Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Second series (IA playsbyjacintobe00bena).pdf/24

 To others, however, it must always prove difficult, and disagreeable as well.

"A perfect translation would be one which succeeded in conveying the spirit of the author in its entirety by means of the words which he himself would have employed, given his temperament, his individual style, his period, and even the identical circumstances under which the work was composed, had his medium of expression been the language into which it is about to be translated. To effect such an ideal translation, the translator, of course, must be none other than the author himself.

"In this translation of mine … I have sought clarity before everything else… After clarity, I have sought fidelity; whenever it has been possible for me to be a faithful translator, I have been one. Finally, I have contrived that my translation should not be altogether colorless and cold. Rather than to correctness of language or to elegance of style, I have attended to the life and spontaneity of the dramatic dialogue. Shakespeare was not only a playwright, but he was what we call to-day a man of the theatre. His sublimities and his buffooneries, his great qualities as well as his great defects, are always those of the playwright who is deeply versed in the theatre, and who is familiar with his public. He was not an actor and a manager for nothing."

These principles have been followed in the translation of these plays.