Los velos de Scherezada: censura y seducción en las traducciones de Las mil y una noches

Abstract

This article analizes representative instances of censorship and countercensorship in different translations of a story taken from the Arabian Nights, “The Story of Prince Camaralzaman” into French, English and Spanish, translations by Antoine Galland, Richard Burton, Pedro Peraza Páez, Rafael Cansinos Asséns and Hussain Haddawy. Initially, it establishes the textual complexity and instability of Galland’s sources and the history of his translation, in the light of Edward Said’s concept of Orientalism as a discursive mode based on a prejudiced, culturally charged vision of the East, resulting rather in a mere projection of Western aesthetic and moral values. In this sense, censorship and countercensorship as exemplified in these translations, especially regarding the erotic aspect of these tales, responds directly to the historical and cultural circumstances of the translators.