Juan García-Puente and The Second Sex: a forgotten translation

Abstract

Despite the countless studies carried out on the translations into Spanish of Le Deuxième Sexe (1949), there are still questions that must be clarified. Whereas the translations by Pablo Palant and Alicia Martorell have captured the attention of researchers, Juan García-Puente’s version has been forgotten. From a paratextual perspective, this article analyses García-Puente’s translation to understand its journey and its little impact. In particular, three aspects are taken into account: the translator, the publishing house, and the context that surrounded the essay in Spain. The starting point is the actual publication date of this translation, which came to light 18 years earlier than it has been thought so far. Based on this premise, the analysis of the paratext allows us to conclude why the first translation into peninsular Spanish was delayed by 32 years, as well as why it went unnoticed until 1999. In this way, this article offers a new perspective from which to analyse and reinterpret the work of Juan García-Puente, also at the textual level.