THY SPEECH BEWRAYETH THEE: THOU SHALT NOT STEAL THE PRESTIGE OF FOREIGN LITERATURE - PSEUDOTRANSLATIONS IN HUNGARY AFTER 1989
THY SPEECH BEWRAYETH THEE: THOU SHALT NOT STEAL THE PRESTIGE OF FOREIGN LITERATURE - PSEUDOTRANSLATIONS IN HUNGARY AFTER 1989

Summary/Abstract: The use of pseudonyms and pseudotranslations has always been very common, particularly in popular, as opposed to elite or canonised literature, or when introducing new literary forms. When one wishes to conceal one’s identity, the simplest way to do so is to adopt a pen name. In all probability, no reader will look up the copyright in the imprint. If one likes, the copyright will belong to the nom de plume, thus preventing even the interested reader from finding out who lurks behind the alias. But it is still possible to go further. In addition to a foreign sounding allonym one may provide the reader with an ‘original’ publisher, a publication date, a translator’s name (which might, or might not, be that of the author), a translation date in the imprint, a dedication, a motto referring to the author’s assumed culture, and, most frequently, a foreword or afterword, which is full of hints designed to confirm the author’s assumed identity. In most cases the identification process can be very difficult and time-consuming, and the results are in fact often unverifiable without the writer’s avowal (as happened recently in the case of Lili Csokonai). Thus, any literature, at any time, may unknowingly include certain assumed translations, and the fictitious translations are treated as if they were genuine ones. Since pseudotranslations usually occur in popular and/ or experimental genres, they tend to appear on the periphery of the literary system, a fact that of course helps to preserve the mystery.

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