The influence of social prestige on Pino Cacucci’s work: A corpus-based study

Abstract

This paper analyses Pino Cacucci’s work as a translator and travel writer in order to assess the influence of social prestige on his behaviour when facing otherness. Both translation and travel writing relate different linguistic and cultural contexts to one another. The textual elements representing such linguistic and cultural encounters are foreign words, and their treatment —in terms of maintenance or adaptation— can be used as an indicator of the author’s position towards the foreign. From here, the study examines the treatment of foreign words identified in three novels written or translated by Cacucci. Following a corpus-based methodology, the techniques used to transpose foreign words from the source to the target context are determined and related to exoticism (if they maintain the original form) or domestication (if the foreign element is translated or adapted to the target language). Finally, the results are contrasted with the current literary canon. The outcomes reveal a greater acceptance of otherness in the most prestigious novels, in terms of textual practice (translation/travel writing) and linguistic variety (peninsular/Argentinian Spanish), showing the influence of social prestige on the author’s behaviour and suggesting some reflections about the relationship between social recognition and acceptance of otherness.