The shadow of the translator. Contrastive analysis of the translator’s work in the English and Italian version of Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s “La sombra del viento”

This project focuses on the work of translators in literary translation. The main reason why the study will concentrate on this area is due to the fact that initial researches show that very little work on translation analysis has been done on Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s La sombra del viento.
The aim of the study is to compare and contrast a number of passages of the original Spanish version with two translated versions, English and Italian. The study has been carried out through desk research by comparing and contrasting the three books.
The scope is to study in depth the role of the English and the Italian translator while facing the several translation challenges introduced by Zafon´s style. Set during the Spanish civil war, this book not only reflects Spanish historical events, but offers also a broader panorama on Spanish language and culture.
Important conclusions are that Lucía Graves, author of the English translation, implemented a more accurate translation than the one produced by the Italian translator Lia Sezzi. Also, the research highlights the fact that the Italian version has been revisited and re-published following the article wrote by Dr. Marta Galiñanes Gallén and Marina Romero Frías in a congress held by the Instituto Cervantes.
The present project is the first study to suggest that lexicological issues are present in the Italian and English translation.