The limits of medieval translation: Juan de Mena’s use of the Imago mundi in the Laberinto de Fortuna English

Abstract

This article examines a case of medieval adaptation which is not usually considered as a translation but forms part of a translation continuum in that is loosely adapts its base text into a different context through the insertion of translated extracts into a new narrative. Such ‘translation’ results in an interplay between rewriting and respect for authority which produces new works which are paradoxically both original and derivative at the same time. A particularly illustrative case in that regard is the insertion of translated extracts from the geographical section of the twelfth-century Latin encyclopaedia Imago mundiinto vernacular works of different genres. This article takes as its case study the incorporation of Imago mundimaterial into Juan de Mena’s Laberinto de Fortuna.