Translations of Czech literature in Mexico: stories of the translation genesis from the point of view of translators
Abstract
This paper presents the particularities of translations of Czech literature into Spanish published in Mexico and focuses on the role of the translator in the translation-publishing process and on the genesis of a translation. The first aim is to discuss the particularities of literary translation from Czech into Spanish in relation to the book market in Spanish-speaking countries and to draw attention to the role of Spain and the different contexts of translation production outside this country.
The second objective of this paper is to give voice to the five interviewed translators and, with the help of the obtained material and their statements, to interpret the relevant particularities of translation-publishing process on the axis author - original - translator - publisher - translation - reader. The main part of the paper consists of individual testimonies of contemporary translators whose Spanish translations of one or more Czech literary titles were published in Mexico.
The testimonies, obtained by the method of interview, brought a new insight into the topic of Mexican translations of Czech literature and valuable information on the circumstances of a particular translation work's genesis.