Literary Retranslation in Context

The present study examines the interrelation between literary texts, their successive retranslations and the corresponding historical, social and cultural backgrounds that inform these versions. In the case of each text, the authors analyse both the external factors (sociohistorical circumstances, publishing context, authors, translators, etc.) and the internal ones (text analysis, translation procedures or strategies) that influence this interrelation. The book also considers how the decision to retranslate a literary work may be due not only to the commercial criteria established by publishers, but also to external developments in the historical, cultural or social environment of the target culture, or to an evolution in the poetic and aesthetic considerations of the translations themselves, since translational activities and approaches change and evolve over time. Consequently, the procedures inherent in translation may 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 that has been established by previous translations.

Susanne M. Cadera is Professor of German Language, Culture, Literature and Comparative Translation Studies in the Department of Translation and Interpreting at Comillas Pontifical University in Madrid. She has collaborated on various international projects and currently leads the research group INTRA and the project «Studies on Textual and Cultural Interaction: Retranslations» (RETRADES) at Comillas Pontifical University. Her recent publications focus on features and translations of fictive orality in narrative texts and on contextual translation studies.Andrew Samuel Walsh is Lecturer in English, Translation and Communication Studies in the Department of Translation and Interpreting at Comillas Pontifical University in Madrid. He has also taught at the University of Granada and the Autonomous University of Madrid. His research interests lie in the fields of literary translation and comparative literature.