Cuaderno de Camelot: Cultura, Literatura y Traducción Artúrica (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Cuaderno de Camelot: Cultura, Literatura y Traducción Artúrica Barbara D. Miller Juan Miguel Zarandona, ed., Cuaderno de Camelot: Cultura, Literatura y Traducción Artúrica [Camelot Notebook: Arthurian Culture, Literature and Translation]. Diputación Provincial de Soria, Spain: Province of Soria, 2002 Pp. 228. isbn: 84–95099–51–9. €16.64. In his post-modernistic prologue to Juan Miguel Zarandona's anthology, Cuaderno de Camelot, Jesús Rodríguez Velasco deems all books of chivalry 'translations,' and describes chivalric romance as a matrix for new meanings through retellings and intertextuality, thus casting the very act of translation as a form of deconstruction. This heady point of departure seems apt in that the contents of the book (all in Castilian) are highly mixed. The basis is the editor's specialization in translation studies and bibliography, particularly of modern Arthurian works in Spanish languages. In fact, the range of Zarandona's own multiple contributions exemplifies the eclecticism of these proceedings from a 2002 conference at his home institution, the Universidad de Valladolid. And though the book offers a topical potpourri, readers may find the unusual number of typos distracting. All contributors, with the exceptions of the aforementioned Rodríguez Velasco and also translator Jon Kortazar from the University of the Basque Country, are affiliated with Valladolid. The lead article, Roberto Ruíz Capellán's eloquent reading of exile from the (feminine) homeland in the Tristan stories, could be considered almost too comprehensive. Fastidious thesis proofs take the author far afield, from archetypal motifs to biblical and classical texts, though all becomes integrated in addressing a powerfully evocative phenomenon. Focusing on the alienation faced by the hero in his position as court insider yet ultimate outsider and on his essential relationship to the feminine, Ruiz Capellán illuminates Tristan's nature convincingly. [End Page 78] Antonio Regales Serna's essay on the Spanish translation of Wolfram's Parzival and theories of medieval translation begins with a declension of types. Contrasting the Ciceronian approach with the literalist biblical work of Saint Jerome, for example, he then enters the thorny areas of 'free' translation and 're-creation.' Casting the translator/adaptor as a kind of troubadour (a story teller working with a living, changing text), Regales Serna prepares us for a perceptive meditation on such influences as Wolfram's linguistic and cultural background before launching into a lengthy comparison of modern translation theorists. The discussion even extends to medieval esoteric interpretive systems, thus taking the reader from the expected to the more original. Susana Gil-Albarrellos's article on the Arthurian origins of chivalry begins with a basic survey. Given her early usage of the phrase, 'orígenes de la novela,' her delay in mentioning Menéndez Pelayo seems curious; her citations of important contributors to the Hispanic Arthurian field, however, are well placed. Gil-Albarrellos' point that medieval translators normally performed such adaptive operations as suppression leads to some solid, but not surprising, conclusions on Hispanic refundiciones. Editor Juan Miguel Zarandona's article on the popularity of translated Arthurian literature in Spain arises from his primary expertise. Beginning with summaries of Umberto Eco's grail novel, Baudolino, and Clementina Coppolini's adaptations of children's stories, all originally in Italian, Zarandona reviews contemporary popular genres inspired by Arthurian lore, some far removed from the usual understanding of the tradition. A bibliographic listing fills eleven of his twenty-five pages. The remaining section on contemporary translations into Castilian of such works as Zimmer Bradley's famous novel covers significant ground but leaves little space for commentary. Readers may appreciate Zarandona's introduction to the little-known corpus in new fiction in peninsular languages apart from Castilian. Next, following Zarandona's translation-section prologue, the reader of Spanish is treated to translations of Basque writer Joseba Sarrionandia's lyrical and highly original short stories. Though strictly speaking the four fantasy tales are not Arthurian, they nevertheless involve Arthurian motifs and characters. The translators from the Basque originals, Jon Kortazar, Arrate Ojinaga Ouro, Oihana Mariezkurrena Iparragirre and Nahia Zarzosa Aizpurua each comment interestingly on the stories and the experience of translating them. The works themselves are exquisite and deserve a wider readership...