Simone de Beauvoir under Franco's dictatorship: Catalan translations

Abstract

Simone de Beauvoir was translated into Catalan during Franco’s dictatorship. This article investigates the institutional censorship applied, in the second half of the 1960s, to six works by Simone de Beauvoir prior to their publication in Catalan, from the publishers’ initial applications for permits till final authorization. After a brief contextualization of the translations, the article centers on the study of the six reports of the censors. This study reveals how the Francoist dictatorship reacted to the possibility of translating into Catalan works by Simone de Beauvoir, considered by the regime to be a ‘dangerous’ writer, an atheist and feminist with communist tendencies. It also gives details of the censors involved, of their observations and, finally, of the type of intellectual penalties imposed.

Keywords: history of translation; translation into Catalan; censorship; feminism; Simone de Beauvoir.