Un inspirado maridaje traductológico: fidelidad y subversión en la versión rumana de los poemas de Salvador Espriu

In totalitarian systems, poetry and theatre act as safety valves and as instruments of denunciation. Both genres, in original or translated form, are in the censorship spotlight and rarely manage to escape the filtering process. This paper examines by what means the Romanian poet and translator Dumitru Trancă managed to dodge the censorship filter and to publish some of the poems of the Catalan writer Salvador Espriu. The translator’s subversive intention shows clearly through distinct mechanisms: 1. focus on Espriu’s social poetry, especially on La pell de brau (The Bull-hide); 2. choice of themes that fostered comparisons between the oppressed Romania under the communism, by one hand, and the oppressed Catalonia and Spain under the Francoism by the other and 3. insertion of Romanian folkloric rhythms and symbols to cast light on the similar oppressive mechanisms.