FORDÍTHATÓ-E EGY NEMZETI TRAUMA? A MŰFORDÍTÓ DILEMMÁI A SPANYOL „EMLÉKEZET SZÍNHÁZA” KAPCSÁN
CAN A NATIONAL TRAUMA BE TRANSLATED? THE DILEMMAS OF THE LITERARY TRANSLATOR IN RELATION TO THE SPANISH “THEATRE OF MEMORY”

Author(s): Eszter Katona
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Language studies, Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Scientia Kiadó
Keywords: contemporary Spanish theatre; theatre of memory; literary translation; Spanish; Hungarian;
Summary/Abstract: In recent years, I have translated eight Spanish contemporary dramas to Hungarian, all of them belonging to the theatre of memory movement (teatro de la memoria). During the translation process, I was confronted with the question of how a national trauma can be translated, transmitted, and “sold” in another language. The plays were a resounding success in their home country for all Spanish people are familiar with the two great national traumas of the 20th century: the Civil War and the Franco dictatorship. Spanish audiences have a visceral understanding of these texts: many have relatives who were murdered, buried in mass graves, imprisoned, or exiled. The interpretation of these plays by Spanish people is therefore supported and influenced not only by the historical and cultural knowledge they have learned in school but also by the emotional factors related to the past that they have personally experienced or inherited from their parents or grandparents. However, audiences of other nationalities who are situated outside the context that inspires the plays belonging to the theatre of memory do not have the same references and the same historical, social, and cultural knowledge as Spanish people. In this presentation, through the examples of eight plays translated to Hungarian, I would like to illustrate some of the dilemmas I have encountered in my translation work.

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