Translational Language: Felipe Alfau’s Iberian English and Its Afterlife

Part I focuses on the novel Chromos by the New York-based, Barcelona-born writer Felipe Alfau. Alfau’s decision to write in English rather than Spanish, surprised critics not only as an odd choice but also as a unique English, a form of the language with a deep imprint of Spanish. This part postulates that the practice of translation is responsible not only for the extraordinary language of Chromos but also for its main themes, as the novel repeatedly questions the relationship between original and translation in literature and other artistic works, particularly in situations of relocation. This part argues that Chromos suspends the process of translation, rather than defining itself as an original or a translation. This part then discusses Eduardo Lago's novel Llámame Brooklyn which pays homage to Alfau by including him as a character as well as forming other structural and thematic threads with the late author's writing. Both Llámame Brooklyn and Chromos propose a treatment of New York that questions the cultural boundaries of Spain and problematizes the coexistence of the Spanish and English languages thereby setting up some of the critical themes of the parts to follow.