THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE CHARACTER ASLAN AND HIS RELATIONS WITH THE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSE IN ENGLISH AND PORTUGUESE: A STUDY BASED ON THE CORPUS OF C.S. LEWIS WORK

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is to analyze the construction of the character Aslan in the chronicle The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1994) written by C. S. Lewis and in its translation into Portuguese by Mendes Campos (2002). We took into consideration the intertextuality presented between the story and the Holy Bible (1994 [Portuguese version]), focusing, mainly, on lexical and contextual constructions in relation to the target-character under investigation. Lexicology (BARBOSA, 1990, 1998; DUBOIS, 2001), Corpus Linguistics (BERBER SARDINHA, 2000, 2002) and Corpus-based translation studies were applied as theoretical background (BAKER, 1999, 2000; CAMARGO, 2005, 2007). We also employed subsidies provided by the software suite WordSmith Tools (Wordlist and Concord) in order to observe the translation procedures adopted to convey into Portuguese a that is relevant work, in the international literary scenario and that abounds symbolic meaning. The results, based on the most frequent words in context, show that both the target and source text present similitudes in terms of words selected to establish intertextual relations with the Bible, crafting associative images between Aslan and Christ.