El Paraíso Perdido and Milton's Reception in Spain

Abstract

After outlining some of the reasons for the delayed and uninspiring Hispanophone translations of Milton's works, this essay examines the ways in which El Paraíso Perdido, Juan de Escoiquiz's translation of 1812—the first and still most readily-available Spanish verse translation of Paradise Lost (1667)—Catholicizes Milton's Protestant epic. A comparative close reading of key anti-Catholic passages in Milton's original and Escoiquiz's translation demonstrates the translator's avowed practice of excising anything “ridiculous or indecent to the rites and practices of the Catholic Church.” Silent additions, though, are the primary means by which Milton's Anglo-Protestant epic is converted into a Hispano-Catholic translation. A brief discussion of Areopagitica, in terms of its content and its popularity in Spanish translation, ties together the issues of translation, censorship, and reading reception circulating with El Paraíso Perdido.