Critical review of translations of Kafka’s Prometheus in Romance languages: between the myth, the truth and the inexplicable

In this article, we present a brief summary of the critical review made by Jean-Michel Adam and Ute Heidmann (ADAM; HEIDMANN, 2011) of two French translations of Kafka’s narrative about four myths of Prometheus, which, after having been compiled, amended and published by Max Brod, became known under the German title of Prometheus. We also bring a summary of the discussion led by the authors on the divergences between Brod’s amended text and Kafka’s original manuscript, which diverges from the first. We then list two consecrated translations in Portuguese, two in Spanish and two in Italian of the text compiled by Brod. These translations are accompanied by brief reflections we have made on the translators’ strategies and decisions. Concerning our theoretical support, in the specific area of translation criticism we have resorted to the theory developed by Reiß (1986) and, in the scope of poetics of translating, to Meschonnic (2010) and Borges (1974). Finally, we present our translation proposal, in Portuguese, for the original by Kafka and the text amended by Brod.