Translating María Zambrano’s The Tomb of Antigone

Abstract
This project endeavors to create the first complete English translation of María Zambrano’s play The Tomb of Antigone (La tumba de Antígona, 1967). In this play-essay hybrid, Zambrano opens a philosophical dialog with Sophocles to offer a new interpretation of his Greek tragedy while illustrating her own experiences and ideas surrounding the Spanish Civil War. Using her philosophical construct of delirium, Zambrano creates Antigone’s stream of consciousness as she comes to her end. As the text demonstrates originality in its interweaving of genres to discuss the issues of Zambrano’s time, a translation of this work would foster new interpretations and discussions about Zambrano and Spanish culture with English speaking scholars in both the philosophical and literary disciplines.
To achieve this end, the mentor and student consulted various texts to understand the cultural, historical, and literary traditions of Spain during the time Zambrano was writing as well as the author herself, which led to the translation of the play’s prologue. The twelve-part play was then split into four sections that will be translated in two-week increments after which the mentor and student will convene to discuss the draft. Once the rough draft is complete, both the student and mentor will review and revise to create a more polished version. This project will result in a polished draft of the translation that will be sent to the María Zambrano Foundation in Vélez-Málaga to obtain permission to seek an academic publisher.

Have you ever walked into a bookstore and picked up a book and seen not one, but two sets of authors on the cover? The second set usually belongs to a group of people called literary translators. These men and women have taken up the extraordinary task of translating great works by Cervantes, Dante, and Tolstoy into English so that readers like you and I get a chance to enjoy their work. Hi, my name is Grace Wood, and in this video, I am going to show you my first attempt at trying to join these great men and women to become a literary translator. During my study abroad experience in Granada, Spain, I became familiar with the work of one Maria Zambrano, a famous 20th century Spanish philosopher and writer. Upon returning to the United States, I realized that much of this writer’s work has not been translated into English, thus barring scholars and the public from getting to enjoy her work. After doing some research and consulting with a faculty mentor, my independent study and URSP project was born. Over the course of an academic year, I endeavored to create the first complete English translation of Maria Zambrano’s play, The Tomb of Antigone, or La Tumba de Antígona, in Spanish, with the help of my mentor, Dr. Ricardo Vivancos-Pérez.
In this play-essay hybrid, Zambrano opens a philosophical dialogue with Sophocles to offer a new interpretation of his Greek tragedy, while illustrating her own experiences and ideas surrounding the Spanish Civil War. Sophocles’ original play tells the story of a young girl who wants to obtain burial rites for her brother who fought on the wrong side of the war. When her request is refused, she attempts to bury him on her own and is sealed into a tomb alive as punishment for being caught. Instead of Antigone committing suicide in the tomb like Sophocles intended, Zambrano instead uses her philosophical construct of delirium to create Antigone’s stream of consciousness as she waits for death. Antigone’s musings on life, death, faith, and brotherhood shed light on Zambrano’s own thoughts about the divided brotherhood surrounding the Spanish Civil War. As the text demonstrates originality and its interweaving of genres to discuss the issues of Zambrano’s time, a translation of this work would foster new interpretations and discussions about Zambrano in Spanish culture with English-speaking scholars in both the philosophical and literary disciplines.
So how do you go about translating a play? Well, first, I had to get the lay of the land to understand what Zambrano was thinking at the time she was writing the play. Starting in spring 2025, I consulted various texts gathered by my mentor to help me understand the cultural, historical, and literary traditions of Spain in the 20th century, as well as biographical and autobiographical works on the author herself. As both a fiction writer and a Spanish speaker, I had to understand her writing style, as well as her message and intentions in order to create the most faithful version of the play possible. At the end of the spring semester, I successfully translated the play’s 15-page prologue, which provides the context necessary to understand the play itself.
During this semester, we split the 12-part play into four sections with 3 parts each. I would translate one section every two weeks, after which I would meet up with Dr. Vivancos-Pérez to discuss the draft. In these meetings, we would discuss where I had not quite grasped some of the more archaic or literary Spanish being used and also work through passages I had trouble translating on my own. At the end of November, I successfully translated the entire play, resulting in a 75-page draft. Looking forward, my mentor and I will review and revise the draft to create a more polished version, which will be sent to the Maria Zembrano Foundation in Veles Malaga to obtain permission to seek an academic publisher, as they hold the copyright to her work. Once this text is published, English speakers around the world will be able to engage with this dramatic text and promote interdisciplinary discussions about Spanish culture through her work. Authors deserve to have their voices heard, especially in countries that don’t speak their native language. In time, I hope that Maria Zambrano will be the first of many authors I can give voice to in the English-speaking community. Thank you.