‘whether she did or no, judge you’: Engaging readers in the translations of Spanish romance

Abstract

This article explores how the reader is addressed in the sexual scenes of the Spanish, French, and English versions of Amadis de Gaule. Anthony Munday’s translation ( c. 1590) follows closely Nicolas Herberay des Essarts’s French text (1540), which he had translated from the Spanish Amadís de Gaula (1508) by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. It analyses how the narrator’s appeals to the reader change in the course of translation, transforming the omission of erotic details into a device to connect with the readers. The new versions make the sexual scenes more provocative and highlight a shared complicity with the audience.