The realization of satirical discourse in 17th century translations (1641-1645) of Spanish satirical fiction

The purpose of this study is to investigate the creation of the satirical discourse in Dutch translations of Spanish satirical narrative prose texts from the peak period 1641-1645, a time when translations prevailed over local literature in the Dutch Republic. Spanish picaresque and satirical prose texts remained present throughout the 17th century, at the end of which the Spanish model can be found in local literary prose texts (Leemans, 2002). This target-oriented investigation (oriented towards the target text and the target system) is based on a corpus consisting in 5 translations done by 3 translators; it makes use of a discursive-pragmatic approach and considers the translations as specific products in the new literary and cultural system and in the new context. This research reveals how translators of this highly successful Spanish genre proceeded at that stage in the history of Dutch translation. The results of this study will be of benefit to historical literary research on Dutch literature.