The first Spanish translation of Virginia Woolf`'s "Time Passes": facts, mysteries and conjectures

Abstract

In 1931 a Spanish version of Virginia Woolf's "Time Passes" was published under the title "El tiempo pasa" in Revista de Occidente. It is the first known text by Woolf in Spanish, a translation which predates the Argentine version of To the Lighthouse by seven years and which has traditionally been ignored by Woolf scholars and bibliographers. Unfortunately, this significant piece in Revista de Occidente does not contain any information other than the title at the beginning and the name of the novelist, Virginia Woolf, at the end. Who was the translator? Was the same text used in later Spanish editions of the novel? Why was this passage chosen by the journal? What did the editor in particular and the Spanish reading public in general know about Virginia Woolf at that time? These are some of the questions that will be addressed in this paper. In discussing this first Spanish translation and its literary context, several details about the reception of Woolf's work in pre-war Spain will also be provided.