Spanish Literature Commons^™

The Mysterious Task Of Translating The Names Of Mystery Subgenres: A Private Eye Investigation, Enrique Torner

World Languages & Cultures Department Publications

How would you translate into English the Spanish term “novela negra”? How about “novela policíaca”? If you don’t know much Spanish (or even if you do), you probably guessed that the first term must mean “black novel”, and the second one “police procedural (novel)”, if you are acquainted with this genre. Did you? Let’s try translating from English into Spanish: How would you translate “hard-boiled” novels? How about “soft-boiled”? I don’t know about you, but, to a native Spanish-speaker like me, it sounds like you are talking about eggs! Believe it or not, a “hard-boiled” novel is translated into Spanish …