Side Effects of electroshock in Anne Sexton’s Poetry: “Music Swims Back to Me” and its Spanish Translation

Abstract:

Anne Sexton (1924-1974) is one of the most representative leading figures of the confessional poetry developed in the United States during the XX century. Pulitzer Prize-Winner in 1970, lecturer at the Boston University and doctorate honoris causa in three times, this young poet’s life was truncated by emotional instability and mental illness that forced her to be admitted, numerously and for a short period of time, in different psychiatric institutions. Fruit of this experience was born her first book of poems, To Bedlam and Part Way Back (1960), in which “Music Swims Back to Me,” is included, where disorientation and confusion after an electroshock session is narrated. Nevertheless, these poems had to wait untill 2013 to be published in Spanish language as part of Poesía completa, anthology edited by Ediciones Linteo and translated by José Luis Reina Palazón. Our study aims to reflect on the theoretical limits in poetry translation, to serve as approach to the poet’s life in order to get into the intricacies of the text to analyze the Spanish translation and locate translating difficulties, mistakes and wise decisions. Finally, an alternative translation that attempts to provide solutions to the translation problems resulting from the stylistic complexity of the original poem will be proposed.

Año de publicación:

2019

Keywords:

• Electroshock
• Mental Illness
• Confessional Poetry
• POETRY TRANSLATION
• Anne Sexton

Fuente:

scopus