Catalan Translation and Francoism (1939-1975)

As a measure of political and editorial control, many totalitarian regimes have turned their eye to translation. Considered one of the most efficient tools for modernising cultures it has been either closely watched or directly prohibited across the globe and during all periods of history. This article looks at one of the most exceptional cases in contemporary Europe: Catalan translation under the Franco dictatorship (1936-1975).

For more than two decades the regime carried out double censorship: ideological and linguistic. While books were not permitted for publication if they questioned the religion, morality or politics imposed in any of the languages of the State (Basque, Catalan, Galician or Spanish), until 1962 translations into any of the “other” languages that were not Castilian Spanish were particularly hounded.

From 1962 onwards a change in the legislation, which had allowed the “minority” or “minoritised” languages to be penalised automatically, meant that translation into Catalan experienced a kind of revivification and, making up for lost time, the Catalan language became one of the biggest target languages in translation during the 1960s (as statistical studies have shown).

What were the “official” criteria for censorship and which arguments were put forward? How were the prohibited works singled out? What kind of works were translated? Who were the authors? From which languages? Who was responsible for the translations? Which publishers were the first to dodge the police controls and go ahead with the sale of the books? And what was the reception like at the time, if indeed there was a reception? These are some of the many questions that immediately arise and ones we will try to answer. Because, despite everything, the constant attempts to silence the transmission of foreign voices by means of a persecuted language did not manage to achieve their final objective: the eradication of otherness and, ultimately, of the language.