REVIEW AND INTERVIEW ANALYSES ON GERMAN-LANGUAGE TRANSLATIONS OF ROMANIAN LITERATURE
REVIEW AND INTERVIEW ANALYSES ON GERMAN-LANGUAGE TRANSLATIONS OF ROMANIAN LITERATURE

Summary/Abstract: This article examines the reception of Romanian literature in the German-speaking world through an analysis of reviews and interviews dedicated to its German-language translations. The study highlights the growing critical awareness that translations are not mere linguistic transfers, but culturally and aesthetically formative acts that shape how Romanian literature is understood, valued and canonised in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Reviews of works by authors such as Tatiana Țîbuleac, Liliana Corobcă and Oleg Serebrian show that translators—including Ernest Wichner, Sevghin Mayr and Anke Pfeifer—play a decisive role in recreating the emotional, cultural and historical texture of the original texts. Critics repeatedly emphasise that successful translations preserve lyrical density, narrative rhythm and psychological subtlety, while also making culturally specific elements accessible to German readers.Interviews with translators reveal translation as an interpretive practice situated between fidelity to the source text and clarity for the target culture. Title adaptations such as „Der erste Horizont meines Lebens (Kinderland)” and “Tango in Tschernowiz (Woldemar)” demonstrate how translation strategies respond to cultural expectations and readerly horizons in the German context.Overall, the article argues that German-language translations of Romanian literature function as autonomous literary events and essential sites of transnational cultural negotiation. The visibility, quality and interpretive depth of these translations have become key factors in the international recognition of Romanian literature, revealing translators as indispensable agents in the evolving European literary landscape.

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