Metatranslational discourse in poetry translators' prefaces.

If we consider paratexts as a place for finding traces of metatranslational discourse, those preceding poetry translations may be one of the best examples of this practise, as they tend to be more frequent and long that those introducing other genres. Examining a corpus of 54 translatorial prefaces to Shakespeare's Sonnets into Spanish published between 1877 and 2018, we will see how, in order to account for decisions, translators often base their arguments on commonplaces or memes such as fidelity, equivalence or the superiority of the original. The significance of these ideas in the metatranslational discourse is such that it clearly shows their value beyond a mere explanation of the translation process. This papers interprets these recurrent ideas by resorting to the notion of 'symbolic capital' coined by Bourdieu (1984), and considers that they function as a mechanism to grant prestige and respectability to a given translation both for translators and readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]