The Politics of Translation Cover Image

Politika překladu
The Politics of Translation

On the Correspondence of Jan Zábrana and Antonín Přidal

Author(s): Tomáš Glanc
Subject(s): Czech Literature, Russian Literature, Translation Studies
Published by: Univerzita Karlova v Praze - Filozofická fakulta, Vydavatelství
Keywords: politics of translation; cultural policy; the 1960s; standardization; Isaak Babel; Boris Pasternak; censorship; Russian literature; samizdat; politics of the untranslated

Summary/Abstract: This article deals with various aspects of the ‘politics of translation’ in connection with the book When the Cage Keeps Falling (subtitle The Mutual Correspondence of Antonín Přidal and Jan Zábrana, 1963–1984). The political dimension concerns translation in the narrowest sense of the word, but also the choice of text and its reception in the cultural feld, communication with the publisher, number of copies and distribution, as well as (during the period of normalization) translation under foreign names, cancellation of contracts, and the relationship between the book market and samizdat. With this aim, the author works through various examples of Zábrana’s translations from Russian in the broader context of political phenomena and strategies. These examples, in the fnal analysis, appear exceptional insofar as Russian literature was the subject of increased ideological interest during the period under review.

  • Issue Year: 17/2020
  • Issue No: 34
  • Page Range: 165-176
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: Czech