“Images of Cortés in Sixteenth-Century Translations of Francisco López de Gómara’s Historia de la conquista de México (1552)" : Special edition by Roberto A. Valdeón
- Submitting institution
-
Coventry University
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 23150513
- Type
- D - Journal article
- DOI
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10.1075/target.19095.rio
- Title of journal
- Target: International Journal of Translation Studies
- Article number
- -
- First page
- 169
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 2
- ISSN
- 0924-1884
- Open access status
- Compliant
- Month of publication
- June
- Year of publication
- 2019
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- 26 - Modern Languages and Linguistics
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
0
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This article is an original comparison that juxtaposes, for the first time, five sixteenth-century translations of Francisco López de Gómara’s Historia de la conquista de México (1552), namely, into Italian by Agostino di Cravaliz, in 1555, and by Lucio Mauro, in 1559; into English by Thomas Nicholls, in 1578; and into French by Martin Fumée, in 1584, and by Guillaume Le Breton, in 1588. The study seeks to provide an overview of all the translations by rigorously discussing passages of a paratextual nature (titles, acknowledgements, and introductions), which unveil the socio-historical context in which they were produced and display how Cortés is presented in general terms. In addition, the article casts light upon López de Gómara’s portrayal of Cortés as a pious, brave, and noble conqueror, yet at the same time fallible, and how these features are treated in the translations. Thus, the article analyses several passages that allow an understanding of the translators’ techniques and how they rendered López de Gómara’s images of Cortés according to their respective skopos and target audiences. In this sense, the examination of several passages demonstrate a line of continuity in praising Cortés; from original to translation, from prefaces and dedications to the body of the text, and from one translation to another, either in the same language or in a different one. The significance of this study also rests on the fact that it recognises the necessity of a profound analysis of translations of New World chronicles as repositories of an imperialist message. By way of example, the English translation was produced in order to encourage similar conquests and “discoveries” in North America. The article led to an invitation to deliver a paper on the conquest of Mexico in New World chronicles at the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (September 2021).
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -
