Traductores ficticios, los caminos sinuosos de la literatura

Abstract

The ways followed by Czech literature to reach foreign readers have been sinuous in some occasions. One of the most important reasons of this fact, although not the only one, is the lesser international diffusion of Czech language, as it will be set out in this paper. A particularity of Czech literature is that during the 20th century some translations into Spanish were made in its country of origin. We will explore the ways the Czech and Spanish written literature reach the readers, such as through an unknown and perhaps fictitious translator, practice within the studied period consisting of publishing a translation under a translator name different of the real one, with the purpose of avoiding current official censorship or other administrative requirements. We will follow ?apek’s War with the Newts in its journey to Spain over the last decades. In this relationship between two literary systems, several elements play a role, such as Geopolitics, publisher’s policies, socio political settings – including censorship – macro economical and micro economical aspects and other circumstances.