Collapsing: a literary translation of Horacio Castellanos Moya’s Desmoronamiento

Collapsing, my translation of Horacio Castellanos Moya’s 2006 novel, Desmoronamiento aims to honor the author’s original family-centered story that focuses on revealing the destructive nature of political upheaval on individuals. This work is a contrasting blend of family drama, dark humor, war depiction, and historical fiction centered around The Football War of 1969. Castellanos Moya writes a three-part narrative spanning thirty years between El Salvador and Honduras. Each section explores new voices and different forms of narration, centered in and around the fictional Mira Brossa Family. This translation aims to replicate the balance of personal voice, experimental narration, and historical reality present in the text. Through his merciless portrayal, Castellanos Moya asks the reader to consider not the historical event, but what it means to have lived through the historical event. The resulting work leaves the reader considering the parallel between collapsing diplomatic relations and a collapsing family relationship.

The thesis begins with a foreword explaining my translation approach and then starts from the beginning of Collapsing. Chapters have been included from Parts One and Two of the novel. Part One follows an argument between married couple, Lena and Erasmo Mira Brossa. Part Two is an epistolary section with correspondence between father and daughter, Erasmo and Teti Mira Brossa.