Resumo

MORA TRIAY, María Fernanda. From Verse to Prose: Two Translations of Lord Byron in 19th-Century Mexico (1841-1845). Bibliographica [online]. 2024, vol.7, n.1, pp.17-54.  Epub 14-Jun-2024. ISSN 2594-178X.  https://doi.org/10.22201/iib.2594178xe.2024.1.475.

In Mexico, during the early 19th century, there was a profuse translation activity of texts from Western Literature’s canon. Translators often didn’t have contact with the works in their original language and relied on the Spanish or French translations. However, the Spanish re-adaptation of the texts, carried out by the Mexican literati, brought awareness to the fact that, many times, the translations imported from Europe did not adequately address the aesthetic, semantic, and cultural dimensions of the original works, nor the local context. In this regard, re-translation opened the door for a new conception of these exercises: a practice of political and social empowerment. The article explores two anonymous translations of poems written by Lord Byron, the best-known English Romantic poet of the time, to discuss the relationship between translation, national literature, and the periodical press in the first part of the Mexican 19th century.

Palavras-chave : Translation; Romanticism; Lord Byron; Mexican literature; 19th century.