J. Alfred Prufrock and The Transformation of Song: Translating a Dramatic Monologue

Abstract

The purpose of this paper consists of comparing two translations of T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”: the first one by writer Rodolfo Usigli and the second one by contemporary poet Hernán Bravo Varela. Even though both versions were made in Mexico, they were published during different historic moments. Being a dramatic monologue and Eliot’s first published poem, “Prufrock” helped in the process of creating poetry’s modern sensibility and states a very particular complexity. The mixing of influences, literary references, rhetoric figures and conversational style, makes up a complex poetic voice that represents a challenge for translators. With dramatic monologue as the axis of analysis, the approach of this paper is to highlight coincidences and translation decisions in both versions.