Prof. Jean Steeves-Franco and Tom-Toms and Kinky Hair of All Things Black

Prof. Jean Steeves-Franco

The Library Committee had the opportunity to interview Prof. Jean Steeves-Franco who recently translated Luis Palés- Matos poetry. Her work appears in Tom-Toms and Kinky Hair of all Things Black published by the University of Puerto Rico. Here is what Prof. Jean Franco shared with the readers of “The Owl’s Bookshelf” 

1)    When did you decide to translate Palés- Matos poetry?  Why did you choose this poet? 
 This  is probably the question I am most frequently asked. While I was studying for my B.A. in Spanish Studies, I wondered why no one had ever translated Palés Matos’s Tuntún de pasa y grifería into English. I was told it was impossible, so that became an exciting challenge for me because I didn’t think so. Also, it was Octavio Paz who said that if you are going to translate poetry, you have to love the “poet”, or in other words, the text. And I did. Every word fascinated me. I had never read anything quite like it.

  

2)    How challenging was it for you to translate Palés- Matos poetry while expressing in another language his poetic style and essence of his poems?

It is always difficult to translate from one language to another. The response in another language is an endless process of linguistic decision-making. But believing something can be done is half the battle. Loving the text is the other half. I agree with Ortega y Gasset who claims there are two kinds of translations: one that sounds as if it were originally written in the language into which it is being translated, and the other, which Ortega agrees with, is one that gives you the experience of the language from which the translation is made. I have tried my best to translate Palés Matos in the Orteguian perspective. (I have written more concerning theory and my translation in the Translator’s Note of my book.)

  

3)    How did your other colleagues react when you expressed your interest in undertaking this project?

 My colleagues still thought it was an exercise in futility, that it was impossible and could not be done. But that didn’t deter me. I already had decided to begin my project. 

4)    Which ones of Palés Matos poems was more challenging for you to translate?  Why so?

It is impossible to pick out a particular poem that was the most difficult to translate. All of them had their own peculiarity and challenge, especially Nañigo goes to heaven. In answer to Robert Frost’s famous phrase, “Poetry is what gets lost in translation,” Octavio Paz answers. “If something is lost, something is also recovered.” He believes it’s the poetry that is transformed because the text is made up of signs, written or oral, and they produce meanings. He explains that in poetry one cannot separate the sign from the meaning. Because one has to produce the physical properties of the signs, poetry seems impossible to translate. He continues that it is here where translation as an art begins: since the same signs of the original cannot be used, one must find equivalents in the other language, so one can produce similar results and effects. And the final version provides a new context in English which had not existed before, and if it is good, the reader will believe in the authenticity of a voice even if it’s a little different. This has been my faithful guideline.

  

5)    What was your favorite poem of Palés-Matos?  Why?

This is really difficult to pinpoint, because every poem in each section has its own beauty, innovative content, and the use of the Spanish and African languages in new patterns, sounds, and rhythms. I have favorites in each section but the list is long. I’m afraid I am unable to limit my answer to one favorite poem!

  

6)    What is your importance of having Palés- Matos work available in English?

I believe Tuntún had to be translated into English so readers outside of Puerto Rico, (and in Puerto Rico), and the Caribbean, can now get to know Puerto Rico’s foremost poet and his work better. A bilingual edition is a wonderful educational tool for students in the public schools and the University of Puerto Rico, and for those who do not know enough Spanish to enjoy his poetry, and also for those who speak English but only have basic Spanish skills. A bilingual edition is also extremely beneficial to the many Puerto Rican students who live in the United States and don’t know much Spanish, who want to know more about their literary heritage and roots.

 There is also the aspect of translation itself. Such a difficult work that has been translated would advance the discussions on the task of a translator, on theory, and studies, that are so important to the book industry today, since we are able to read so many authors in different languages, and now others will have the opportunity to read Palés in English.

Tom-Toms and Kinky Hair of all Things Black is available in UPRH Library in Colección Puertorriqueña.

Prof. Jean Francio Biography:

Jean Steeves-Franco has been an English professor at the University of Puerto Rico in Cayey, Rio Piedras, and Carolina, where she has taught British and American Literature and Composition for many years. She has a B.A. in Spanish Studies (with a major in Nineteenth Century Spanish Literature), a Master's degree in English Literature (specializing in both Eighteenth Century British Literature and Nineteenth Century American Literature), and a Juris Doctor, all earned at the UPR. For the past thirty years she has translated numerous texts from the Spanish into English. Her most recent contribution is a translation into English of Pales Matos's Tuntun de Pasa y Griferia which was published in a bilingual edition by the University of Puerto Rico.

      She has also translated texts for Norma Pub. and has been a contributing writer of several school texts for Grupo Santillana including original stories and poems. Her contributions to the academic world includes research papers and conferences in different academic institutions on the island. One of her published studies, "Gender and Archetypal Representation: A Case of Intertextual Influence of Palacio Valdes's "Marta y Maria" on William Dean Howells's "The Rise of Silas Latham" can be found in the Actas del Simposia Homenaje a las hermanas Mercedes y Luce Lopez Baralt (UPR Arecibo, 2000). Prof. Franco is currently working on several translation projects in literature and education.