ABSTRACT

This article aims to discuss the limits between translation and adaptation of literature. With such purpose in mind, we have developed a reflection built upon the comparison between one translation and two adaptations of Uncle Tom's Cabin (A Cabana do Pai Tomás), by Harriet Beecher Stowe into Brazilian Portuguese. We have kept in sight a range of criteria - such as when these pieces were published and what is the declared ideology of the publishing houses involved - and analyzed some problematic excerpts, expecting that some sort of resolution was presented by the translator or adaptor. It became clear, with such proceedings, that the limits between translation and adaptation are not so obvious or absolutely clear-cut. We have also analyzed passages that expose how each piece portrayed black characters, and, therefore, black identity. We wonder if there is a correlation between translation or adaptation and such racial portraits or whether this construct is more distinctively related to other elements. We observed a solid relationship between identity and historical context and ideology, rather than a relationship between identity and the kind of text published. This confirms the importance of elements external to the text itself in our corpus and the fragility underling the opposition that traditionally separates translation from adaptation.

Keywords:
Translation; Rewriting; Black Identity.