Adaptations of Don Quixote: discussing adults classics retranslation for children

Abstract
The article is a short overview about the history of adaptations of Don Quixote in Brazil
(1886-2013), focusing the ten most published adaptations, covering historiographical
issues and their agents, including biographies of adapters.
The first book was issued in 1886 and reprinted until 1982, signed by Carlos Jansen,
who based his version on Franz Hoffmanns Don Quixote. During fifty years, this was
the only available adaptation, until 1936, when the publisher, editor, translator and
writer Monteiro Lobato created Dom Quixote das Crianas. Two versions were made
during the military government, in 1970 by Orgenes Lessa, publicist, journalist,
translator and writer and in 1985 by the former guerilla Jose Angeli; both are still
republished to the present day.
Don Quixote 400 years celebration (1605-2005) heated the publishing industry and
dozens new publications regarding the famous novel and other Cervantes works. In
addition to retranslations and republications of previous full translations of Don
Quixote, the anniversary brought new re-editions of the works from those three last
century most published authors.

The corpus is completed with six adaptations

published in 2002, 2005 and 2008, and republished more than five times. These
rewritings coexist with 30 editions, between new adaptations and reprints of works in
prose, comics and cordel, including translated works, as can be seen at the catalogue
annexed.
The aim is to discuss the controversial relationship between readaptations,
republications and the literary fame of a work, specially a classic, being read by the
youth since the very beginning of the childrens literature history. Like the phenomenon
of retranslation, discussed by Berman, Gambier, Pym, Koskinen and Venuti,
readaptation enhances the manipulation made by agents (Lefevere, Milton). Hispanists
works about the famous Cervantes book enrich the discussion, grounding a proposition
to reevaluate the merit of the text and its responsibility under its literary fame. Different

from other type of book, the existence of more than 50 Don Quixotes adaptations in the
same country in the last 125 years cannot be explained just through the agents.
Keywords: Don Quixote, Readaptation, Translation history, Childrens Literature,
Literary Fame, Brazil

1. Introduction
So Paulo, Brazil, December 2013. A boy enters into a bookstore with his
mother looking for a book with two characters he first saw in an old cartoon: a
bizarre, crazy knight escorted by a funny, chubby squire. Cervantes work
celebrated its fourth centenary in 2005 (second book, 2015). The mother and the
boy are amazed with the variety of versions of Don Quixote. The latest full
translation, issued in a nice box by Penguin Classics/Companhia das Letras1
catches the womans attention, while the boy goes through the childrens
section, where he does not have an easy job to choose one, since he finds 18
versions in prose plus 7 in comics and 3 adaptations to cordel verses.2

The purpose of the above anecdote is to introduce a discussion about adult classics that
have been adapted for children, and the related retranslation and republishing
phenomenon.3 Republished works, also called recycled translations by Gralar
(2011:235), usually are presented in different formats, with new illustrations and covers,
special paratexts, are available in eBook format, with minor changes, and have an
orthography update. The same scenario can be found with an adaptation, it can be a
source text, become a classic and can also be rewrited. A good example is Lobatos
book, Dom Quixote das crianas, turned into comics and as part of childrens literature
canon is reprinted/republished almost every year since 1936, coexisting peacefully with
1

Ernani Ss signed this translation. The other full translations are available from Sergio Molina (Editora
34, 2002/2007), Jos Luiz Sanchez and Carlos Nougu (Record, 2005), Eugenio Amado (Itatiaia, 2005
[1983]), Almir de Andrade and Milton Amado (Ediouro, 2005 [1952]) and the first signed version, issued
in Portugal in 1876/78 by the viscounts Castilho and Azevedo, and Pinheiro Chagas and edited by several
different publishers, with new covers, illustrations, commentaries, etc.
2
Candance Slater (1982:xiv) defines cordel: The term literatura de cordel was for centuries a
Portuguese expression, rather than a Brazilian expression. The name refers to the way booklets were often
suspended from lines (cordel means cord or string) stretched between two posts.
3
In this article retranslation means a new translation from a source already translated in the same
language; republishing is a translated target text re-edited or reprinted by the same or other publishing
houses. With the same logic, in this paper the term readaptation means a new version from a work
previously adapted in the same target culture/language.

brand new adaptations. His book became a source text and it was translated twice into
Spanish, adapted into comics in 2007 and jumped to other media: a radio show and later
became, more than once, a television series.4

2. The most published adapters

This section provides information about the ten most published authors in prose and
their Don Quixote adaptations. The criterion was more than three reissues and more than
five when the work is before the XXI century.

2.1. Carlos Jansen

The history of Don Quixotes rewritings in Brazil began in 1886, with a publication
with a doubly German genetics. Issue by Laemmert in Rio de Janeiro, the work is a
translation of a Franz Hoffmann abridgement from 1844, signed by the German teacher
Carlos Jansen (1829-1889), responsible for the first children's books published in the
country. Born in Cologne, he arrived in Brazil in 1851 as one of the 1,800 German
mercenaries hired by D. Pedro II to fight at the Cisplatine War (18251828). Like many
Brummers5, Jansen chose to stay in Rio Grande do Sul. At 25 years old, he debuted as a
journalist writing in Portuguese, drawing on his knowledge of Latin (Hohlfeldt,
2003:69). He immigrated to Argentina where his eighth child was born; in 1878, he
moved to Rio de Janeiro and received the German Language and Literature chair at the
prestigious Colgio Pedro II. His vocation as an educator made him start writing,
translating and adapting educational and literary works6 to better serve his students. Don
Quixote is the fourth work of the collection, republished by the same editor to the

The most important are the two adaptations made by TV Globo, both exported worldwide with the title
Stio do Picapau Amarelo. With a cute opening song made by Gilberto Gil aired daily from 1977 up to
1986. From 2001 to 2007, the same channel aired a new adaptation, also a daily show, with high
production value. In this last show, Don Quixote is present twice, in 2002 and of course in 2005, but with
new casting.
5
Brummer is a German word, it means grumbling. It seems that many German immigrants already living
in Brazil complained of poor living conditions, low wages and spoke a strange dialect. Among those who
choose to stay, many received land, others, just by having a better educated than those settlers have,
became merchants, doctors, teachers and even politicians. (Hohlfeldt, 2003:68).
6
Hohlfeldt (2003:70-71) provides a complete bibliography with titles on German grammar, geometry,
geography, geology, astronomy, chemistry, French grammar. Jansen also translates other Hoffmans
adaptations: Arabian Nights (1882), Robinson Crusoe (1885), Gulliver's Travels (1888), and Adventures of
Baron Munchausen (1891).

beginning of the twentieth century. Editora Minerva had published the book at least five
times, before the early sixties. This edition was shortened by Terra de Sena and it is
practically another text; the last issues do not name Carlos Jansen as the translator. In
1982, the version came out for the last time.

1901

2.2. Monteiro Lobato

The first purely Brazilian version of Don Quixote is signed by the publisher, editor,
translator and writer, Jos Bento Monteiro Lobato (1882-1948). A central figure in the
development of the Brazilian publishing industry, and with a fairly well-known
biography, with passages through New York and Buenos Aires, Lobato always sought
to approximate the text to the reader, even claiming his desire to Brazilianize the
language (Lobato, 1957:274), a quote today famous, found in a letter written in 1925 to
his friend Rangel. Lobato was referring to his project to adapt Don Quixote for a young
audience, something that happened only in 1936, issued by his publishing house,
Companhia Nacional, inserting the work within the collection Stio do Picapau
Amarelo, titled Don Quixote das Crianas. This book was translated into Spanish in
1937 by Benjamin Garay (Editora Claridad) and in 1945 by Americalee, translated by
the still mysterious M. J. Sosa, in a collection of 24 books, distributed throughout Latin
America until the sixties by Editorial Losada, the publisher that republished part of the

collection. In Brazil, the adaptation was published by Brasiliense, and is currently

published by Editora Globo, with electronic and comic versions (2007).

1936

2013

2.3. Orgenes Lessa

The next adaptation took another 34 years to be issued. The author is the publicist,
journalist, translator and writer Orgenes Lessa, who rewrote Don Quixote in 1970. It is
still published today by Ediouro.7 Lessa wrote prolifically and adapted over forty titles
for young people.8 According to Sandra Guedes (2007:2) Origins Ebenezer Themudo
Lessa (1903-1986) was born in Lenis Paulista (So Paulo state), but until nine years
old lived in Maranho, helping his father, a Presbyterian missionary pastor. He always
had a passion for books, and Don Quixote was one of his favourite readings. After
working as a teacher and translator, he was imprisoned for participating in the
Constitutional Revolution of 1932. He moved to New York during WWII as editor of
NBC programmes sent to Brazil. When he returned to Brazil, he alternated his
advertising activities with his writings, conquering a chair in the Brazilian Academy of
Letters in 1981.

Abril Cultural in 1972 1973, 1980, edited the same text and in 1987 by Crculo do Livro. Lessa adapted
other classics in the same period as Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,
among others.
8
Even the award-winning O feijo e o sonho (1939), a book published to date, with over 200,000 copies
sold, translated into many languages and adapted as a TV Globo telenovela in 1976.

1970

2013

2.4. Jos Angeli

Jos Sobrinho Angeli (1944-2012) was a writer, and according to the journalist
Miecoanski (2012), spent his childhood reading books brought from Argentina by his
father, and before reaching adulthood was already multilingual and had read the classics
of world literature in French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. He attended the Faculty
of Economics until the coup of 1964, and joined a revolutionary group and spent three
years in prison after been brutally tortured. He wrote some fiction and scripts for erotic
comics until he turned to children's adaptations, beginning with Don Quixote in 1985,
which was being published by the same publishing house, Scipione, which also has
published other literature classics adapted by Angeli.9

The Three Musketeers, Les Miserables, The Count of Monte Cristo, Iliad, Martin Fierro and Don
Casmurro.

1985

2013

2.5. Ferreira Gullar

As already mentioned, since the beginning of this century, Don Quixotes 400 years
celebrations were surrounded by several editorial releases. One of the highlights was the
version signed by the famous poet, translator and essayist Jos Ferreira Ribamar, born at
So Lus, Maranho in 1930. He moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1951 and worked as a
reviser for magazines and newspapers. Imprisoned by the military government in 1968,
flew to Moscow and later Santiago, and finally Buenos Aires, where he would live until
his return to Rio in 1977. He wrote television scripts, received several literary awards,
and in 2002 he was nominated to receive the Nobel Prize, the same year he released his
Don Quixote (2002), with illustrations by Dor. The book is in its fifth edition and
appears on its website as a translation, as well as versions of Arabian Nights and Fables
de la Fontaine, all published by Revan.

2002

2.6. Walcyr Carrasco

Walcyr Carrasco was born in So Paulo in 1951. He graduated from journalism at So

Paulo University and worked for principal national magazines and So Paulo's most
important newspapers, before becoming a well-known telenovela writer. Carrasco
started writing for children during the 1970s, collaborating with the former children's
magazine Recreio. He published more than thirty books, translations and adaptations of
several classic works of children's literature, including Don Quixote (reprinted five
times), published by the FTD in 2002, illustrated by Alexander Camanho, and re-edited
by Moderna, with new illustrations (Weberson Santiago) and also in digital format. He
talks about his Cervantes adaptation:

Sou descendente de espanhis, e talvez por isso tenha lido vrias vezes a histria de Dom
Quixote e seu escudeiro Sancho Pana. Por isso quis traduzi-lo. A figura de Dom Quixote,
sonhador at as raias da loucura, e de seu escudeiro sempre com os ps no cho fala de
todos ns, seres humanos, da beleza do sonho, dos inimigos que ns mesmos criamos e da
necessidade de enfrentar tambm o mundo real. um livro to rico que seria impossvel
resumi-lo em to poucas linhas. Por isso mesmo considerado uma das obras mximas da
literatura universal [I have a Spanish ancestry, and maybe this is why I have read the story
of Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Panza several times. Hence, I wanted to translate it.

The figure of Don Quixote, dreamy until height of madness, and his squire always with his
feet on the ground, speaks for all human beings about the beauty of the dream, the enemies
created by ourselves and the necessity to face the real world. Such a rich book would be
impossible to summarize it in a few lines. For this very reason, it is considered one of the
maxims works of the world literature] (Carrasco, 2002)

2002

2.7. Leonardo Chianca

In 2005, several rewrites of Don Quixote appeared. The most reedited (or reprinted,
often this data is omitted) are the works from Chianca, Rios and Machado. Born in So
Paulo in 1960, Leonardo Chianca combines the activities of editor and writer of
children's literature. He owns Edies Jogo de Amarelinha, a company that produces
and publishes educational books for publishers across the country. After adapting
various classics for both adults and children, he adapted Don Quixote (2005), a book
illustrated by the Chilean Gonzalo Crcamo and published three times by Difuso
Cultural do Livro (DCL) available in audiobook.

2005

2.8. Rosana Rios

Rosana Rios was born in 1955 in So Paulo. She has been an author of children's books
since 1988, with over a hundred titles from several different publishers. Rios received
literary prizes, and was a Jabuti Award10 finalist in 2008 and 2011. Her adaptation of
Don Quixote was published by Editora Escala Educational and, like the previous
version, illustrated by Crcamo. Rios also signed, along with Eliana Martins, the play
Um certo Dom Quixote.11

10

Created in 1959, it is the most important literary award in Brazil.

Play that premiered in So Paulo, in 2009, and participated in state festivals. Movimento Cultural
Brincantti. http://www.brincantti.com.br/2012/pecas.php?id=3. December 2013.
11

10

2005

2.9. Ana Maria Machado

Ana Maria Machado was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1941. She has been compared to
Lobato for her large production of books for children and young people with
exceptional literary quality. She has received many important prizes, including Hans
Christian Andersen, the highest award in children's literature, besides being considered,
since 1993, author hors concours at the prizes from the National Book Foundation for
Children and Youth [Fundao Nacional do Livro Infantil e Juvenil FNLIJ]. Machado
has more than one hundred books published in Brazil and over twenty other countries.
She was a university literature professor until 1969, when she was forced into exile after
being arrested by the military regime. While in Europe she worked as a journalist for
Elle Magazine and the BBC, in addition to teaching Portuguese classes at the Sorbonne,
she wrote a thesis on the works of Guimares Rosa under the supervision of Roland
Barthes.

The relationship of Machado with Don Quixote goes back to her childhood, as she says
while presenting Michael Harrisons Don Quixote (1995): When I was very small, this
was one of the first stories I heard adapted by my father, he showing me the pictures

11

of the book and outlining the history" (Machado, 2004:5).12 In 1996, Ana Maria
Machado expressed her appreciation for Cervantes and his comic duo, transforming
them into characters in one of her books, Secret Friends [Amigos Secretos]. The former
president of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, great defender of adaptations,13 released
her book in 2005, through Mercuryo Jovem with the title: O cavaleiro do sonho: As
aventuras de Dom Quixote de la Mancha, supplemented by the illustrations of Cndido
Portinari.14 The adapted text follows quite often the action represented at the
illustrations and is the shortest one from all the ten versions. The book received an
award, hors concours, for the best-recounted book by FNLIJ in 2006, and the sixth
edition is already sold out.

2005

2.10. Fbio Bortolazzo Pinto

12

Quando eu era bem pequena, esta foi uma das primeiras histrias que eu ouvi adaptada pelo meu
pai, que ia me mostrando as figuras do livro e resumindo a histria para mim [When I was a very
little kid, this was one of the first stories I heard - adapted by my father, who was showing me the
pictures of the book and outlining the history for me] (Machado, 2004:5).
13
O primeiro contato com um clssico na infncia e adolescncia no precisa ser com o original. O ideal
mesmo uma adaptao bem feita e atraente [The first contact with a classic during childhood and
adolescence does not have to be with the originalThe ideal it is a well done and appealing adaptation] []
(Machado, 2002:15).
14
The illustrations were originally made to illustrate the first Brazilian translation of Don Quixote,
written by Almir de Andrade (first book) and Milton Amado (second book and all the poems), edited by
Jos Olympio in 1952 (see Cobelo, 2010). Unfortunately, the artist died before completing the work,
leaving only 21 drawings made with colored pencils. In 1973, these drawings were published by Editorial
Diagraphis accompanied by 21 glosses signed by Drummond, who, according to the editors, range from
concrete poetry to the Alexandrian sonnet, written especially for this work, and in sight of the originals
from Portinari [vo desde a poesa concreta ao soneto alexandrino, escritas especialmente para esta
obra e vista dos originais de Portinari] (Cervantes, Portinari, Drummond, 1973:7).

12

The latest adaptation of the corpus is signed by Fabio Bortolazzo Pinto, also the
youngest among the ten adapters. There is still not enough data for a biography, but he
joined the Faculty of Arts (UFRGS) in 1997, so Pinto should not have more than 40
years. He is a Literature schoolteacher and maintains a literary workshop. In the same
editorial for which he adapted Don Quixote, LP&M, Bortolazzo Pinto signed the
introduction, afterword and notes of various works. This book has been published every
year since 2008, with illustrations by Gilmar Fraga, an award-winning illustrator of
comics and an art director of the Porto Alegres newspaper Zero Hora. At the top, as in
the first pages of the book and credits, there is a subtitle under Don Quixote: Version
adapted for neoreaders (sic), which suggests a wider reading public than the previous
adaptations, frankly intended for children.

2008

3. Retranslate and republish

Gillian Lathey (2010:161) starts a chapter about retranslations, a little bit cynical with
so many new translations:
The phrase new translation has become a publishers marketing strategy, since fresh
versions of old favourites always hold great promise. New translations do not necessarily
represent an improvement on earlier ones, however, nor is it always the case that an early
translation is no longer read.

13

At the same time, she believes several translations can form an important historical
panorama. In this case, it would be an interesting historical register on the several
interpretations of Dom Quixote throughout time, bringing in Koskinens supplementary
concept,15 where different versions supplement each other.
Retranslations have been discussed in translation studies for a long time,16 and there
always has been a concern with the reasons for systematically retranslating certain
books, mostly the ones labelled as classics.

Antony Pym (1998) discusses the difference between diachronic and synchronic
retranslations. Diachronic retranslations are easier to explain, since language and culture
changes along with time and we can always blame the ageing effect. Even the few
exceptions (i.e.: Lobato, Lessa and Angeli) that seem not to be affected by generation
gaps; do not have the same competitive condition as synchronic ones, specially the
active ones. Active retranslation is a term adopted to name retranslations sharing the
same period and cultural environment, such as the various Don Quixotes cited at the
beginning of the article. A comparative analysis of these versions tends to locate
causes far closer to the translator, especially in the entourage of patrons, publishers,
readers and intercultural politics (Pym, 1998:83), offering a good opportunity to
discuss fame and agency. Pym believes retranslations are a subtle index of historical
importance (Ibid), connecting them with a certain marked negativity in relation with
republished material, but in the case of Quixotes adaptations, re-editions and reprints
would also reinforce the validity of the previous translations. Different from full
retranslations, readaptations do not always challenge that validity; often a new version
of a canonical work simply complements a collection of re-rewrites from the book,
without intending to substitute previous adaptations.

15

The supplementary nature of retranslations suggests a positive attitude towards difference: variation
is a facet of supplementary. Different, varying interpretations need not be locked into a continuum of
assimilationsource-text
orientedness
(or
any
other
binary
division:
free/literal,
domesticated/foreignized, etc.), where the researchers particular viewpoint is seen as that of
determining faithfulness or assimilation.
Instead, texts and their interpretations function
simultaneously on several layers, denying easy classification into assimilative first and source-text
oriented new translations (Koskinen, 2003:23).
16
There is a resumed story about it at the Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, which since its
second edition has an entry for Retranslation (Gralar, 2011:233-236).

14

Venuti also mentions translator awareness regarding previous translations, seen as

competing interpretations. Those works would be designed to make an appreciable
difference (2013:100), to challenge a previous version (Ibid:104), call attention to
their competing interpretation (Ibid.), something not found by this particular research.
Different form the full translations, the paratexts from the ten Don Quixote versions
presented above do not try to convince the readers they are reading an adaptation
improved if compared with the older ones. This was something the publishers could
insinuate, since three bestsellers from the last century are still on sale, challenging the
present new versions, especially Gullars adapted translation, as he calls it, which
brings episodes usually cut in other childrens versions, as the existence of a first text in
Arabic, written by the historian moor Cide Hamete Benengeli and then translated into
Spanish by a mozarabe; or the apocryphal book from Avellaneda.

Venuti (2013) comments on readability, an advantage linked to sales, where a fresh

translation can attract new readers, and at low cost, since a publisher may decide to
issue retranslations of canonical texts that have fallen into the public domain- simply
because their canonicity ensures a market demand, and they are cheaper than
copyrighted texts (Ibid:100). Nevertheless, we cannot forget the prestige factor; almost
every publishing house has a classics series or collection, works that have been selected
during time. According to OSullivan (2005:132) and Soriano (1995:25), Dom Quixote
was one of the first books stolen from adult libraries by young readers, together with
Gullivers Travels and Robinson Crusoe, classic titles connected still today, as it is very
common to find them at the same publisher collection/series. Nevertheless, despite this
honourable origin, those adapted works are usually received with some negative
reserves.17 After all, these are childrens books, adapted from classics works and mostly
retranslations. Those books have desacralized the untouchable titles from our occidental

17

See the following observations: Generally speaking, many historians and scholars of translation
continue to take a negative view of adaptation, dismissing the phenomenon as a distortion, falsification
or censorship (Bastin, 2011:3); and Linda Hutcheon (2006:3): If an adaptation is perceived as
lowering a story (according to some imagined hierarchy of medium or genre), response is likely to be
negative. [] Even in our postmodern age of cultural recycling, something - perhaps the commercial
success of adaptations - would appear to make us uneasy. In addition, Huthcheon points infidelity
claims: For a long time, fidelity criticism, as it can be known, was the critical orthodoxy in adaptation
studies, especially when dealing with canonical works (Ibid:6-7). For Hutcheon, a successful adaptation
is not about fidelity to a prior text, but in relation to creativity and skill to make the text ones own and
thus autonomous (Ibid:20).

15

literature, daring to cut, resume, and paraphrase, appropriating and approximating those
giants to the common public. Moreover, for young readers.

As it was said, the study of active retranslations leads to discussion of agents: the
universe of the publishing houses and their editors, translators/adapters, readers, cultural
politics and government turns. Pym (1998) analyses the frequency of retranslations and
correlates with evidence of intercultural movements, supplying us with a tool to explain
more than fifty adaptations of Don Quixote in Brazil, a country without a long tradition
of Hispanic studies.18 Today there are closer ties between Brazil and the Hispanic world
through significant growth of Spanish teaching in Brazil since the 1990s,19 academic
exchanges and partnerships, events and celebrations, as was seen earlier this century,
maybe will help to explain so many options, since Don Quixote has never been as
republished, retranslated and readapted as in the last ten years.
Retranslations reflect changes in the values and institutions of the translating culture,
but they can also produce such changes by inspiring new ways of reading and
appreciating the source texts (Venuti, 2013:103). This would be the case of comics and
cordel versions issued in 2005. It was the first time Cervantess masterwork received
attention from Brazilian comic artists and writers; Klvisson Viana and J. Borges can be
named as the first ones to adapt Don Quixote into cordel verses; likewise, Caco
Galhardo and Paula Mastroberti20 adapted it to comics. Those new forms were very well
received by the public, parents were happy because their kids were reading an important
book celebrating 400 years of literary history; teachers were happy because students
were actually reading something; and finally, students were happy to read a comic or a
cordel as a homework. However, the question arises again: why so many cordels and
comic adaptations?

It would be nave not to agree with Koskinen (2003) when she claims that editorial
activity cannot ignore commercial interests, after all, books are cultural artefacts and
marketable products. Traditionally, the responsibility of reconciling cultural values with
18

See Maria Augusta da Costa Vieira (2012:44).

In 2005, the federal government sanctions the law 11.161, which makes mandatory the offer of
Spanish in secondary schools. (Lisboa, 2009).
20
Mastroberti work, Herosmo de Quixote (2005) it is a mix of prose and graphic novel and can be called
an appropriation, since it brings the story to the contemporary Porto Alegre, where the chevalier is a
strange but nice homeless looking David Bowie, Sancho is a chubby web journalist writing about him,
and Dulci Toboso is a top model inspired in Naomi Campbell.
19

16

financial interests was one of the publishers task concentrated only in the editor, but
after 1990 the market started to determine many of the editorial decisions. In addition,
one of the oldest strategies is to recycle an old translation, before ordering a
retranslation, and a celebration is a good event to cash in on. Especially, as it is from
one of the most famous classics ever, Don Quixote.
4. The peculiarities of a classics adaptation for young readers

Usually essays on retranslation raise the same question that emerged at the beginning of
this research: why adapt a book that has been already adapted and how do these new
works differ from previous ones? (Koskinen, 2003). The results found with the specific
case of adaptations of Don Quixote in Brazil were compared with those raised by
Gambier, when exploring the motivations for publishing new retranslations. Among the
reasons listed by Gambier (1994:414-416) to re-translate a text that has already been
translated, are many questions similar to the ones raised by Hutcheon (2006) regarding
adaptations: Which texts are chosen? Why is a book adapted more than once? How and
by whom are they rewritten? When and how often are they rewritten? Who publishes?
What influences these rewritings?

In the case of Don Quixote, it is quite safe to answer, because it is a classic ... These
books have to be seen as a different category, and this applies to their retranslations and
republications. Those must read books, considered as part of the cultural capital
expected from a fairly educated person, titles usually found on school reading lists;
those works have to be treated and analysed differently (from adult literature, and works
written specifically for children), because of their uniqueness. Several of those books
are adapted, although in many cases it is unnecessary to distinguish adaptations from
translations, it seems important to point out some peculiarities:

(i)

Very few titles: Some 30 to 50 texts are regarded by the general public and
the book trade as childrens classics (OSullivan, 2005:132).21

21

OSullivan (2005:132) divides childrens classics in relation to their sources: a) adaptations from adult
literature; b) adaptations from traditional narratives often originating in oral stories; c) works of
literature written specifically for children.

17

(ii)

Double disqualification: Adaptations and childrens literature are not

regarded as part of the top literature and receive less academic attention, as
previously pointed out.

(iii)

Fidelity issues: Translations of classics for adults are more open to strange,
disruptive and contradictory elements [] and try to preserve them
(OSullivan, 2005:138), but adaptations tend to radically intervene and
tame anything provocatively alien, making the unacceptable more
acceptable or entertaining, and removing disturbing ambiguities (Ibid).
Even when a translation has many adaptations procedures, it is usually closer
to the source text than an assumed adaptation, and the differences become
larger, as those are narratives where modifications are expected by readers.
In this sense, it is not coherent to speak of incompatible freedom, nor
complain about missing/condensed passages or caricatured characters,
different endings; after all, it is an adaptation.

(iv)

Manipulation: According to OSullivan (2005:145), as adaptations have

different forms of transmission arising from the necessity of making old
works available to younger generations, readers who cannot read them
historically, the objective can justify and legitimate the manipulation by the
agents, allowing big changes, unnecessary interventions and arbitrary
alterations to make the text suitable and more entertaining. This situation is
very different when the target text is a translation of an adult classic, where
the first commandment is the inviolability of the original wording
(Ibid:146).

(v)

Authorship: Frequently, foreign classics adaptations are treated equally as

texts written in the source language (OSullivan, 2005:147); consequently,
some scholars do not understand them as translations. This situation makes
even research harder, as catalogues would indicate the adapted foreign work
as a national text.

Emmer OSullivan (2005:147) finds even more striking differences, not shared by this
present article. She believes the prolific editions under the rubric of classics cannot be
compared to the adult literary cannon, as they are a market rather than a literary
phenomenon. Data found on Cervantess work disputes this affirmation: three full new

18

Dom Quixote translations were made especially for the 400 years celebration.22
Withdrawing importance and authority from an adapted text, OSullivan affirms that,
different from full translations, sometimes the ambivalences and contradictions that
have been discussed as a possible feature defining a classic can be identified with
absolute certainty only in the original text (Ibid:147-148). Obviously, the shortened
text will not embrace every ambivalence and contradiction from the source, especially
for a young audience, but there are several mentions of them at Don Quixotes versions
published in Brazil.

5. Concluding remarks
According to Lathey (2010:174), retranslated childrens fiction classics are a
multifunctional aspect of the publishing industry, with commercial interests in the
constant retranslations, repackaging, and new illustration and publication of anniversary
editions. As OSullivan (2005:133) claims, classics are a safe bet for publishers: they
sell well, copyright has usually run out so that no royalties are payable and, as they have
no immediate topical relevance, their shelf-life is not limited.
As seen, OSullivan sees the agency role as omnipresent, childrens classic books would
not be a selection of books praised by the readers but a list with the bestselling titles
over a long period, selected and transmitted by publishing houses, the primary agencies.
Their classics are not, in the main, original texts or literary translations, but are more
likely to be arbitrarily adapted editions of well-known works (2005:148), even
though she admits factors immanent in the text (Ibid.:136) as reasons for selection
and reception of classics of childrens literature. In another way, Gralar (2011:236),
also diminish the matrix literary work when presenting several studies on retranslation:
[...] retranslation is a function of the dynamics of the target context, rather than a
response to any inherent properties of the source text.

The object of this study prevents accepting fully the above view, since according to
Edward Riley (2002:38); one of the reasons for the acclaimed perennial success of Don
Quixote should be in the text itself. Anthony Close (1998 & 2010), a critic that provides

22

See more details at Silvia 2010.

19

an excellent overview of the authors who have influenced the reading of Don Quixote
since its publication in 1605, explains that for allowing different interpretations, often
resulting in opposing readings, the book would have absorbed a wide variety of readers
and admirers during the last four centuries.

Andr Lefevere (1992) also forces us to rethink the so-called intrinsic value of a literary
work, which he believes has less importance than it is granted, emphasizing the
importance of rewriting for a literary evolution, and the need for more studies on the
topic. When someone claims to have read a book usually means this person has an
image, a conception of the story. Their point of view is usually based on some passages,
selected through anthologies, or other texts that rewrite the work. These rewritings are
mainly responsible for the image of a writer, a work, a period, a genre, and often an
entire literature. These images are very powerful, and can reach more people than the
source works, and a good example is Don Quixote.

Do we really need so many Dom Quixotes? Analysing the shown table seems the
answer is yes, at least from the point of view of the publishing industry, since Cervantes
book always sells, in todays business slang it is a cash cow, an old and well-known
product, dear to the public, with a steady and predictable demand and low publishing
costs.

Koskinen (2003:23-24) includes in this discussion the concept of supplementary

between rewritings. By establishing a multilateral relationship between different
translations, republications, versions for several segments of the reading public, the
same classic case for adults or for children, authorizes the use of this notion directly
under the adaptations. After all, for this Finnish scholar, the retranslation, as well as the
adaptation is the result of the changing needs and perceptions of readers. This additional
quality of retranslation indicates a positive attitude against the difference precisely by
bringing variety. In order to prevent different interpretations from remaining closed to
discussions of literalness, Koskinen (2003:24) calls on researchers to seek something
more than loyalty or domestication. After all, their texts and interpretations exist
simultaneously in multiple layers, as seen in the Brazilian adaptations of Don Quixote,
where many of them seem to supplement and not replace the previous rewritings.

20

Lefevere is categorical about it: "if a writer is no longer rewritten, his or her work will
be forgotten" (1992:110). If we consider rewritings and refractions as the great
collection of work derived from a given text from translations, as adaptations (and their
retranslations and republications), reviews, essays, and critical studies, and finally, if for
some reason a narrative ceases to be read, commented, reinterpreted, rewritten, adapted,
in short, loses its literary fame, it is probable that this book would disappear as a living
text within that society. In addition, this literary fame is extended to the agents involved
in this survival: publishing Don Quixote brings prestige, usually translators and adapters
(especially the most republished), benefit from having a classic work as Cervantes
masterpiece on their curriculum vitae.

The presence of more than fifty versions of this masterpiece continues to incite and
demand more research and attention, especially by the coexistence of three authors of
the last century circulating with many new contemporary ones, renewing the great work
of Cervantes, and introducing the variety of readings required by his literary fame. It is
a pleasure to see the kids quite comfortable moving among books, cordels, comics and
Tablets, ultimately, to paraphrase Kaisa Koskinen (2003:32)23, the readers do not want
to be without any of the Don Quixotes.

References
Close, Anthony. 2001. Interpretaciones del Quijote. In Don Quijote de la Mancha,
Miguel Cervantes, Francisco Rico (ed). Barcelona: Editorial Crtica. Lxxix-cii.

_________. 2010/1978. The Romantic Approach to Don Quixote: A Critical History of

the Romantic Tradition in Quixote Criticism. Cambridge University Press.

Cervantes, Portinari and Drummond. 1973. D. Quixote. Diagraphis: So Paulo.

Cobelo, Silvia. 2010. Os tradutores do Quixote publicados no Brasil. Traduo em
Revista 8: 01-36. http://www.maxwell.lambda.ele.puc23

In her article, the phrase refers to the rewrites of Alice, Lewis Carroll in Finland. She underlines that in
some cases (i.e. Robinson Crusoe or Alice), the classic status is rarely disputed and even emphasized in
reviews as seen at Don Quixotes paratexts and metatexts.

21

rio.br/trad_em_revista.php?strSecao=input0. December, 2013.

Gambier, Yves. 1994. La retraduction, retour et dtour. Meta: Journal des
traducteurs, 39 (3): 413-417.

Guedes, Sandra. 2007. Orgenes Lessa e a Propaganda Brasileira. Master Dissertation

(Social Communication), So Bernardo do Campo: Methodist University of So Paulo.
GRALAR, ehnaz Tahir. 2011/2009. Retranslation. In Routledge Encyclopaedia
of Translation Studies, 2nd Edition, Mona Baker and Gabriela Saldanha (eds). London,
NY: Routledge. 233-236.

Hohlfeldt, Antnio. 2003. Deus escreve direito por linhas tortas: o romance-folhetim
dos jornais de Porto Alegre entre 1850 e 1900. Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS.

Hutcheon, Linda. 2006. A Theory of Adaptation. London: Routledge.

Lathey, Gillian. 2010. The Role of Translators in Children s Literature: Invisible

Storytellers. New York & London: Routledge.

Lefevere, Andr. 1992. Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literary Fame.
London: Routledge.

Lisboa, Maria Fernanda Grosso. A Obrigatoriedade do ensino de espanhol no Brasil.

http://www.iel.unicamp.br/ojs-234/index.php/sinteses/article/download/1227/911.
January, 2013.

Lobato, Monteiro. 1957. A Barca de Gleyre. So Paulo: Editora Brasiliense.

Machado, Ana Maria. 2002. Como e por que ler os clsicos universais desde cedo. Rio
de Janeiro: Objetiva.

_________ . 2003. Amigos Secretos. So Paulo: Editora tica.

_________. 2004/1995. Presentation. In Dom Quixote, Michael Harrisson,
22

Illustrations Victor Ambrus, (tr. L. Vieira). So Paulo: tica.

Mastroberti, Paula. 2005. Herosmo de Quixote. Rio de Janeiro: Rocco.

Miecoanski, Ellen. Trilha de Livros. Gazeta do Povo. Curitiba, December 13 2012.
http://www.gazetadopovo.com.br/falecimentos/conteudo.phtml?id=1327545&tit=Trilha
-de-livros. January 2013.
OSullivan, Emer. 2005. Comparative childrens literature. London & New York:
Routledge.

Pym, Anthony. 1998. Method in Translation History. Manchester: St. Jerome.

Riley, Edward C. 2002. La singularidad de la fama de don Quijote. Cervantes:
Bulletin of the Cervantes Society of America 22 (1): 27-41.

_________. 2001. La rara invencin: Estudios sobre Cervantes y su posteridad.

Barcelona: Editorial Crtica.

Slater, Candance. 1982. Stories on a string: the Brazilian literatura de cordel. Berkeley
& Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Soriano, Marc. 1995. La literatura para nios y jvenes: gua de exploracin de sus
grandes temas (tr. G. Montes). Buenos Aires: Ediciones Colihue SRL.

Venuti, Lawrence. 2013. Translation changes everything: Theory and practice. London,
NY: Routledge.

VIEIRA, Maria Augusta da Costa. 2012. A narrativa engenhosa de Miguel de

Cervantes. So Paulo: Edusp.

23

Annex
Catalog of Don Quixotes adaptations available in 2013
Year

24

Title

Adapter/Translator

Illustrator/

Publisher

U$ Price

Globo

$13,90

25

# pages
[1936]
2013
[1970]

Dom
Quixote
das Crianas

Monteiro Lobato

Dom Quixote

Orgenes Lessa

Camilo Irani;
152p.

; 184p.

$9,25
book)
Ediouro

2010
[1985]

Dom Quixote

Jos Angeli

Rogrio
Borges;
136p.

Scipione

$ 14,30

Dom Quixote

Jos Angeli

Clarissa
Ballario; 48p.
(8-11 yrs)

Scipione

$ 15,40

Dom Quixote de
la Mancha

Ferreira Gullar

Gustave
Dor; 224p.

Revan

$ 20, 40

Dom Quixote

Walcyr Carrasco

Alexandro
Camanho.
Posfcio
Nelly Novaes
Coelho;
144p.

FTD

$15,60

Weberson
Santiago;
208p.

Moderna

$ 16, 50

Victor G.
Ambrus;
120p.

tica

$ 15, 40

Guazzelli;
72p.

Escala
Educacional

$ 14,30

Alexandre
Crcamo

DCL

$ 10,90

2011

[2002]
2005
2002

2012

[2003]

$ 15,00
[sold out]

2013
[1999]

(e-

Dom Quixote

2012

Michael Harrison/
Luciano
Machado

Vieira

2004

Dom Quixote

Alexandre
de Souza

2005

Dom Quixote

Leonardo Chianca

Barbosa

$ 11, 70
(e-book)

$ 6,10
(audiobook)

2005

O cavaleiro do
sonho: As
aventuras e
desventuras de
Dom Quixote de
la Mancha

Ana Maria Machado

Portinari;
55p.

Mercuryo
Jovem

$ 16,10

Premio
Melhor livro
reconto
-

24

First edition
Prices from Livraria Saraiva [1 U$ = R$ 2,30]. Available at:
http://busca.livrariasaraiva.com.br/search#?p=Q&lbc=saraiva&uid=2475443&ts=ajax&w=dom%20quixo
te&isort=best&method=and&af=&view=list. [mar. 19, 2014].
25

24

FNLIJ
Dom Quixote

Rosana Rios

2005

Era uma vez

Dom Quixote

Agustn
Aguilar/
Colasanti

2005

O
engenhoso
fidalgo
Dom
Quixote de la
Mancha

2007
2008

[2005]

Alexandre
Crcamo;
96p.

Escala
Educacional

$ 9,10

Nvio Lpez
Vigil; 112p.

Global

$ 16,50

Angeles Durini &

Federico Jeanmarie/
Sergio Molina

LL; 292p.

Martins
Fontes

$ 23,30

Dom
Quixote
das Crianas

Rosa
Navarro
Durn/Jos Arrabal

Francesc
Rovira; 248p.

Edies
Paulinas

$ 14,40

Dom Quixote

Fabio
Pinto

Gilmar Fraga;
96p.

LPM

$ 4,30

O fidalgo Dom
Quixote de la
Mancha

Lino de Albergaria

CC; 88p.

Paulus

$ 5,00
$ 3,30
(e-book)

2012

Trs Fantasias:
Dom Quixote,
Alice no Pas
das Maravilhas,
guas Claras

Isabel Vieira

Fabio P.
Corazza;
152p.

Atual

$ 17,90
$ 16,10
(e-book)

2012

Dom Quixote

Cristina Klein

Bell
40p.

Todolivro

$ 4,30
$ 2,10
(e-book)

2012

[2010]
2010
[2013]

Sanchez
Marina

Bortolazzo

Studio;

10 Works non prose (comics & cordel)

Year

Title

Adapter/

Description

Publisher

Cia
Letras

Price

26

Translator
[1999]
2011

2004

2005

O ultimo
cavaleiro
andante

Will
Eisner/
Andr Conti &
Carlos
Sussekind

Comics; 32p.

Dom Quixote

Marcia
Williams/
Luciano Vieira
Machado

Comics; 32p

Caco Galhardo

Comics; 48p.

Dom Quixote em
quadrinhos por
Caco Galhardo

recomendado
pela
Fundao
Nacional
do Livro Infantil e
Juvenil - FNLIJ.

$16,
95

tica

$
14,10

Peirpolis

$
15,20

recebeu o selo de
altamente
recomendvel
da
FNLIJ

includa no acervo do
Programa
Nacional
Biblioteca na Escola

das

25

PNBE.
2005

Herosmo
Quixote

de

Paula
Mastroberti

Graphic novel ; 136p.

As Aventuras de
Dom Quixote Em Versos de
Cordel

Klvisson
Viana

Cordel; 48 [72]

Dom Quixote
adaptado
da
obra de Miguel
de Cervantes

J. Borges

Monteiro Lobato
em quadrinhos Dom Quixote das
Crianas

Andr Simas

Dom Quixote em
quadrinhos

Bira Dantas

2010

Dom Quixote em
Cordel

Olegrio
Alfredo

2012

Dom Quixote

2013

Dom Quixote em
quadrinhos 2

[2005]

2011

2005

[2007]
2009

[2008]
2011

Rocco

$
14,00

[Tupynanquin
et all]

$
11,30

2 lugar no prmio
Jabuti 2006.

[Manole]

Cordel;
44p.

Oliveira;

LGE [Ler]

$
13,00

Globo

$ 8,70

livro recomendados
pelo
MEC
para
utilizao
nas
escolas.
Comics;
Cor
Imagem $$ ; 64p.

$ 5,80
(ebook)

Comics; 88p.

Escala
Educacional

$
12,40

Cordel; Ilustr.: Milton

Fernandes; 20p.

Crislida

$ 6,50

Philippe
Chanoinat
&
Dijan/ Alexandre
Boide

Comics; Ilustr. : David

Pellet; 60p.

LPM

$ 13,90

Caco Galhardo

Comics: 64p.

Peirpolis

$16,10

HQ Mix

26