13th SAAS Conference- Poe Studies Panel

The 13th International Conference of the Spanish Association for American Studies at Caceres is over and I had the opportunity to be in the Poe studies panel. 

The faculty of Humanities of the University of Extremadura

Many fruitful conversations emerged, and several new proposals for the field of Poe studies were made. I would like to discuss some of the interesting papers that were presented, but I will do so individually--most of the papers examined different aspects of Poe's stories. 

Dr. José R. Ibáñez presenting his paper titled “‘Death watches in the wall:’ Revisiting Cortázar’s translation of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’”

One very intriguing speech was given by Dr. José R. Ibáñez (University of Almería). His presentation titled “‘Death watches in the wall:’ Revisiting Cortázar’s translation of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’,” examined how Cortazar's translation of "The Tell-Tale Heart"--considered as seminal in the Spanish-speaking world--does not do justice to Poe's skillful literary devices. More specifically, Ibáñez reconsidered two paragraphs of Spanish renditions while expressing his concern "that Spanish readers may have a faulty appreciation and understanding of the tale as a result of a questionable word choice," in his own words. Though his arguments were indeed very thought-provoking and accurate, he also admitted that Cortazar's work was indeed the most literary and comprehensive translation.