Traducció al català i comentari de l’obra literària francesa: la morte amoureuse de Théophile Gautier

Abstract

This paper provides a Catalan translation of the fantastic French short novel, “La morte amoureuse”, written by Théophile Gautier in the beginning of the nineteenth century. It should be noted that this French novel has never been translated into Catalan before; consequently this is the very first version written in Catalan. The book tells the story of the elder priest Romuald —the protagonist and narrator— who falls in love with Clarimonde, a courtesan who dies and turns into a vampire. Subsequently, he begins to live a double life: during the day he is a priest and at night he is Clarimonde’s lover. In addition to the Catalan translation, this work aims to briefly comment on the main themes of the story and its relation to the historical context in which the novel was written and published. This is done from the perspective of the translator, who identifies the themes and makes them relevant to the readers of the Catalan version. The first theme that is analyzed is religion and the opposition of good and evil; the second one is death, which fills the pages with gloomy and frightening images; the third is love, the only thing capable of defeating death; and last but not least, the importance of uncertainty in the text and how it is expressed and translated through the use of language.