THE TRANSGRESSIVE CHARACTER OF HUMOUR IN HARNESS: A LITERARY ANALYSIS AND TRANSLATION PROPOSAL OF SUNSHINE SKETCHES OF A LITTLE TOWN (LEACOCK, 1912)

Abstract

To understand and, perhaps, alter the intricate relations between central and peripheral nations – very often established and guided by rather questionable political and economic agendas – cultural identity has to be deeply analysed and translation as a bridge for such identity to travel has to be practiced. Both the issue of ideological autonomy and cultural identity are delineated in Leacock’s most notorious novel, which is the object of my analysis and proposal for an annotated translation. The book tells the story of Canadians living in the fictional town of Mariposa, highlighting their sense of community and ideals for growing and developing – which accompany the atmosphere that permeated rural Canada by the beginning of the XX century. Notwithstanding the sketches temporal and spatial literary distortions (relevant when one thinks of their translation into the contemporary Brazilian context), the analysis and translation proposal discussed in this article attempt at demonstrating how the novel draws one’s attention also in what concerns its intricate discussion residing between ambivalent conceptualisations of humour/seriousness and local/universal.