Infratranslation and Supratranslation in early-20th Century Basque Country: Asymmetry in Literary Translation Flows between Basque and Spanish (1923-1939)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to study the differences in literary translations from Basque into Spanish and from Spanish into Basque in the period preceding the Francoist dictatorship (1923-1939). More specifically, the work presented here is a descriptive study regarding the differences between both directionalities. Indeed, translation is not only a linguistic and cultural transfer, but also a series of interconnected flows that allow us to understand the (a)symmetrical dynamics between the implicated languages and literary systems. Infra- and supratranslational exchanges show, on all levels, the power dynamics between the agents involved.  In the case of translation between Basque and Spanish, differences regarding center-periphery level positions are accompanied by a diglossic coexistence between languages and literary systems, the consequences of which merit studying. This being so, I ask what form these dynamics took in the years preceding Francoist repression and, so, the aim of this paper is to study, especially at a macrotextual and systemic level, the asymmetry found in translation flows between Basque and Spanish in this period. In doing so, it is the author’s hope to offer a comparison between the characteristics of infratranslation and supratranslaion in the aforementioned linguistic combination and time frame, to verify whether predictions of theories concerning asymmetry in center-periphery relations in translation hold true, and to reflect on how the starting position and goal of translation affect its product.