The Translations of Camilo José Cela’s La familia de Pascual Duarte into Portuguese, Catalan, Galician, and Basque

This chapter centres on the Portuguese, Catalan, Galician, and Basque translations of the novel La familia de Pascual Duarte (1942) by Camilo José Cela and its circulation within the Iberian geocultural space during the Portuguese and Spanish dictatorships. The analysis highlights the multiple motivations and functions of these literary translations, as well as the constraints acting upon them. It argues that the reception of these translations in the respective literary systems was impacted by the particular socio-political and cultural contexts and the effects of censorship, recalling that the public use of Catalan, Basque, and Galician was forbidden during Franco’s dictatorship. The chapter studies the active role of the translators and cultural mediators involved, not only in the circulation of the translations, but also in the novel’s critical interpretation.