Paratexts of the Spanish translation of Life in Mexico by Madame Calderón de la Barca: (para)translating the self-identity

Abstract

Frances Calderón de la Barca wrote her impressions of Mexico in English in private correspondence held between 1838 and 1841, the period in which she resided in the country with her husband, the first Spanish ambassador to Mexico. A selection of her letters constitutes the book Life in Mexico, published in 1843 in Boston and London. The publication of the work, which included some negative descriptions of cities, society, fashion, food and even the physical appearance of some locals, led to Mexican translations of fragments of the work between 1843 and 1844, complete translations in 1920 and 1959. and another complete translation published in Spain in 2007. Each of these translations was surrounded by peritexts and epitexts in which the editors commented on the work of Calderón de la Barca. In this context, the translation of Life in Mexico allows us to reflect on intercultural encounters, since, in their texts, travelers expose the encounter with the other and, translations in the lands they deal with, expose a redefinition of the self and of us as a collective self. This paper proposes a review of the paratextual elements present in the translations of Life in Mexico in light of the notion of paratranslation. This notion allows us to reflect on the actions of paratranslation agents in order to conclude that when the identity itself is at stake in the text to be translated, then the paratexts reveal some editorial practices that range from censorship, to controversy, to praise over the decades.