Estudios de Teoría Literaria (Sep 2017)
Contrastive Analysis of Translations into Spanish of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116
Abstract
The purposes of this article are i) to carry out a comparative-descriptive analysis of versions into Spanish of Sonnet 116, one of the most famous piece within the sequence of 154 sonnets by William Shakespeare, including prose and verse translations made between the end of the 19th century and 2011; ii) to comment on the sonnet in English and the translation types, according to the categories proposed for poetic translation by Lefevere (1975) and Holmes (1988); iii) to reflect on the implications of the choices made by each translator. Even though their central place among his works, Shakespeare’s sonnets have been less translated into Spanish in comparison with his dramatic pieces. This could be due to the challenges of translating poetry, i.e. the number of linguistic, formal and cultural aspects to be considered during the translation process. Since the mid-19th c. numerous translations and re-translations of his sonnets have been undertaken, with considerable variations.
