Uncle Tom’s Cabin: translation-oriented analysis of a Spanish adaptation intended for a young adult public

Abstract

Published in 1852, Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a classic of the literature written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The novel denounces the racism suffered in the United States by colored people who were obliged to be slaves due to their ethnic group. Such was the relevance of this novel that it was even considered a trigger for the American Civil War, and it was instantly translated into hundreds of languages, including Spanish.

The novel La cabaña del tío Tom is presented as a case of study of this research. It is a translation and adaptation of the literary classic published by Servilibro in 2014-2015, which is intended for a young adult audience aged from twelve years old. Our main aim is to analyze this novel from a translational point of view in order to determine whether it is correctly translated and adapted considering the age of the target audience. For that purpose, we obtained information about the original novel and about children’s and young adult literature and its translation to suggest new translations and determine whether the original text is accurately adapted. In addition, a field study was conducted to evaluate a representative sample of 12-year-old public regarding this adaptation.