Authors

Sarah Gear¹; Anna Maslenova¹; Cathy McAteer¹; Muireann Maguire¹; Christina Karakepeli¹;  ¹ University of Exeter, UK

Discussion

Members of the ERC funded RUSTRANS project, ‘The Dark Side of Translation: 20th and 21st Century Translation from Russian as a Political Phenomenon in the UK, Ireland, and the USA’ will discuss the responses of translators and publishers of Russian literary texts to major historical events both in Russia and abroad. Our case studies range from the mid-19th century to the present day and focus on Russian literary translation in Greece, the UK, and the US. We draw on Tymoczko (2000) and Venuti (2008) to recognise the politically ‘partisan’ contribution of inter-cultural mediators who often remain ‘invisible’ to their target audience.

Anna Maslenova will discuss UK translators’ attempts to show solidarity with the Russian Orthodox Church in their translations of religious texts following after 1917. Cathy McAteer will discuss the translation work of Olga Carlisle, an advocate for Russophone literature with a humanitarian desire for regime change. Muireann Maguire will focus on American translators and publishers of Russian literature in the mid 20th century and analyse the impact of their choices on the American reading public. Christina Karakepeli will talk about the efforts of Govostis Publishing to adapt to the needs of an expanding Russian literature readership in Greece after the Russian Revolution. Finally Sarah Gear will offer a history of Russian publisher Glas, examining their motivation and successes in translating contemporary Russian literature in the 1990s.