Giovanni Pontiero (10 February 1932 – 10 February 1996) was a Scots-Italian scholar and translator of

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

fiction. Most notably, he translated the works of

José Saramago José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE ComSE GColCa (; 16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010), was a Portuguese writer and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony ith which heco ...

and

Clarice Lispector Clarice Lispector (born Chaya Pinkhasivna Lispector ( uk, Хая Пінкасівна Ліспектор); December 10, 1920December 9, 1977) was a Ukrainian-born Brazilian novelist and short story writer. Her innovative, idiosyncratic works exp ...

, two celebrated names in Portuguese-language literature.

Life

Born and raised in Glasgow, after secondary school Pontiero went into seminary at Biggar and later at

Rimini, Italy Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Ariminu ...

, but at age 24 decided to abdicate from a religious career. He graduated from the

university of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

in 1960 and completed his PhD while in Brazil at Universidade Federal de Paraíba, returning to Manchester to defend his thesis on

Manuel Bandeira Manuel Carneiro de Sousa Bandeira Filho (April 19, 1886 – October 13, 1968) was a Brazilian poet, literary critic, and translator, who wrote over 20 books of poetry and prose. Life and career Bandeira was born in Recife, Pernambuco. In 190 ...

. In 1962 he was appointed lecturer in Latin American studies at Manchester. He was later promoted to senior lecturer and finally Reader in Latin-American Literature in the

Victoria University of Manchester The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. Afte ...

until his retirement in 1995. Ponteiro had a lifelong interest in the theatre, in particular the work of the great Italian actress Eleonora Duse (1858–1924). He translated, edited and wrote the introduction of ''Duse on Tour: The Diaries of Guido Noccioli 1906–1907'' (Manchester University Press, 1981), and later went on to write a biography of Duse, ''Eleonora Duse: In Life and Art'' (Verlag Peter Lang, 1986). His collection of over 1,000 items relating to Duse was bequeathed to the Glasgow University Library in 1996.

Work

Holding an academic position and translating, he not only gave students advice, but wrote about the translating profession. He was the principal translator into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

of the works of both Saramago and

, and met early acclaim for his translation of Lispector's short story "Amor", winning the Camões Prize for Translation in 1968. In 1993 he won ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''s Foreign Fiction Award for the translation of Saramago's ''The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis'' and the Outstanding Translation Award from the American Literary Translator's Association for the same author's ''The Gospel According to Jesus Christ'' the following year; later receiving the Texeira-Gomes Prize for this same translation. He was amongst those to note

Pandeism Pandeism (or pan-deism), is a theological doctrine that combines aspects of pantheism with aspects of deism. Unlike classical deism, which holds that God does not interfere with the universe after its creation, pandeism holds that a creator d ...

to be an influence on the writings of noted mid-twentieth-century Brazilian poet

Carlos Nejar Luis Carlos Verzoni Nejar, better known as Carlos Nejar (born January 11, 1939 in Porto Alegre), is a Brazilian poet, author, translator and critic, and a member of the Academia Brasileira de Letras. One of the most important poets of its generati ...

. Pontiero's papers are held by the

John Rylands Library The John Rylands Research Institute and Library is a late-Victorian neo-Gothic building on Deansgate in Manchester, England. It is part of the University of Manchester. The library, which opened to the public in 1900, was founded by Enriquet ...

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

Notable translations into English (publication dates for original followed by translation)

José Saramago

* ''

Baltasar and Blimunda ''Baltasar and Blimunda'' ( pt, Memorial do Convento, 1982 in literature, 1982) is a novel by the Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize-winning Portuguese author José Saramago. It is an 18th-century love story intertwined with the construction ...

'', 1982, 1987 * ''

The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis ''The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis'' (in Portuguese: ''O Ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis'') is a 1984 novel by the Portuguese novelist José Saramago, the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature. The book chronicles the final year in the ...

'', 1984, 1991 * ''

The Gospel According to Jesus Christ ''The Gospel According to Jesus Christ'' (original title: ''O Evangelho Segundo Jesus Cristo'', 1991) is a novel by the Portuguese author José Saramago. It is a fictional re-telling of Jesus Christ's life, depicting him as a flawed, humanis ...

'', 1991, 1994 * ''

The Stone Raft ''The Stone Raft'' ( pt, A Jangada de Pedra) is a novel by Portuguese writer José Saramago. It was written in 1986, and was translated into English by Giovanni Pontiero in 1994. The premise of the novel is that the Iberian Peninsula has broken o ...

'', 1986, 1994 * '' Manual of Painting and Calligraphy'', 1977, 1995 * ''

The History of the Siege of Lisbon ''The History of the Siege of Lisbon'' ( pt, História do Cerco de Lisboa) is a novel by Portugal, Portuguese author José Saramago, first published in 1989. It tells the story of a proofreader and the story of the Siege of Lisbon as it both is a ...

'', 1989, 1996 * ''

Blindness Visual impairment, also known as vision impairment, is a medical definition primarily measured based on an individual's better eye visual acuity; in the absence of treatment such as correctable eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment� ...

'', 1995, 1997 * ''

The Lives of Things ''The Lives of Things'' is a short story collection by Portuguese novelist and Nobel-prize winner Jose Saramago. It was originally published in 1978 in Portuguese under the title '' Objecto Quasi''. This article refers to the English translation by ...

'', 1978, 2012

Clarice Lispector

* ''

Family Ties ''Family Ties'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC for seven seasons, premiering on September 22, 1982, and concluding on May 14, 1989. The series, created by Gary David Goldberg, reflected the move in the United States f ...

'', 1960, 1984 * ''The Foreign Legion'', 1964, 1986 * '' Near to the Wild Heart'', 1943, 1990 (2012) * ''

The Hour of the Star ''The Hour of the Star'' (''A hora da estrela'') is a novel by Clarice Lispector published in 1977, shortly before the author's death. In 1985, the novel was adapted by Suzana Amaral into a film of the same name, which won the Silver Bear for Be ...

'', 1977, 1992 * ''Selected Cronicas'', 1967–1973, 1996 * ''Discovering the World'', 1997

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pontiero, Giovanni 1932 births 1996 deaths Latin Americanists Translators from Portuguese Translators of Clarice Lispector 20th-century British translators