The First Translations into Catalan and Spanish of La Princesse de Clèves (1678): A French classic ushering in the modern novel

Abstract

This study examines the cultural, historical and political context of the genesis of the two twentieth-century translations – the first into Catalan and the first into Spanish – of the classic seventeenth-century work of French préciosité by Madame de La Fayette. The Catalan text (1923) coincides with the Noucentista movement, which in the framework of the Commonwealth of Catalonia fostered innovation in literature and language, particularly in the translation of worldwide literature into Catalan. The Spanish translation (1924) stems from interest in creating a publishing industry – Calpe, El Sol, La Papelera Española – capable of disseminating a secular ideological current, while at the same time offering a wide-ranging selection of thought and aesthetics in literature. Further, this study includes a comparative analysis of the two translations and explores the two translators of a work regarded as the harbinger of the modern French novel.