Abstract
This chapter examines the role of translation in the Inconfidência Mineira [Minas Conspiracy], a thwarted revolution in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais in 1789. It will show that translation had an important role to play at a number of levels. Firstly, a copy of Claude Ambroise Régnier’s Recueil des Lois Constitutives [collection of the laws of the constitution] enabled the rebels, the Inconfidentes, to become familiar with the constitution of the United States and the laws of the 13 states. This copy belonged to Tiradentes, the most famous Inconfidente, and was passed around from hand to hand so that Tiradentes’ friends and associates could translate individual sections. Tiradentes hoped that through the act of translation the translator would become interested in the laws and basic concepts of an independent country, which had rid itself of the domination of its colonizer. Thus we find Tiradentes depending on what has become known as natural translation, translation practised in informal settings by non-qualified translators, usually family or friends, but in this case with the intention of winning the translators over to the causes of the Inconfidentes. This will be further dealt with in section 13.4.
ADIM: Autos da Devassa da Inconfidência Mineira [Transcripts of the gold tax of the Minas conspiracy].
Irene Hirsch passed away on 27 April 2010, as a result of cancer. Irene contributed to the early stages of the chapter, especially section 13.3. The chapter is dedicated to her.
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© 2014 John Milton and Irene Hirsch
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Milton, J., Hirsch, I. (2014). The Important Role of Translation in the 1789 Brazilian Minas Conspiracy. In: Boase-Beier, J., Fawcett, A., Wilson, P. (eds) Literary Translation. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137310057_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137310057_14
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