Paradoxes and mediation pitfalls of the translational contact zone

Abstract

While cultural and literary relations take various shapes, and include a wide array of phenomena, translation is undoubtedly one of the most common and productive means of circulation1 within the Iberian cultural macro-space, and it simultaneously serves as an essential unification instrument of what Arturo Casas called the ‘Iberian inter-literary (poly)system’ (2003, 73). The Peninsula’s linguistic, cultural, and literary diversity and complexity make it ideal ground to study the role of translation as a particular form of mediation among different (in this case, the Iberian) cultures.