THE POSTHUMOUS MEMOIRS OF BRÁS CUBAS, T-MINUS 3 – p. 53.

You might read this little passage and wonder what there is to say about it. Fear not.

When I met Anabela Mota Ribeiro at Brown, she wanted to know how I’d translated one phrase in the book, which happens to be on this page: “Ora você!”

It’s a simple and profoundly complex utterance, and our difficulty in deciphering it is umbilically linked to young Brás Cubas’ complete inability to decipher his streetwise Spanish lover.

He’s playing checkers, Marcela is playing chess – and winning. He’s just given her an ivory comb studded with diamonds, after all.

Grossman translates “Ora você!” as “What a thing to do!,” while Rabassa says “What am I going to do with you!” Ellis goes for “Oh, you!” I wound up softening the punctuation blow and sliding into an ellipsis.

To be completely honest, I can’t remember how I arrived at this one tiny decision, but in retrospect would defend it by saying that it fits with my interpretation of her wagging her head “as if to rebuke” him – “com um ar de repreensão.”

Compare that to “shaking her head reprovingly” (Ellis). Remember, Marcela just got the most expensive present that early 19th-century Rio de Janeiro had to offer. She’s not actually scolding the gift-giver. Everyone involved understands that.

There’s another telling divergence which made me look more closely at the original. Grossman has Marcela ask “When do we sail?” In the original, she’s actually asking Brás when HE’s going to set off. Because, spoiler alert, she may not actually be joining his travel plans.

For more explicit scenes of Marcela gently tying Brás into very expensive knots, you can pre-order The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas here: http://bit.ly/2X2RDbJ