Literary Retranslation in Context (New Trends in Translation Studies)

253 Pages·2016·3.62 MB·English

by  Susanne M. Cadera (editor), Andrew Samuel Walsh (editor)

New Trends in T ranslation Studies New Trends in T ranslation Studies
Vol. 21
The present study examines the interrelation between literary texts, their
successive retranslations and the corresponding historical, social and cultural
C
backgrounds that inform these versions. In the case of each text, the authors a
d
analyse both the external factors (sociohistorical circumstances, publishing
e
context, authors, translators, etc.) and the internal ones (text analysis, translation ra

procedures or strategies) that influence this interrelation. The book also a
n
considers how the decision to retranslate a literary work may be due not only d

to the commercial criteria established by publishers, but also to external W
developments in the historical, cultural or social environment of the target a
l
s
culture, or to an evolution in the poetic and aesthetic considerations of the h

translations themselves, since translational activities and approaches change (
e
and evolve over time. Consequently, the procedures inherent in translation may d
s
influence the reception and perception of the original text in the target culture. )

Finally, the book explores how the retranslations of a work of literature may •

even change the image of an author and the perception of his or her work
L
i Literary Retranslation
that has been established by previous translations. t
e
r
a
Susanne M. Cadera is Professor of German Language, Culture, Literature r
y
in Context
and Comparative Translation Studies in the Department of Translation and R
e
Interpreting at Comillas Pontifical University in Madrid. She has collaborated
t
r
on various international projects and currently leads the research group INTRA a
n
and the project ‘Studies on Textual and Cultural Interaction: Retranslations’ s
l
a
(RETRADES) at Comillas Pontifical University. Her recent publications focus on t
i
o
features and translations of fictive orality in narrative texts and on contextual
n
Susanne M. Cadera and
translation studies. i
n
Andrew Samuel Walsh is Lecturer in English, Translation and Communication C Andrew Samuel Walsh (eds)
o
Studies in the Department of Translation and Interpreting at Comillas Pontifical
n
University in Madrid. He has also taught at the University of Granada and the te
x
Autonomous University of Madrid. His research interests lie in the fields of
t
literary translation and comparative literature.
ISBN 978-3-0343-1996-6
Peter Lang
www.peterlang.com
New Trends in Translation Studies New Trends in T ranslation Studies
Vol. 21
The present study examines the interrelation between literary texts, their
successive retranslations and the corresponding historical, social and cultural
C
backgrounds that inform these versions. In the case of each text, the authors a
d
analyse both the external factors (sociohistorical circumstances, publishing
e
context, authors, translators, etc.) and the internal ones (text analysis, translation ra

procedures or strategies) that influence this interrelation. The book also a
n
considers how the decision to retranslate a literary work may be due not only d

to the commercial criteria established by publishers, but also to external W
developments in the historical, cultural or social environment of the target a
l
s
culture, or to an evolution in the poetic and aesthetic considerations of the h

translations themselves, since translational activities and approaches change (
e
and evolve over time. Consequently, the procedures inherent in translation may d
s
influence the reception and perception of the original text in the target culture. )

Finally, the book explores how the retranslations of a work of literature may •

even change the image of an author and the perception of his or her work
L
i Literary Retranslation
that has been established by previous translations. t
e
r
a
Susanne M. Cadera is Professor of German Language, Culture, Literature r
y
in Context
and Comparative Translation Studies in the Department of Translation and R
e
Interpreting at Comillas Pontifical University in Madrid. She has collaborated
t
r
on various international projects and currently leads the research group INTRA a
n
and the project ‘Studies on Textual and Cultural Interaction: Retranslations’ s
l
a
(RETRADES) at Comillas Pontifical University. Her recent publications focus on t
i
o
features and translations of fictive orality in narrative texts and on contextual
n
Susanne M. Cadera and
translation studies. i
n
Andrew Samuel Walsh is Lecturer in English, Translation and Communication C Andrew Samuel Walsh (eds)
o
Studies in the Department of Translation and Interpreting at Comillas Pontifical
n
University in Madrid. He has also taught at the University of Granada and the te
x
Autonomous University of Madrid. His research interests lie in the fields of
t
literary translation and comparative literature.
Peter Lang
www.peterlang.com
Literary Retranslation
in Context
New Trends in Translation Studies
Volume 21
Series Editor:
Professor Jorge Díaz Cintas
Advisory Board:
Professor Susan Bassnett
Dr Lynne Bowker
Professor Frederic Chaume
Professor Aline Remael
PETER LANG
Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • Frankfurt am Main • New York • Wien
Literary Retranslation
in Context
Susanne M. Cadera and
Andrew Samuel Walsh (eds)
PETER LANG
Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • Frankfurt am Main • New York • Wien
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche National-
bibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at
http://dnb.d-nb.de.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Cadera, Susanne M., editor. | Walsh, Andrew Samuel, editor.
Title: Literary retranslation in context / Susanne M. Cadera and Andrew
Samuel Walsh (eds).
Description: Oxford ; New York : Peter Lang, 2016. | Series: New trends in
translation studies ; 21 | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016044365 | ISBN 9783034319966 (alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Literature--Translations--History and criticism. |
Translating and interpreting.
Classification: LCC PN241 .L564 2016 | DDC 418/.04--dc23 LC record avail-
able at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016044365
ISSN 1664-249X
ISBN 978-3-0343-1996-6 (print) • ISBN 978-1-78707-221-3 (ePDF)
ISBN 978-1-78707-222-0 (ePub) • ISBN 978-1-78707-223-7 (mobi)
© Peter Lang AG, International Academic Publishers, Bern 2017
Hochfeldstrasse 32, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
[email protected], www.peterlang.com, www.peterlang.net
All rights reserved.
All parts of this publication are protected by copyright.
Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without
the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution.
This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming,
and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems.
This publication has been peer reviewed.
Printed in Germany
Contents
susanne m. cadera and andrew samuel walsh
Introduction 1
Susanne M. Cadera
Literary Retranslation in Context: A Historical, Social and
Cultural Perspective 5
part i Retranslation and Ideology 19
Andrew Samuel Walsh
1 Lorca’s Poet in New York as a Paradigm of Poetic Retranslation 21
Ana María Roca Urgorri
2 Retranslation as a Reaction to Ideological Change: The
History of Spanish Versions of Gay American Twentieth-
Century Novels 53
part ii Retranslation and Censorship 83
Susanne M. Cadera and Patricia Martín Matas
3 Postcolonial Literature Retranslated into Spanish: The Case
of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart 85
José Luis Aja Sánchez
4 Zeno Cosini Comes to Spain: The Response to Italo Svevo
and the First Censored Edition of La coscienza di Zeno (1956) 115
vi
José Luis Aja Sánchez and Nadia Rodríguez
5 The Six Lives of Celestine: Octave Mirbeau and the
Spanish Translations of Le Journal d’une femme de chambre
(Chapters I and II) 139
part iii Retranslation and Reception 167
Susanne M. Cadera
6 Franz Kafka’s Die Verwandlung and its Thirty-One Spanish
Translations 169
Andrea Schäpers
7 Georg Büchner’s Fiction in Spain: Translations of Lenz 195
Arturo Peral Santamaría
8 Ossian and Werther in Spain 221
Notes on Contributors 239
Index 241
Susanne M. Cadera and Andrew Samuel Walsh
Introduction
The present text is the product of the research conducted by the RETRADES
(Studies on Cultural and Textual Interaction: Retranslation) research
project, which began in 2012 and was led by Prof. Susanne M. Cadera at
the Department of Translation and Interpreting of Comillas Pontifical
University in Madrid. The fundamental aim of this project was to answer
the following question: What is the interrelation between literary texts
and their translations with the socio-historical characteristics of the period
in which they were produced? The central thesis to be explored was that
each new translation must represent a socio-historical change and that,
although the decision to retranslate a work may undoubtedly be due to a
commercial decision on the part of the publisher, it must also be linked to
external changes in the historical, cultural and social context of the target
culture or to changes in the poetic and aesthetic considerations of the trans-
lations themselves. As tends to occur in any other discipline, translational
activity and awareness change over time and the procedures inherent to a
translation may influence the reception of the text and the perception of
its author in the target culture. Consequently, the retranslation of a work
may even change the image of an author and the understanding of his or
her work that had been established by previous translations.
The conclusion reached by the research conducted during the first
three years of this project was in fact contrary to the initial hypothesis
proposed, as we discovered that there is not always a clearly identifiable
relation between the importance of authors in their original culture and
the retranslation of their work. Indeed, in the case of peninsular Spanish,
there are many instances of established authors from the canon of world
literature whose work has not been retranslated at all. This curious ques-
tion in itself as to who has not been retranslated and why not would be
worthy of a profound and systematic study which unfortunately escaped
2 Susanne M. Cadera and Andrew Samuel Walsh
the confines of this first period of our research project. In other cases, the
phenomenon detected was the precise opposite; that is, some authors such
as Kafka have been retranslated so many times that it is difficult to carry out
a detailed study of the differences between all of the retranslations. As in
the case of the lack of retranslations, a more detailed study of the reasons
for the abundance of retranslations of certain authors would be of interest
as a topic for future research.
In several chapters in the book, special consideration was also given to
the retranslations published during Franco’s dictatorship due to the possible
manipulation that these texts may have endured because of the censorship
system in place at the time as well as the possibility of self-censorship that
was widely practiced to avoid problems with the regime.
The book begins with a meta-theoretical chapter which offers an over-
view of the critical controversy surrounding the phenomenon of literary
retranslation and the various theoretical approaches and hypotheses that
have been proposed and used in the field. In particular, this chapter marks
a critical distance with the well-known Retranslation Hypothesis which was
refuted by the findings of our collective research into this question. The
volume is then divided in three thematic areas: The first one is devoted to
the question of Retranslation and Ideology and includes a chapter that analy-
ses the historical vicissitudes experienced by the various English language
translations of Federico García Lorca’s Poet in New York, translations char-
acterized by changes that reflected the radical transformation in English-
speaking sensibilities in terms of the language used to refer to racial origin
and homosexuality. This last question is then further explored in a chapter
which analyses the history of Spanish versions of Gay American twentieth-
century novels and examines the Spanish retranslations of authors such
Truman Capote and James Baldwin in the light of the burgeoning gay
liberation movement that was born during the transition towards post-
Francoist, democratic Spain. The second part of the book focuses on issues
related to Retranslation and Censorship and begins with a chapter devoted
to postcolonial literature retranslated into Spanish, specifically the case
of China Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. The issue of censorship in Francoist
and pre-democratic Spain is further explored in chapters that study the
first censored edition of Italo Svevo’s La coscienza di Zeno and the Spanish