In the last decade, some Brazilian publishers invested in new translations of classics of foreign literature, especially those who have long been circulating in Portuguese, but in so called indirect translations. The most recent cases of new translations of Russian and German literature are exemplary in this sense. The numbers are significant and we can recognize there a new trend, but cum grano salis. Statistics also show that these numbers are not as expressive as to allow a generalization the trend as a rule for all the Brazilian publishing field, even if restricted to the literary market. For translation studies, however, this trend gives new life to the discussion on the various issues involved in this kind of translation. This papers aims to point out the limits and possibilities of direct and indirect translation and to reflect on their implications for the critique of literary translation.
indirect translation; translation as relation; translation criticism