Appropriations of a political machine: Translations of Pierre Le Moyne's Gallerie des femmes fortes (1647)

This article examines the published translations into Italian (1701) and Spanish (1702) of Pierre Le Moyne's Gallerie des femmes fortes (1647). Through an analysis of a number of peritexts, rather than the text itself, it aims to examine how Le Moyne's Gallerie, a volume fundamentally rooted in the political, ideological and aesthetic climate of 1647 France, was appropriated in other socio-cultural and political climates. Freed from its original moment of creation and, to a lesser degree, from its creator, the book becomes a changing entity to be shaped at will by a new creator or creators, within a new set of sociocultural parameters. Analysis of the prologues, in particular, of translators Laura Maria Foschiera and Fernando Bravo de Lagunas y Bedoya, throws light on their respective socio-cultural contexts and intended readerships, and highlights the importance of peritexts in shaping the book-as-object and its reception. Of particular interest is the Lima translation (1702) largely believed to have been lost up until now.