Theatre, Fútbol, and Translation

Seven chapters are now live for Estancia Aldea Norteña, and while it's not received as much attention as some of my other works, I'm still pleased with its reception from the readers who've followed along an commented. Today I'll discuss how this novel adapts a key scene from Austen's Northanger Abbey, starting with a very important aspect of Argentine culture: fútbol.

Here in the United States we contrarily refer to our own game as "football," but the rest of world uses that word to describe what we call soccer. Argentina has a grand tradition with three World Cup victories (including last year's in Qatar) and a history dating back to 1891. Fans take it very seriously and players are celebrated throughout the nation. But while readers may readily see why a book set in this country might feature a game, what does it have to do with the story its based on? I don't know of any Austen adaptations featuring the characters at a sporting event (but comment if you do!)

Here's where choices in adaptation and indeed, translation, comes into play. Many words may be directly converted from one language to another (soccer equals fútbol). But a whole sentence or story may require more nuance than mere word replacement. Take the popular musical Les Misérables. Until I worked on the show backstage I had no idea it was originally written in French and then translated into English. This blog post provides a lengthy comparison, but here's a small example to illustrate the point.

"Do You Hear the People Sing?" is the famous anthem that closes out the show. However, in French, its called "À la volonté du peuple" or "The Will of the People." The blogger kindly provided a translation that is sung to the same music; the first few lines go with an accompanying video singing the French words:

To the will of the people / And to the health of progress / Refill your heart with a rebellious wine / And tomorrow, faithful friend

We want to make a light / Despite the mask of the night / To illuminate our land / And to change our lives.

In comparison, here are those same verses in English with a clip recorded during the pandemic lockdown:

Do you hear the people sing? / Singing a song of angry men? / It is the music of a people / Who will not be slaves again

When the beating of your heart / Echoes the beating of the drums / There is a life about to start / When tomorrow comes

In order to fit the meter and meaning of the music the words had to change, sometimes considerably. The "rebellious wine" from the French may be an echo of their national anthem's lyrics about watering fields with impure blood; however, it wouldn't get the same evocative reaction for an audience in English. Instead the translators chose the charged word "slave" to get the same feeling across even if its not an exact match. The translators also had to match meter and rhyme to keep this important number both lyrical and impactful. It's not enough just to Google translate: verbal art employs a range of literary devices to convey meaning.

The same is true for an alternate universe (AU) story. In Northanger Abbey, after Catherine misses her walking engagement with the Tilneys, she goes to the theatre with the Allens and there meets Henry once again. While I could have written about Catalina and the Aguirres attending a show or movie, neither has the same cultural position as the artform had in another era. Audiences frequently mixed and mingled during repeated intermissions, and the night was as much about social interaction as whatever was on stage. I therefore chose a sports game as a modern equivalent: an event sure to attract a large diverse crowd, allowing for lots of potential interactions and conversations. As Catalina learns, there are more games to be played than just on the field.

I released a teaser excerpt of this scene back in December; you'll be able to read the whole thing this Wednesday in Chapter 8: La Gambeta. Please let me know how the changed circumstances and setting impact your appreciation of the characters and plot, whether in this or any of the other chapters released. Until next time, ¡chau!