Blanco White’s Translations from El conde Lucanor: Two Medieval Spanish Tales in Romantic Britain

Abstract

This paper analyses Joseph Blanco White’s English translations of tales XI and XLIV of Don Juan Manuel’s El conde Lucanor (c. 1331-1335), which were published in the New Monthly Magazine in 1824. In these fairly free translations, Blanco rewrites and recontextualises the tales by updating and adapting them to the knowledge and expectations of the target readership. His translation decisions, paratexts and the articles on El conde Lucanor that he also published in Variedades; o Mensajero de Londres in 1824 shed light on his ideas on Spanish literature and national identity as well as on his role as commentator and disseminator of Spanish culture in Britain. His translations construct a particular representation of Spain where he underlines those aspects that he believes to be genuinely Spanish, while also including some stereotypical elements of the Romantic image of Spain in Britain.