THE TRANSLATION OF TABOO IN CUBAN WOMEN’S NARRATIVE: WENDY GUERRA AND ZOÉ VALDÉS BETWEEN THE INTIMATE AND THE POLITICAL

VOL. 63, BOOK 1, PART C, 2025, pp. 265 – 280 Full text (Es)

Author: Albena Serra

Affiliation: New Bulgarian University

Abstract

This paper examines the translation of taboo language in Cuban women’s narrative through the Bulgarian translations of Todos se van by Wendy Guerra and La nada cotidiana by Zoé Valdés. Drawing on Anushka Levi’s studies on taboo and translation, the analysis explores how sexual, social, political and symbolic taboos are negotiated between cultures shaped by censorship and moral restraint. The study shows that, while earlier strategies relied on attenuation and omission, post-2000 translations reveal greater expressive freedom, balancing fidelity and cultural acceptability, and highlighting the translator’s role as mediator between intimacy, power and discourse.

Key words: taboo language; literary translation; Cuban women’s writing; erotism; censorship