Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince is a classic children’s book. Though the book has been translated into Spanish, an Argentine publishing company wanted to take it a step further: It wanted a version that embraced gender-neutral language. While some have welcomed the change, others say the company has messed with an iconic piece of literature.
Published by Ethos Traductora, the book uses gender-neutral language. Since Spanish prioritizes masculine pronouns, people have started using words that is more inclusive of gender non conforming individuals (i.e. Latinx instead of Latinos to address a group of people with Latin American heritage). However, the book doesn’t use the X and instead uses an E (for example, todes instead of todas or todos, and les instead of los or las).
#SeraLey #SeVaACaerEstuvimos en Trelew. Lo que más nos gusta de El principito es que habla de la responsabilidad hacia…
Posted by Ethos Traductora on Tuesday, October 16, 2018
“Given the characters of the text (with a reader who is addressed in affective and plain language), we decide to opt for the ‘e’ as a marker of non-sexist language, since it can be read aloud,” said Gabriela Villalba, the director of Ethos, to BioBioChile.
#ElPrincipito ya es el mejor libro en su categoría, modificarlo con el lenguaje 'inclusivo' es una ofensa para el autor. Las personas brillantes no deberían reescribir libros, sino crearlos
— Nestora (@Nstorapasalagua) October 25, 2018
Y así dicen que la ideología de género no “impone”: Editorial lanza versión no sexista de "El Principito": han recibido hostigamientos de antifeministas https://t.co/FryMjqnpdb
— Florencia Ruiz-E (@FlorenciaRE) October 25, 2018
There’s an additional version of The Little Prince called La Principesa, published by Spain’s Espejos Literarios, which has also caused commotion online.
¡Ya podéis encontrar #LaPrincipesa en la librería @Noski_liburuden, junto con otras ediciones de #ElPrincipito! Echad además un vistazo a todas sus novedades de #octubre. #errenteria #guipuzcoa #espejosliterarios pic.twitter.com/nH06YITzfg
— Espejos Literarios (@espejoliterario) October 23, 2018