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| marywhipplereviews.com |
The Shadow Of What We Were is a book that is written from
the perspective of communist exiles, who have travelled through many countries
in Europe and have come back home. Home for these exiles is a low-income
neighborhood. The main characters of the story are Cacho Salinas, Lolo
Garmedia, and Lucho Arencibia. However, when these three men come back home
they’ve discovered that the country has evolved while they have not. These
three men however when they come back to Chile realize that the country is no
longer the way they are. This book is one of those books that in order to
understand it better you must at least know a brief history of Chile. There are
a lot of references to different protest music, poetry, and different political
figures throughout the Chilean revolution.
The Shadow Of What We Were (La Sombra De Lo Que Fuimos) by
Luis Sepúlveda is one of the lucky books that had the chance of getting
translated from Spanish to English in 2011. In fact, only 3% of foreign
language literature is translated every year into English, according to the
website “Three Percent a resource for international literature at the
University of Rochester, while hundreds of books are translated yearly, even
monthly, from English to foreign languages. This book was published in 2009 and
it won the “2009 Premio Primavera for Spanish Literature.”
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| casadellibro.com |
In order to review this book I read the Spanish version of it
first and the English version second. Although I found both book interesting I
prefer the book in English. The reason I prefer the English version is because
the book in Spanish has a lot Chilean slang. Every country in Latin America has
its own slang and because of that reason sometimes Spanish books are difficult
to read. However, the slang is part of the Spanish version’s charm. Since the
English language lacks equivalent slang words, the characters and the book lose
some of their personality. An example of this is in chapter 4 page 34 in the
English version of the book Cacho Salinas and Lucho Arancibia are catching up
with what has happened in their lives. Cacho ask Lucho:
“And what
about you? Are you married, divorced, separated?” “I talk to myself, Cahcho,”
Arancibia said. “The Soldiers messed with my head. Sometimes I’m walking along
the street and I start arguing with myself. People look at me and burst out
laughing, others express pity, but I don’t care. What women would hitch up with
a guy who talks to himself? So let me say now, if I suddenly start talking
without anybody asking me anything, give me a slap, you have my permission. A
slap in the face, just one. The messed with my head, but I’m not an idiot.
The Spanish translation for this paragraph is in chapter 4 page
41:
-Y tú ¿qué?, ¿estas casado, separado, emparentado?
-Yo hablo solo, Cacho. Los milicos me fundieron un
plomo y hablo solo. A veces voy por la calle y empiezo a discutir conmigo
mismo, la gente me mira, algunos se cagan de la risa, otros me hacen
demostraciones de lástima, pero no me importa. ¿Qué mujer se juntaría con un
tipo que hable solo? Te aviso: si de pronto empiezo a hablar sin que ninguno me
haya consultado nada, méteme un sopapo; estás autorizado, un sopapo en la jeta,
pero uno nomás. Tengo un plomo fundido, pero no soy huevón.
In Spanish slang when Arancibia says “me fundieron un plomo” it
means they shot me, but in the translation it says “they messed with my head”.
Further on “se cagan de la risa” means they laugh their asses off, but it was
translated “burst out laughing”, the last word in the Spanish translation huevón
is also slang for idiot but in the English translation you would not know it.
There are plenty of other examples in the book of the lack or slang that was
used in the English translation.
After reading both versions of the book I would recommend the Spanish version, because I felt that it is more intriguing, and the characters to me seem livelier. However I would also like to say that no matter what version of the book you read you should try to learn a bit of the Chilean Revolution because the book takes place after this event, and the book itself does not offer much of the history but it keeps referring to it. The target audience for this book I think is people who are familiar with Chile.
Written by Gilma Velasquez
