Luis Monfort, traductor de literatura religiosa y novela gótica

Abstract

Luis Monfort was a Valencian clergyman who pursued a little known translating career that oscillated between the religious book and the gothic novel. The aim of this paper is to survey such a career and recover it from oblivion, paying also special attention to its connections to the strong pedagogical objectives present in the author's work. Monfort did not use translation as a literary tool to become a writer himself, but rather employed it to defend the conservative status quo of his time, as seen in the prologues he wrote to doctrinal texts like Oficio de la Semana Santa and Evidencia de la religión cristiana contra la filosofía de la incredulidad or gothic novels like La familia de Vieland and Carvino. Despite his efforts, however, in the end Monfort was not remembered for his doctrinal teachings but rather for his gothic leanings.