La primera traducción española del Robinson Crusoe, de Daniel Defoe

Resumen

The first Spanish translation of Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe", (we are not referring to the numerous imitations and adaptations that have been made of that novel), was not published until 1835, more than a century after its original publication in English. However, a manuscript dated 1745 has been preserved and reveals that there was an attempt to make known to Spanish readers the successful novel that, translated into the main languages, was entertaining half of Europe. But, once more, all-powerful censorship prevented the eighteenth century reader from enjoying in Spanish the original text of Defoe. This translation is unusual in being the only one, among the many I have studied pertaining to this century, to have been translated through Italian and not through French as was customary, the latter being also the language from which it had been translated into Italian. The purpose of this article is to bring to light the existence of this version, to show what kind of text was being offered to the Spanish reader and to examine why its publication was not permitted.