Serializing Victorian Fiction Abroad. The Earliest Translation of Jane Eyre in the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

Soon after Jane Eyre (1847) left Charlotte Brontë’s desk, the novel began an international journey that reached several countries worldwide. In Spain, the first translation of Jane Eyre was serialized in the capital’s daily newspaper El Globo from 9 September 1882 until 7 February 1883. It is a retranslation into Spanish of the 1854 French rendering of Brontë’s novel by Madame Lesbazeilles-Souvestre, which had altered the English text to conform to stereotypical female attitudes in France. This paper will examine the role of folletines in the dissemination of foreign literature in nineteenth century Spain and the particular idiosyncrasies of the Jane Eyre published in El Globo.