Translation Under Communism

Description

This book examines the history of translation under European communism, bringing together studies on the Soviet Union, including Russia and Ukraine, Yugoslavia, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Poland. In any totalitarian regime maintaining control over cultural exchange is strategically important, so studying these regimes from the perspective of translation can provide a unique insight into their history and into the nature of their power. This book is intended as a sister volume to Translation Under Fascism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010) and adopts a similar approach of using translation as a lens through which to examine history. With a strong interdisciplinary focus, it will appeal to students and scholars of translation studies, translation history, censorship, translation and ideology, and public policy, as well as cultural and literary historians of Eastern Europe, Soviet communism, and the Cold War period. Acknowledgements Contents Notes on Contributors List of Tables Part I Introduction 1 Introduction The Focus on European Communism The Focus on Books The Studies in This Volume References 2 Translation and the History of European Communism The Centrality of Cultural Policies in Socialist Countries The Role of Translators and Editors United in Difference? Times and Local Cultures of the European Communist Regimes Communism Through the Lens of Translation References Part II The Soviet Union 3 Translation and the Formation of the Soviet Canon of World Literature Introduction From 1917 to the Late 1920s: From Enlightenment to Exclusion The 1930s: (Re)Shaping the World Literature Canon 1941–45: ‘Everything for the Front, Everything for Victory’ 1946–53: The Illusion of Inclusion 1953–85: After Stalin 1985–89: Perestroika The Canon and the Curriculum Conclusion Note on Translation and Transliteration References 4 Censorship, Permitted Dissent, and Translation Theory in the USSR: The Case of Kornei Chukovsky Chukovsky’s Pre-revolutionary Writings on Translation: From Anecdote to Abstraction Principles of Literary Translation (1919, 1920): The Translator’s Lichnost’ Chukovsky’s Iskusstvo Perevoda (1930): Submission and Resistance Iskusstvo Perevoda (1936) and Vysokoe Iskusstvo (1941): The Friendship of Peoples The Post-Stalinist Editions of Vysokoe Iskusstvo: The Return of Lichnost’ Conclusion Appendix References 5 Translating Inferno: Mikhail Lozinskii, Dante and the Soviet Myth of the Translator Introduction Translation in the Soviet Context The Translator and His Context The Translation The Workings of Myth and the Stalin Prize Conclusion Archival Sources References 6 Translation in Ukraine During the Stalinist Period: Literary Translation Policies and Practices Introduction Can Translation Change History? A Brief Flourishing of the Ukrainian Language and Culture: Why Translations Became an Urgent Task After the Collapse of the Russian Empire From the Ukrainian War of Independence to the Early Stalinist Era: Translation in the Period of Active Ukrainization in the UkrSSR The CP(B)U Nationalities Policy Refracted in Translation Practices6 Translations of Russian Belles-Lettres as a Sign of the Rising Prestige of the Ukrainian Language Different Strategies for Translating from Russian and from Other Languages From the Cultural Renaissance in Ukraine to the Great Purge: Translation as Ideological Battlefield The CP(b)U Propaganda Objectives and Priority Books for Translation Justification of the Struggle Against ‘Nationalistic Wreckers’ in Translation: A Drive Towards De-Ukrainization and Strengthening the Agency of the Russian Language Translation in the Late Stalinism Period: Consequences of Total Governmental Regulation and Political Censorship Russifying Retranslations of the Classics Obligatory Literalism in Translations from Russian Versus the Declared Zero Tolerance of Literalism Conclusion References Part III Communist Europe 7 The Politics of Translation in Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1952 Translating a Political Programme Translation as Political Programme Translation: A Third Way Conclusion Archival Sources 8 Ideological Control in a Slovene Socialist State Publishing House: Conformity and Dissent Introduction The Main Concepts Methodological Approach and Extra-Textual Sources The Cultural Struggle in the Socialist Federal Republic of Slovenia Publishing Policy Maintaining Control Over Publishing in Socialist Slovenia Maintaining Control Over Publishing at Mladinska Knjiga Interviews The Possibility of Dissent Conclusions Archival Sources 9 ‘Anyone Who Isn’t Against Us Is for Us’: Science Fiction Translated from English During the Kádár Era in Hungary (1956–89) Science Fiction as an Example ‘Engineers of Human Souls’: Attitudes Towards Literature, Publishing, and Literary Translation in the Kádár Era (1956–89) The Position of Translators The Infamous 3 Ps: Promotion, Permission, and Prohibition in Science Fiction and Its Translation Book Translations Galaktika Other Science Fiction Magazines Fanzines Characteristics of the Translations Conclusion References 10 The Impact of Cultural Policy in the GDR on the Work of Translators Introduction Cultural Policy of the GDR Phase of Renewal (1945–49) Setting up Socialism (1949–61) Achieving Socialism (1961–71) Constant Shifts Between Liberalization and Repression (1971–89) Censorship of Artistic Work in the GDR The Role of Translations in the GDR Being a Translator in the GDR Training Situation Financial Situation and Social Status Writers Union of the GDR Protocols of Translator Meetings Within the Writers Union The Role of Translation and Translators Translation Practice Problems for Translators Conclusion Institutional Names and Abbreviations Archived Documents of the East German Writers Union at the Archiv der Künste, Berlin Primary Sources 11 The Allen Ginsberg ‘Case’ and Translation (in) History: How Czechoslovakia Elected and Then Expelled the King of May An Interstitial Period: The Regime vs. Writers and the Youth Ginsberg and Beat Literature in Czechoslovakia Before 1965 Allen Ginsberg in Czechoslovakia: The First Visit and ‘Not Getting into Trouble’ Translation in the Hands of the Regime The Expulsion of the King of May (and His Works) The Return of the King of May (in Translation) Conclusion References 12 Literary Translation in Communist Bulgaria (1944–89) Cultural Contacts and Transmitted Images of Russian and French Cultures The Normative Organization of the Translation Process Negotiating/renegotiating the Canon. The Translator and the Boundaries of the Canon. The Figure of the Translator The Evolving Canon Conclusion References 13 Underground Fiction Translation in People’s Poland, 1976–89 Spoiled for Choice From Samizdat to Industry Output Politics and Policy Selection Crisis Practice Conclusion References Part IV Response 14 A Battle for Translation References Index