últimas corrientes teóricas en los estudios de traducción - Gredos ...

LUCINÉA MARCELINO VILLELA–FROM SCOTLAND TO BRAZIL: BIBLICAL TRANSLATION
assures in his introduction that although being a layman concerning the Christian
Scriptures, he read the Book of James from the Buddhist perspective and found messages
which evoke values and principles that are also emphasized in the scriptures of the Tibetan
religion. In one of the extracts of his introduction we read:
As I read the lines of this Epistle of St James, I am struck by the similarities
between this beautiful letter in the Bible and some of the texts in my own Buddhist
tradition, especially those that belong to a genre known as lojong, literally meaning
“training the mind”. As with lojong texts, I believe, this epistle can be read at different
levels. On the practical level, however, it encapsulates many of the key principles that are
crucial for learning how to be a better human being. More precisely, it teaches us how to
bring our spiritual vision to life at the highest possible level (The Epistle of James introduction
by Dalai Lama 2000: viii).
That piece of work traditionally deemed as belonging to the Christian canon can be
interpreted as similar to the Buddhist texts, a conclusion that would obviously be
considered as a hermeneutic scandal to many theologians and biblical students.
Canongate Books, which gives heed to the religious mannerisms and ecleticisms
popular both in Europe and worldwide, is sure that the Book of James will have the same
success as the previous publications, and thus will charge almost three times more than the
price of the first books (£2,99). Such a decision shows very clearly how the status of the
foreword writer may help each biblical work to take up a different role for both the
publishing media and for the public.
Notwithstanding this, the success of the original English language edition has not
had the same outcome in Brazil. As we shall see, the translation choice for the books is one
of the reasons that has determined this result.
The chosen English language translation for the Pocket Canons was the King James
Version (KJ). As Canongate Books said in an introductory note, their intention was to
encourage readers to take a literary approach to the Bible:
The Authorised King James Version of the Bible, translated between 1603-11,
coincided with an extraordinary flowering of English literature. This version, more than
any other, and possibly more than any other work in history, has had an influence in
shaping the language we speak and write today. Presenting individual books from the Bible
as separate volumes, as they were originally conceived, encourages the reader to approach
them as literary works in their own right (Ecclesiastes, or the preacher. A note about pocket
canons 1998: p.v).
There can be no denial for the importance of the KJ Version of the Bible to the
English language, and even more to English literature. Although many English translations
of the Bible had influenced British literature such as the Geneva Bible (the translation used by
Shakespeare, John Bunyan and Oliver Cromwell), the KJ Version was for over 300 years the
most popular version of the English-speaking world. We can also consider that up to now,
389 years after its publication, it still holds first place among English-speaking readers.
So it is evident that in using the King James Version the Pocket Canons editions
released so far were able to put tradition and innovation together, the canonical with the
non-canonical, and to some, the sacred with the profane.
It became vital, therefore, that the Canongate’s editorial proposal could be fulfilled
in countries that would be willing to take up the task of translating and publishing its
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