Communicating the past via translation: the manipulation of history

Abstract

This paper examines the connection between translation and narratives of history, with particular attention to Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States and its Spanish version, La otra historia de los Estados Unidos. It is argued that translation interacts with history in many ways: translation is fundamental to history and, in addition, the translational activity contributes to communicate historical narratives to other cultures. The paper discusses the linguistic transformation and translational strategies used in the Spanish version of a highly controversial history book to ascertain whether the Spanish version translates the text or rather uses Zinn's book.