The Reeve's Tale: traducción e imposibles

Abstract

Chaucer was the first English writer who tried to reproduce two different varieties of English in the same tale: his own and the Middle English Northern dialect. This attempt is found in the speech of two of his characters in ¿The Reeve¿s Tale¿: Aleyn and John. By characterising them as northern speakers they would be subject to scorn on the part of the speakers of the South of England. In this paper we will discuss some of the controversial points regarding the rendering of this specific feature and others, like the translation of poetry and the fact that it is a historical text which makes it difficult to find the exact Spanish variety to which it should be translated.