Tracing Back (in Awe) a Hundred Years' History of Spanish Translations: Washington Irving's The Alhambra

Abstract

[EN] This contribution shows how the first Spanish version (1888) of the first English edition (1832) of Tales of The Alhambra has become the most widespread and used text of Washington Irving’s The Alhambra in Spanish for well over a century, and how a blend of secondary or tertiary texts are presented and read under the title Tales of The Alhambra/Cuentos de la Alhambra to date. Extensive textual comparison allows the researcher to trace back interdependencies, acknowledged and unacknowledged relationships, even cases of outright plagiarism, or unlawful editorial practices. It seems clear that better insight into the history of translations will help to avoid repeating past practices. The author draws on her position as a targeteer and a sourcerer ('targeteers lean towards ends, sourcerers towards means', Newmark, 1991: 4) in relation to Washington Irving's The Alhambra, one of the most widely-published books after the Bible, Don Quixote, or Hamlet. Both in the original English versions, and the numerous translations into Spanish, The Alhambra (or Tales of the Alhambra, or Legends of the Alhambra) has been repeatedly published for over a century in complete or abridged fragmentary editions. Quite a feat, and quite a challenge for translation studies (TS) targeteers and sourcerers positioned in 'a sliding scale which eliminates any dividing line between the two contrasted approaches' (Newmark, 1991: 4).