Professor Patrícia Lino recently published two different translations of US American author Gertrude Stein’s poem Lifting Belly (1989). A Portuguese version titled A Barriga no Ar was published in January 2023 by Não Edições in Portugal (https://livrosnaoedicoes.tumblr.com/post/706777933830897664/colec%C3%A7%C3%A3o-traditore-16-a-barriga-no-ar-autora) while a Brazilian version titled A Barriga ao Alto was published in February in Brazil by Edições Macondo (https://www.edicoesmacondo.com.br/poesia/barriga-ao-alto). Lino’s translation received favorable attention in the Brazilian press, including an article in Estadão, available at the following link: https://bit.ly/3AeY8ea.
Asked to comment on this double translation project, Professor Lino shared the following observations: “The peculiarity of the verbal ensemble Lifting + Belly anticipates and confirms Stein’s strategic and methodical inclination to play with words. By meaning absolutely nothing, it means, conversely, everything and, at the same time, gives its name to the longest and most entertaining lesbian love poem of the last century. The pleasure and dangers of this playful game are extended not only to those who read it, but above all to those who decide to translate it. There is, of course, in this semantic volatility the suggestion of desire, which comes and goes, and transforms itself as humorously as affectionately, between jokes, disagreements and inconclusive statements, from the anonymous and intricate overlap of two voices invested in communicating. And just as it resembles the babbling of children, who degust the multiple qualities of the verb, this conversational event is also close to the witty making of the poem which, like love, is averse to definitions.”