“Translating Humor, Translating God: Beckett’s En attendant Godot in Franco’s Spain”

Samuel Beckett’s play En Attendant Godot premiered in Paris in 1953. While Beckett denied Godot was a simple stand-in for God, the play is nevertheless  steeped in theological and Christian imagery (a tree, sheep and goats, references to prayer, mercy, crosses, Jesus, crucifixion, the Bible, etc.). The main characters, Estragon and Vladimir, try to keep themselves busy while, as the title states, they await the arrival of Godot. Their interactions, sometimes humorous, sometimes poignantly tragic, make up the bulk of the play. Many have written about religion in the play. Our presentation aims to look at how religious aspects of Beckett’s work were changed and censored when translated from French to Spanish, particularly under authoritarian regimes or in fervently Catholic countries. How are humor and religion transformed when they cross borders into very different political and cultural landscapes?