LA TRADUCCIÓN DE LAS CITAS ENTRE LA TRADICIÓN Y LA INNOVACIÓN. ESTUDIO DE CASO: LAS INSERCIONES DE LOS MISERABLES DE VICTOR HUGO EN TERRA ALTA DE JAVIER CERCAS

Rezumat

There is a trend among Spanish writers to cite authors without specifying the publishing house, the year of the publication or the page number. In essayistic texts, the bibliography may complete the missing data, except for the page number. In literary texts, nevertheless, this information is generally missing. This tendency can be justified by the authors’ intention to renew the reading experience, making it more fluent by clearing away the academic appearance in a novel. The present article compares various
translations of Javier Cercas’ Terra Alta including fragments from Les Misérables, with a focus on the presence or the absence of references to their location in the Hugo’s novel. At the end, the analysis will emphasize which of them is more respectful to the French masterpiece, without ignoring the need of a fluid reading experience. Traditionally, a published translation is required to be more rigorous when rendering quotations, that should be taken from an existing translation, with the mandatory specification of the publishing house, the year, the page number and the translator’s name. But when footnotes are missing in the source text, the translator is entitled to act as the author himself. Consequently, this article also brings up questions related to this specific situation: should a translator specify all the details about the insertion, paying tribute to one of his or her peers that translated the quoted book, even if this might affect the reading experience? Or should they ignore the existing translation, if outdated or erroneous, and provide a new one, turning to the indirect translation or to the original text (Hugo’s Les Misérables)? And finally, should the  translator specify his or her choices in a footnote or act discreetly, running the risk of being accused of plagiarism?