Women-Authored Retellings of the Classical Tradition: A Critical Survey of Scholarship and the Literary Polysystem in Spain

Abstract

Grounded in the new outward turn in Translation Studies, Even-Zohar’s polysystem theory, and Genette’s palimpsests and paratextual theory, this study examines the most recent Spanish critical reception of women-authored narrative rewritings of the classical tradition, with a focus on understanding how these works are classified or positioned in the Spanish literary system. Furthermore, Spanish translations of the novels under examination, as well as original Spanish-language texts, are traced to outline the current publishing landscape and examine how they are categorised. The ultimate aim is to present an overview of women-authored retellings of the classical tradition and their reception in twenty-first-century Spain, evaluating possible editorial and critical trends, as well as tools for their analysis. The results may also prove useful for the study of these texts within other polysystems, offering comparative insights into their adaptation, circulation and reception across different literary and cultural contexts.