Ecotranslation applied: Two Spanish translations of H. G. Wells "The Country of the Blind"

The birth of the ecological movement in the 1960s motivated the conception of a new branch of Translation Studies known as Ecotranslation. This scarcely known theoretical research framework sets off from two main notions: firstly, the representation of nature in literature and secondly, the importance of the different roles and interpretations that nature can be provided with in literary works. From these bases, the goal of our pilot study was to apply this new nature-centered approach to the translations of H. G. Wells’ short story The Country of the Blind, as rendered into Spanish by Íñigo Jáuregui (2014) and Alfonso Hernández Catá (1919). The acknowledgement that Ecotranslation derives from a general awareness towards nature, considering it as an intrinsic feature of humankind which simultaneously influences and is affected by human behavior, motivated the following analysis of the role that Wells attributed to it in his short story The Country Of The Blind, which evinced a strong correspondence between environment and society in the original text, where nature was shown to be an essential instrument to figuratively reflect social concerns. Setting off from that critical analysis we compared how two chronologically separate translators rendered the natural elements of the original story into a different language, in this case Spanish. In general terms, data confirmed that Jauregi´s translation, published in 2014, encompasses a much more literal approach to the source text, rendering Well´s original terminology into the closest equivalent expressions in Spanish. While Hernández Catá, seems to have focused his work on the idea of human control over nature, even if this decision meant altering the precise way in which Wells articulated his ideas.

La adaptación teatral de textos narrativos en España, 1972-2012

Novel or story adaptations and also dramatic texts versions, that need to be translated and updated to modern audiences are quite frequent in today`s theatre. This study aims to show the state of contemporary stage adaptation of narrative texts and, specifically, its evolution in Spain in the last forty years (1972-2012). To do this, I have tried to gather, first, all the terminology associated with the concept of stage adaptation: version, dramaturgy, rewriting, translation, interpretation, updating and consolidation. The theoretical part of the work begins with the various definitions of the concept of dramatization. All the positions reflected by theorists and specialists in the field come together when explaining the term adaptation or theatre version: the intervention on the original text is based on the transformation or change, radical or superficial, for its effective representation in the theatre. In contemporary times, the concept of adaptation applies to any kind of intervention, from the translation of the original (and rewriting) to the dramaturgical work involved in creating a new sense. In turn, any theatre adaptation requires a dramaturgical operation and supports all possible moves: reorganization of the story, breakage, reduced characters, dramatic concentration, incorporation of foreign texts, installation and collage, changes to the plot, etc. Although there is no definitive model for the theatre adaptation of works, several authors and theatrical theorists propose guidelines and types of adaptation to the transformation of a work into another or one genre into a different one; and regarding narrative texts, provide criteria for interpreting the original text. The issue for many authors is the danger of modifying or betraying the sense or the form of the original text, considering it as simple material for the play. Finally, it follows that there is affinity of thought among authors finding that there is no differentiation between adaptation and version: both terms refer to the same in the theatrical event and are also terms used equally for the countless film adaptations of novels and plays...