The Dynamics of the Poetics of Children’s Literature Translation

Besides the limitations inherent in the patronage power in the target culture, this chapter demonstrates that the agency of the professionals also played a key role in facilitating the production of translations for children during the Francoist years. Such agency was largely associated with the work of the professionals who, despite having to conduct their activities under the vigilant gaze of the censors, were nonetheless able to detect and take advantage of those weak points within the regime’s censorship apparatus, and from there, to create strategies to minimise the impact of this on their activities. Based on the censorship history of the Spanish translations of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, this chapter answers these questions: Who were the professionals that were actively engaged in negotiating with the patronage power? Why did they see it necessary not to conform to the rules and regulations established in the sphere of patronage? What were their strategies and to what extent did such strategies facilitate their production of translations for children?