting paths, it begins as a serene challenge. It awaits us blanketed in fog, crowned with lopseed, bound with epithets: Highlands, Mountain state, Mediterranean State, Center, Key of the Vault, Brazilian Switzerland, Heart of Brazil, Gold Headquarters, Heroic Province, Lovely Province. ¹⁹

But understanding that there is still a strong link between Rosa and the German language, first of all, and then with other languages, we are attempting to materialize the novelist’s vocation by this series of translation events complete with foreign language instruction for the local population. The second meeting, in September 2018, will center on Italian translations of Guimarães Rosa and the bonds of friendship sealed between him and Edoardo Bizzarri.

¹⁷ In 2014, the municipality’s population was approximately 8900, with an area of 823.70 km 2 and a population density of 10.90/km 2 .

¹⁸ GUIMARÃES ROSA, J. Ficção completa (Diálogo com Guimarães Rosa e Günter Lorenz), vol. 1, p. XXXV. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Aguillar, 2009; our translation.

¹⁹ GUIMARÃES ROSA, J. Ficção completa, vol. 2, p. 1133. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Aguillar, 2009; our translation.