The translation of images and West Indian creole into Spanish in Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners

Abstract

Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners is considered a classic of West Indian literature in the style of Migrant Modernism (Brown 2013). First published in post-war London in 1956, it was not translated into Spanish until 2016, probably due to the challenging features of the novel and its language. A case of text creolisation (Buzelin 2000), the translation of the novel required an active effort to construct a language variant that could convey Selvon’s peculiar literary style and sociopolitical intent. The present work aims to investigate the images of West Indians portrayed in the original novel and, more specifically, how they are transposed into the Spanish text. The research method includes an account of the editorial process, an interview with the translator, and an analysis of the paratexts and translation excerpts. Finally, the reception of the translation in literary reviews shall also be discussed.