Translations In Print and Many-Headed Hydras: A Study of Rewriting in 'Sepan Cuantos...' (1959-2013)

• Main Author: Atala Garcia, Lili
• Other Authors: Foz, Clara
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa 2021
• Subjects: Materiality; Translation history; Translation in book series; Rewritings; Translation in the Hispanic world
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10393/42286; http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-26508

Book series are large and dynamic structures that allow us to reflect on concepts such as systems, rewriting, agency and materiality, while offering rich data to advance the history of translation. This research focuses on an emblematic Mexican paperback series called Sepan Cuantos… (SC, hereafter), initiated in 1959 and still ongoing. My overarching aim was to understand the transformation of translation practices in the series throughout time in view of the context in which it was developed and the agents that were involved in it. The development of SC goes hand in hand with the development of the publishing industry in Mexico. Throughout its lifespan, national book production has greatly expanded, affecting the demands of the market where this series has circulated. Additionally, SC’s history is inscribed in the broader dynamics of the Hispanic publishing industry, where Spain has maintained hegemony over the production of translations, and the language and ideology represented in them. In order to understand how SC related to this context, archaeological work was required. The questions What was translated? By whom? and How were translations presented? guided the analysis. My findings reveal a wide spectrum of approaches to translation in SC. On one side of the spectrum there is the series as a commercial endeavour, unconcerned with producing terse, ad hoc rewritings of foreign literature for a Mexican audience by favouring the repurposing of pre-existing Spanish translations and paratexts. This is translation in the age of mass production. On the other side of the spectrum, there are the sporadic cases of assumed agency, where the limits of the repertoire are challenged and where the opportunity to produce original translations and prefaces is highly exploited. There is no overarching translation policy in SC, and this gives rise to a basic tension between the homogeneity expressed by the series’ format and the heterogeneity of the translation and prefatory practices observed in the volumes. Focused on the disorder hidden behind the uniformity of these books' covers, this thesis explores the transgressive bodies in which translations can reach their readers. Translation in 20th and 21st century Mexico has been thus far studied from the angle of its most dignified and ideologically coherent products and translators. However, the less terse translation practices in SC, a highly heterogeneous product that embodies a lot of discoursive tensions, cannot be overlooked. SC’s impossible combinations reflect how the hybridity that is characteristic of Latin American culture has touched translation too.