Title: Translation and performance cultures: Spanish drama and Restoration England
Source document: Theatralia. 2021, vol. 24, iss. 1, pp. 101-118
Extent
101-118
-
ISSN1803-845X (print)2336-4548 (online)
Persistent identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/TY2021-1-8
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/143817
Type: Article
Language
License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
From 1660 onwards, Restoration dramatists drew on seventeenth-century Spanish theatre in search of new plots and characters that might appeal to London audiences. Despite the socio-historical differences between two distinct theatrical traditions, practitioners managed to turn the foreign plays into actable English texts. By comparing a corpus of classical Spanish plays and their versions in Restoration England, this paper aims to provide some insight into the translation strategies employed. In this sense, two performance- -oriented mechanisms can be distinguished. On the one hand, many elements in the source texts were naturalised to meet the demands of the target culture, as perceived not only in the treatment of rhythm, versification and rhetorical devices but also in action, act-division and characterisation. This domesticating method is also noticeable in how the central motifs of the comedia, i.e. comicality (stage and linguistic), honour and love, were approached. On the other hand, some aspects in the originals (storylines, names and certain stylistic features) were maintained, manifestly showing the Spanishness of the play-text. A contrastive study leads to significant conclusions on the success of these tailor-made, accommodating formulas, and raises questions about the extent to which the translators reach the status of authors by leaving a visible mark on their creations.
References
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[25] HOGAN, Floriana Tarantino. 1995. The Spanish Comedia and the English Comedy of Intrigue with Special Reference to Aphra Behn. [s.l.] [s.n.], 1995.
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[27] JOHNSTON, David. 1996. Las terribles aduanas: fortuna de Lope de Vega, Calderón de la Barca y Tirso de Molina en inglés [Terrible customs: the fortune of Lope de Vega, Calderón de la Barca and Tirso de Molina in English]. In A. L. Pujante, and K. Gregor (eds.). Teatro clásico en traducción: texto, representación, recepción [Classical Theatre in Translation: Text, Performance, Reception]. Murcia: Universidad, 1996: 89–98.
[28] JOHNSTON, David. 2015. Translating the Theatre of the Spanish Golden Age. London: Oberon Books, 2015.
[29] KITAGAKI, M. 1981. Principles and Problems of Translation in Seventeenth-century England. Tokyo: Yamaguchi Shoten, 1981
[30] LAERA, Margherita. 2020. Theatre & Translation. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.
[31] LOFTIS, John. 1973. The Spanish Plays of Neoclassical England. New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 1973.
[32] LOFTIS, John. 1996. The social and literary context. In T. W. Craik (ed.). The Revels History of Drama in English 1660–1750. Vol. V. London: Methuen, 1996: 3–80.
[33] MUJICA, Barbara (ed.). 2013. Shakespeare and the Spanish "Comedia". Translation, Interpretation, Performance. Essays in Honor of Susan L. Fischer. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Presses, 2013.
[34] NICOLL, Allardyce. 1978. British Drama. London: Harrap & Co, 1978.
[35] PAUN DE GARCIA, Susan & Donald R. LARSON (eds.) 2008. The Comedia in English: Translation and Performance. Woodbridge: Tamesis, 2008.
[36] PEPYS, Samuel. 1997. The Concise Pepys. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions, 1997.
[37] PORTILLO, Rafael. 2005. Staging Restoration dramas: practical aspects of their performance. Sederi 15 (2005): 63–80.
[38] POST, Chad W. 2011. The Three Percent Problem: Rants and Responses on Publishing, Translation, and the Future of Reading. www.rochester.edu/threepercent, 2011.
[39] RABADÁN ÁLVAREZ, Rosa. 1987. Apuntes de la teoría de la traducción en la Inglaterra del siglo XVII [Notes for translation theory in seventeenth-century England]. In J. C. Santoyo (ed.). Fidus interpres: Actas de las Primeras Jornadas Nacionales de Historia de la Traducción [Fidus interpres: Proceedings of the First National Conference on Translation History]. Valladolid: Servicio de Publicaciones, 1987: 249–254.
[40] ROBERTS, David. 2013. 'Ranked Among the Best'. Translation and Cultural Agency in Restoration Translations of French Drama. The Modern Language Review 108 (2013): 2: 296–415. | DOI 10.5699/modelangrevi.108.2.0396
[41] ROBERTS, David. 2014. Restoration Plays and Players. An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
[42] RODRÍGUEZ LORO, Nora. 2016. De Calderón a Wycherley: adaptación de personajes en The Gentleman Dancing-Master [From Calderon to Wycherley: character adaptation in The Gentleman Dancing-Master]. JACLR: Journal of Artistic Creation and Literary Research 4 (2016): 1: 89–99.
[43] RUANO DE LA HAZA, José María. 2005. Spanish Classical Theory in Britain and North America. Romance Quarterly 52 (2005): 1: 2–12.
[44] SEWARD, Patricia M. 1972. Was the English Restoration Theatre Significantly Influenced by Spanish Drama? Revue de Littérature Comparée 46 (1972): 95–125.
[45] SLOMAN, Judith. 1985. Dryden: The Poetics of Translation. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985.
[46] STEINER, T. R. 1975. English Translation Theory, 1650–1800. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1975.
[47] STYAN, J. L. 1986. Restoration Comedy in Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
[48] THACKER, Jonathan. 2008. History of performance in English. In C. Boyle, and D. Johnston (eds.). The Spanish Golden Age in English. Perspectives on Performance. London: Oberon Books, 2007: 15–30.
[49] VENUTI, Lawrence. 2004. The Translator's Invisibility: A History of Translation. London/New York: Routledge, 1995.
[50] WILSON, John Harold. 1965. A Preface to Restoration Drama. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1965.
[51] ZATLIN, Phyllis. 2005. Theatrical Translation and Film Adaptation. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 2005.
[52] ZUBER-SKERRITT, Ortrun (ed.). 1984. Page to Stage. Theatre as Translation. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1984.
[2] CALDERÓN DE LA BARCA, Pedro. 1997. No siempre lo peor es cierto. In L. G. Villaverde and L. Fariñas (eds.). Barcelona: Borrás Ediciones, 1997.
[3] COELLO, Antonio. 1657. Los empeños de seis horas. In Andrés García de la Iglesia (ed.). Comedias nuevas escogidas de los mejores ingenios de España, 8. Madrid, 1657: 105–136.
[4] CROWNE, John. 1735. Sir Courtly Nice, or It Cannot Be. London: W. Feales, 1735.
[5] DIGBY, George. 1810. Elvira; or the Worst Not Always True. In The British Ancient Drama, 3. London, 1810: 446–477.
[6] DRYDEN, John. 1760. An Evening's Love, or The Mock Astrologer. In S. Derrick (ed.). The Dramatick Works of John Dryden, 2. London: J & R Tonson, 1760: 266–383.
[7] MORETO, Agustín. 1950. No puede ser el guardar una mujer. In Luis Fernández Guerra, and Luis Orbe (eds.). Comedias escogidas de D. Agustín Moreto y Cabaña. Madrid: Atlas, 1950: 187–206.
[8] SYDSERF, Thomas. 1668. Tarugo's Wiles, or the Coffee-House. London: Henry Herringman, 1668.
[9] TUKE, Samuel. 2003. The Adventures of Five Hours. In P. M. S. Hopkins (ed.). London: Ituri, 2003.
[10] AALTONEN, Sirkku. 2000. Time-Sharing on Stage. Drama Translation in Theatre and Society. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 2000.
[11] BICKLEY, Pamela and Jenny STEVENS. 2020. Studying Shakespeare Adaptation: From Restoration Theatre to Youtube. London/New York: The Arden Shakespeare, 2020.
[12] BOYLE, Catherine and David JOHNSTON (ed.). 2008. The Spanish Golden Age in English: Perspectives on Performance. London: Oberon Books, 2008.
[13] BRAGA RIERA, Jorge. 2009. Classical Spanish Drama in Restoration English (1660–1700). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2009.
[14] BRAGA RIERA, Jorge. 2013. The Spanish Classics under Scrutiny: Translating Honour for Modern English-speaking Audiences. The European English Messenger 22 (2013): 2: 36–41.
[15] BRAGA RIERA, Jorge. 2019a. Textual comicality and creativity in drama translation (SpanishEnglish): A diachronic approach. In Frédérique Brisset, Audrey Coussy, Ronald Jenn, and Julie Loison-Charles (eds.). Traduire le jeu de mots. Paris: Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, 2019: 147–167.
[16] BRAGA RIERA, Jorge. 2019b. 'Who killed the Commander?' La suerte de Fuente Ovejuna en el ámbito inglés ['Who killed the Commander?' The Fortunes of Fuente Ovejuna in the English world]. In J. Huerta Calvo (ed.). Fuente Ovejuna (1619–2019). Perviviencia de un mito universal [Fuente Ovejuna (1619–2019). The Survival of a Universal Myth]. New York: Idea/Igas, 2019: 221–242.
[17] BURKE, Peter. 2007. Cultures of translation in early modern Europe. In Peter Burke, and Ronnie Po-chia Hsia (eds.). Cultural translation in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007: 7–38.
[18] CASTILLA, Alberto. 2003. Noticia del teatro del Siglo de Oro en Estados Unidos [News of Golden Age Drama in the United States]. In O. Navarro, and A. Serrano (eds.). En torno al teatro del Siglo de Oro [About Golden Age Drama]. Almería: Instituto de Estudios Almerienses, 2003: 195–201.
[19] CORMAN, Brian. 2000. Comedy. In D. Payne Fisk (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to English Restoration Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000: 52–69.
[20] CURRELL, David. 2016. "As He Refined the Language". Dryden's Task as a Translator. Literature Compass 3 (2016): 2: 159–171. | DOI 10.1111/j.1741-4113.2006.00311.x
[21] DELISLE, Jean and Judith WOODSWORTH (eds.). 1995. Translators through History. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1995.
[22] DRYDEN, John. 1680. An Essay on Dramatick Poesie. In W. P. Ker (ed.). Essays of John Dryden. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1926: 21–108.
[23] DRYDEN, John. 1680. Preface to the Translation of Ovid's Epistles. In W. P. Ker (ed.). Essays of John Dryden. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1926: 230–243.
[24] DRYDEN, John. 1685. Preface to Sylvae: Or, The Second Part of Poetical Miscellanies. In W. P. Ker (ed.). Essays of John Dryden. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1926: 251–269.
[25] HOGAN, Floriana Tarantino. 1995. The Spanish Comedia and the English Comedy of Intrigue with Special Reference to Aphra Behn. [s.l.] [s.n.], 1995.
[26] HUME, Robert D. 1976. The Development of English: Drama in the Late Seventeenth Century. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971.
[27] JOHNSTON, David. 1996. Las terribles aduanas: fortuna de Lope de Vega, Calderón de la Barca y Tirso de Molina en inglés [Terrible customs: the fortune of Lope de Vega, Calderón de la Barca and Tirso de Molina in English]. In A. L. Pujante, and K. Gregor (eds.). Teatro clásico en traducción: texto, representación, recepción [Classical Theatre in Translation: Text, Performance, Reception]. Murcia: Universidad, 1996: 89–98.
[28] JOHNSTON, David. 2015. Translating the Theatre of the Spanish Golden Age. London: Oberon Books, 2015.
[29] KITAGAKI, M. 1981. Principles and Problems of Translation in Seventeenth-century England. Tokyo: Yamaguchi Shoten, 1981
[30] LAERA, Margherita. 2020. Theatre & Translation. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.
[31] LOFTIS, John. 1973. The Spanish Plays of Neoclassical England. New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 1973.
[32] LOFTIS, John. 1996. The social and literary context. In T. W. Craik (ed.). The Revels History of Drama in English 1660–1750. Vol. V. London: Methuen, 1996: 3–80.
[33] MUJICA, Barbara (ed.). 2013. Shakespeare and the Spanish "Comedia". Translation, Interpretation, Performance. Essays in Honor of Susan L. Fischer. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Presses, 2013.
[34] NICOLL, Allardyce. 1978. British Drama. London: Harrap & Co, 1978.
[35] PAUN DE GARCIA, Susan & Donald R. LARSON (eds.) 2008. The Comedia in English: Translation and Performance. Woodbridge: Tamesis, 2008.
[36] PEPYS, Samuel. 1997. The Concise Pepys. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions, 1997.
[37] PORTILLO, Rafael. 2005. Staging Restoration dramas: practical aspects of their performance. Sederi 15 (2005): 63–80.
[38] POST, Chad W. 2011. The Three Percent Problem: Rants and Responses on Publishing, Translation, and the Future of Reading. www.rochester.edu/threepercent, 2011.
[39] RABADÁN ÁLVAREZ, Rosa. 1987. Apuntes de la teoría de la traducción en la Inglaterra del siglo XVII [Notes for translation theory in seventeenth-century England]. In J. C. Santoyo (ed.). Fidus interpres: Actas de las Primeras Jornadas Nacionales de Historia de la Traducción [Fidus interpres: Proceedings of the First National Conference on Translation History]. Valladolid: Servicio de Publicaciones, 1987: 249–254.
[40] ROBERTS, David. 2013. 'Ranked Among the Best'. Translation and Cultural Agency in Restoration Translations of French Drama. The Modern Language Review 108 (2013): 2: 296–415. | DOI 10.5699/modelangrevi.108.2.0396
[41] ROBERTS, David. 2014. Restoration Plays and Players. An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
[42] RODRÍGUEZ LORO, Nora. 2016. De Calderón a Wycherley: adaptación de personajes en The Gentleman Dancing-Master [From Calderon to Wycherley: character adaptation in The Gentleman Dancing-Master]. JACLR: Journal of Artistic Creation and Literary Research 4 (2016): 1: 89–99.
[43] RUANO DE LA HAZA, José María. 2005. Spanish Classical Theory in Britain and North America. Romance Quarterly 52 (2005): 1: 2–12.
[44] SEWARD, Patricia M. 1972. Was the English Restoration Theatre Significantly Influenced by Spanish Drama? Revue de Littérature Comparée 46 (1972): 95–125.
[45] SLOMAN, Judith. 1985. Dryden: The Poetics of Translation. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985.
[46] STEINER, T. R. 1975. English Translation Theory, 1650–1800. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1975.
[47] STYAN, J. L. 1986. Restoration Comedy in Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
[48] THACKER, Jonathan. 2008. History of performance in English. In C. Boyle, and D. Johnston (eds.). The Spanish Golden Age in English. Perspectives on Performance. London: Oberon Books, 2007: 15–30.
[49] VENUTI, Lawrence. 2004. The Translator's Invisibility: A History of Translation. London/New York: Routledge, 1995.
[50] WILSON, John Harold. 1965. A Preface to Restoration Drama. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1965.
[51] ZATLIN, Phyllis. 2005. Theatrical Translation and Film Adaptation. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 2005.
[52] ZUBER-SKERRITT, Ortrun (ed.). 1984. Page to Stage. Theatre as Translation. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1984.