Productive paradoxes of a feminist translator: Carmen de Burgos and her translation of Möbius' treatise, The Mental Inferiority of Woman (Spain, 1904)

Abstract

Synopsis In the early twentieth century, the controversial work of the German neurologist Paul Julius Mobius was published in Spain, The Mental Inferiority of Woman, translated it into Spanish by the feminist writer Carmen de Burgos. Despite the fact that this book was considered an important work of reference in the first three decades of the twentieth century by science historians, its translation by a feminist has been considered to be a paradoxical event. This article re-examines this paradox in the light of different primary sources that mention the translation: letters, press reviews, scientific articles or other texts which refer to Mobius' work by different authors of the time, including the translator herself. These different materials have allowed me to draw a slightly different interpretative map than the one accepted until now on this issue. Particular attention is paid to discussing the tension and pressure of the historical context which trapped the translator, both as a woman and as a feminist, within the paradigm of sexual complementarity that she defended.