Introduction

This website forms part of postgraduate research I’m engaged in at the University of Bristol. For more information about me: About Me.

You’re invited to read and evaluate as many as you like of 25 short stories, which include translations of six stories each from four Brazilian authors. The dates of publication range from 1864 to 1935. There is also, for the purpose of comparison, a slightly camouflaged short story by a British author, published in 1923.

The authors’ names have been omitted at this stage because the main purpose is to test the validity of the critical reputations of the Brazilian authors. All will be revealed - authors’ names and potted biographies together with a summary of the evaluations - on 1 November 2010 on this website.

For each story you read you can write comments and indicate how much you enjoyed it and whether you think you might enjoy re-reading it. There are also some general questions for you to respond to, if you wish, such as how you feel about reading translations. Under ‘About You’ you can enter demographic information about yourself, which will enrich the analysis of the evaluations. (How much information you provide is entirely up to you.) And if you’re feeling masochistic, you can ask to be emailed my eventual dissertation (“Translating Reputation”), which should be available about September 2011.

The deadline for evaluations is 20 October 2010. Up until then you’ll be able to see whatever you may have entered, add, amend or delete, and resubmit as many times as you wish. In order to ensure your anonymity, the system has been set up in such a way that I won’t be able to compare responses against email addresses.

Simultaneously, Portuguese speakers are being invited to read and evaluate the original stories, together with a Portuguese translation of the story by the British author.

With respect to the stories themselves:

  • The title of the collection is ‘Et in Arcadia’: a common theme is death, although upstage or even off-stage in some cases.
  • In some of the translations the titles have been tickled a bit; in others they’ve been tickled a lot.

In order to get started:

  • the first step is Register (which you need do only once).
  • the second step is Login.

If you decide to participate (even if you manage only one story), thank you.

Francis Johnson
April 2010

PS:

At its best... the short story is coined from precious metal, a glint of gold that will glow for ever in the deep purse of your imagination.

J G Ballard

NEW SONNET

Newborn, new heart, new face, new youth, new you
New life, new light, new moon, new dawn, new day
New sound, new smell, new taste, new feel, new view
New faith, new hope, new plan, new world, new way
New white, new red, new blue, new green, new grey
New dress, new shoes, new ring, new hair, new her
New name, new prize, new stunt, new found, new fame
New art, new game, new film, new song, new star
New love, new home, new dog, new cat, new car
New shirt, new tie, new coat, new hip, new him
New pots, new pans, new plates etcetera.
So when the sun shines bright on everything
It’s easy to forget, in Arcady,
With him and her and you there’s also... me.

FKJ

PPS: My warm thanks to James Carters, who designed this website.