The Limits of Literary Translation is a breakthrough collection of essays which addresses translation in a truly interdisciplinary manner. As UNESCO’s General Director pointed out (23 April 2012 World Book and Copyright Day, 80th anniversary of Index Translationum): “Translation is the first step towards the rapprochement of peoples”…“a decentralizing experience, teaching diversity and dialogue.” Translation is the only true “world language” (La cultura traducida, Santoyo, 1983) and the role played by translators in building diverse cultures is aptly exemplified in the various chapters which deal with translations into and from all the languages of the Iberian Peninsula, including less explored target languages (Thai, Slovenian). This cutting-edge blend of research by senior and junior academics presents translation as a “testing ground” (Rutherford) in all literary genres. The final essays on songs, comics, graphic and audiovisual humour provide “pointers and eye-openers” (Zabalbeascoa) that help us address the issue of translated cultural identity (Muñoz-Calvo) and go “beyond the blinkers” of traditional academia.

Raquel Merino-Álvarez, Professor of Translation Studies
UPV/EHU, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea

CONTENTS

Part I. The Limits of Literary Translation in Prose Narrative · Milton M. Azevedo: Pérez-Reverte’s Alatriste Stories in English and Portuguese — Branka Kalenić Ramšak: “Looking at Flemish Tapestries from the Other Side”: On Don Quixote and Translation — Daniela Omlor: Translation as a Trope in Javier Marías’s Tu rostro mañana — Sarah Roger: Translation and Identity in Borges’s “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius”

Part II. The Limits of Literary Translation in Poetry · John Rutherford: The Impossibility of Literary Translation: The Medieval Galician Cantigas — Pasuree Luesakul: Neruda’s Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada and Lojo’s Finisterre in Thai: Cultural Bridges between Thailand and Latin America — Ronald Puppo: Intertextual Others in Voicing Verdaguer — Clara Marías Martínez: Translation and Imitation in Renaissance Spanish Poetry: A Case Study of Petrarch’s Sonnet, “S’amor non è” — Marcello Giugliano: Robert Frost’s Voices of Common People in Spanish and Catalan

Part III. The Limits of Literary Translation in Theater and Dramatic Dialogue · Jorge Braga Riera: The Limits of Translating Spanish Classical Drama into English — Amaranta Saguar García: One Translator, Two Translations, Three Theories: Christof Wirsung and Celestina — Kathleen Jeffs: Prolonging the Pleasure: Gil Vicente and Jo Clifford’s Adaptations of Don Duardos for Ever-New Audiences — Maja Šabec: Lorca’s Drama in Slovenian: The Stylization of Popular Language

Part IV. Beyond the Limits: New Trends in Literary Translation · Xose A. Padilla and Elisa Gironzetti: Translating Graphic Jokes — Jacob Wilkenfeld: A Foreign Sound: Translating Caetano Veloso’s Song Lyrics — Patrick Zabalbeascoa: Translating Heterolingual Audiovisual Humor: Beyond the Blinkers of Traditional Thinking — Micaela Muñoz-Calvo: Asterix’s Voyage to Hispania: The Adventure of Translating Humor into the Languages of the Iberian Peninsula