“Como la vela se ciñe al viento”: Bartolomé Mitre’s translation of the <em>Divine Comedy</em>

Abstract

This article analyses some of the most important aspects of Bartolomé Mitre’s Spanish translation of Dante’s Comedy, published for the first time in 1894. Starting with a study of the preface, entitled Teoría del traductor, the essay will focus on Mitre’s translation theory, mainly based on respect for the rhyme, meter and rhythm of the prototext. Since the translator appears to be profoundly interested in its linguistic aspects, special attention will be paid to the analysis of Mitre’s theory according to which the ideal Spanish of the translation should approximate the language of the most important auctoritates of the xv century. Finally, by means of the comparison between the prototext and the translation of some excerpts of Malebolge, the work will analyze the methods through which Mitre tried to recreate in Spanish Dante’s poetic word.