TITLE

A comparison between two translations into Spanish of Edgar Allan Poes The Black Cat.

1) RATIONALE

Literary translation is a linguistic process that involves several techniques and aims to provide an
attractive and comprehensive text for the foreign reader. The main task of a literary translator is
to capture two main aspects of the original work: the literary features and the exact message and
ideas from the author, and then, select the proper expressions in the target language to convey

such message.

The reason I am analyzing this work is my interest in literary translation and the achievement of
good results in such a complex process, the correct use of translation techniques, and the way

different translators and translation works of the same source text influence the impact the story

has on the reader.

My task is to analyze the literary resources used by Edgar Allan Poe, the writer of the original

work, and the way these aspects have been dealt with during the process of translation into
Spanish by two different translators: Carmen Torres Caldern Pinillos and Julio Cortzar. The
former translation was published in the book Cuentos Clsicos Del Norte (First Series) in 1919.

The latter was published in 1956 by Ediciones de la Universidad de Puerto Rico in collaboration

with Revista Del Occidente under the title Works of Prose.

2) LITERATURE REVIEW

Translating literary works (novels, short stories, plays, and poems) is nowadays considered a
branch of literature since in order to succeed at this profession translators must become writers,
artists. Literary translators aim to recover texts with high cultural value into different languages. It

is necessary for this discipline, more than for any other branch of translation, that professionals
have an optimal knowledge of the target language (lexicography, grammar, syntax, and mostly

pragmatics) in order to provide an accurate yet appealing result.

Sympathy is an irreplaceable tool for translators. Robinson (1997:51) explains that "translation is
an intelligent activity, requiring creative problem-solving in novel, textual, social, and cultural

conditions". Good translators should avoid at all costs word by word translation. They must be
sympathetic with the writers thoughts and ideas and, at the same time, they must have sufficient
competence in the target language to convey this message as clearly as possible for the target
language reader. As Foster (1958:6) puts it, a useful translation is one "which fulfils the same

purpose in the new language as the original did in the language in which it was written."
The use of different translation techniques, as well as the native-like competence of the translator

in the target language affects the final translation product; the analysis of two translation of the

same source text will provide conclusions about the most preferable translation techniques for

literary texts.

METHODS