Chapter 8- (Re)Translation of Sex-Related Language in the Spanish Versions of J’irai cracher sur vos tombes by Boris Vian

Abstract

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The present study is based on the reception in France and Spain of Boris Vian’s thriller “J’irai cracher sur vos tombes”. Published in France in 1946 under the pen name of Vernon Sullivan, this novel was banned three years later for being pornographic and immoral. The first request for translation and publication in Spain was denied by censors in 1974 but was eventually approved in 1978. This study offers a comparative analysis between the first Spanish translation of 1977 and the two retranslations published in 1979 and 1989. It focuses on how the three translators broach the omnipresence of sexual language in the novel. Results show how sexual language does not leave the translators indifferent. On the one hand, due to the prevailing censorship at that time, the first translator realizes an implicit and generalized translation and tends to conscious self-censorship. On the other hand, the other two translators make sexual language even more explicit and intensify their translations, showing somehow their personal vision towards sex and sexuality.