The Reworking of Ethos in Self-Translated Discourse. The Case of Rosario Ferré

Abstract

This paper explores the construction of subjectivity in literary self-translation. As it will be argued, the notion of the reworking of the prior ethos, defined by Amossy (2001, 2010, 2014) as the set of socio-discursive elements and procedures which enable speakers to restore, modify or transform in a new exchange the image the audience may have of them, is productive to reflect upon the distinctive nature of the discursive practice known as self-translation (Grutman y Von Bolderen, 2014; Ferrara y Grutman, 2016). The validity of our theoretical and methodological proposal will be put to test through the analysis of two essays by Puerto-Rican writer Rosario Ferré (1990, 1991a). Accordingly, the goal of this paper is two-fold: to articulate a proposal which, based on the notion of reworking of ethos, can account for the particularities of subjectivity in self-translated discourse, and to contribute, on an analytical level, to the study of self-translation in the field of US Latina literatures.