Entrevista a Marta Sofía López Rodríguez, traductora de No Longer at Ease y Anthills of the Savannah de Chinua Achebe

Abstract

It is generally acknowledged that Chinua Achebe has become one of the most widely-read African authors on the international stage. Achebe, who has been referred to on many occasions as “The Father of African literature”, has not only been an important inspiration for different generations of African writers, but has also become the centre of many debates among numerous critics and intellectuals since his first novel, Things Fall Apart, was published in 1958. Although Things Fall Apart has been translated in Spain at different moments in time with different titles, his other novels have only recently (2010) been made available for Spanish readers. Taking into account Achebe’s importance for African literature, what does translating his work into Spanish actually entail? As Marta Sofía López explains, translating this Nigerian author into Spanish has been an honour and an interesting challenge given Achebe’s use of the English language: “in full communion with its ancestral home” (Achebe, 1965: 30), but “altered to suit its new African surroundings” (id.)