Editorial Universitaria has released a new Chilean edition of Tres comedias, renewing attention to the country’s role in bringing Shakespeare to Spanish-speaking audiences. The volume includes El mercader de Venecia, alongside Sueño de una noche de verano and Como gustéis, reviving translations first published in 1982 and spotlighting Juan Cariola Larraín. The edition presents his work as the most extensive collection of Shakespeare translations by a Chilean translator.
Paula Baldwin Lind, an academic and Shakespeare specialist, wrote the introduction. Her research with Braulio Fernández Biggs traces Cariola Larraín’s biography and examines the significance of his translations. Their collaboration began in 2010, when a survey of Chilean translations drew attention to his work. Further research, including contact with his family, shed light on his career in teaching and translation.
Supported by Chile’s Fondo Nacional del Libro y la Lectura, the edition returns the 1982 translations to circulation and puts them before new readers, including scholars and students. Its editorial approach combines biographical research with literary analysis, placing the translations within Shakespeare’s comedies and the history of their reception in Chile.
Baldwin Lind’s analysis examines the prominent roles women hold in Shakespeare’s comedies, while recognizing that their treatment does not always meet modern standards of subversion. In Sueño de una noche de verano, Hermia asserts her right to choose, challenging the demands of family and tradition. Portia and Hermia are presented as intelligent, resourceful protagonists who confront obstacles and defend their convictions. Rosalind, too, emerges as a resourceful protagonist, confronting obstacles and standing by her convictions. Their stories raise questions about gender roles, ability to recover and personal agency.
The project also shows how biographical and historical context can deepen the study of literary translation. Baldwin Lind’s work as a Shakespeare specialist in Chile draws on systematic research and attention to the theatrical worlds in which the plays were written and performed. She encourages young women considering careers in the humanities to pursue their interests with determination and confidence.
Chile’s engagement with Shakespeare forms part of a broader history in which translation has shaped how literary works travel across languages and cultures. The new edition of Tres comedias renews attention to the translators who mediate that exchange. Discussions of migration and cultural adaptation have surfaced in other contexts as well, including Boris Izaguirre’s reflections on exile and identity after leaving Venezuela for Spain (read more about Izaguirre’s experience here).
For readers and educators in Spain and Latin America, the edition offers a literary resource and a case study in translation. Cariola Larraín’s work demonstrates how translators shape the way global classics are read across generations and borders. University repositories and library catalogues also help readers discover literature and scholarly books, placing such works within a wider record of literary study.
Shakespeare’s plays have been translated and adapted across the Spanish-speaking world, influencing local theatre and education. Renewed attention to Cariola Larraín’s translations may encourage further research into Chile’s history of literary translation and its role in the wider circulation of Shakespeare’s work.
