Esquecimento

Acabo de legendar um filmezinho no DotSub – Forgetfulness – um poema Billy Collins em animação de Julian Grey. Curtinho, mas cheio de referências mitológicas, assunto que devo confessar não saber bem. Eu achei que fosse fácil – e não foi difícil – mas um trechinho, esse em vermelho, exigiu uma pesquisa:

The name of the author is the first to go followed obediently by the title, the plot, the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of, as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain, to a little fishing village where there are no phones. Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag, and even now as you memorize the order of the planets, something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps, the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay. Whatever it is you are struggling to remember, it is not poised on the tip of your tongue, not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen. It has floated away down a dark mythological river whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall, well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle. No wonder you rise in the middle of the night to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war. No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

Eu imaginei que esse rio mitológico seria uma referência a algum rio real ou literário que em inglês começasse com L. Sem entender muito do assunto, parti para uma pesquisa usando o coringa * no google: “mythological river * name begins with an L”.

A primeira página já foi de grande valia, e com ela aprendi que:

“In Greek mythology, Lethe is one of the several rivers of Hades. Drinking from the river Lethe (“forgetfulness” or “oblivion”) caused complete forgetfulness. Some ancient Greeks believed that souls were made to drink from the river before being reincarnated, so they would not remember their past lives.”

E também, na Wikipedia em Português, procurando pela palavra Lethe, descobri que em Português o rio é chamado Lete, o mesmo que aparece em A Divina Comédia. Fosse eu uma tradutora preguiçosa, teria acertado do mesmo jeito traduzindo a frase e deixando o L – mas não teria aprendido algo novo hoje. Uma pitada de cultura nunca é demais.

Clique na figura abaixo para ver o filme com legendas minhas: