Authors

Sarah Gear¹;  ¹ University of Exeter, UK

Discussion

Translators do not operate in a vacuum. While they may translate a novel with a specific aim or skopos, remaining faithful to the author, or perhaps orienting it towards their target reader, the marketing and reception of the final text is largely shaped by publishers. Publisher-endorsed paratexts such as titles, cover designs and blurbs inform the reception of novels in translation and can shape it in a particular way.

In her study Translation and Paratexts, Kathryn Batchelor states that paratexts illustrate ‘how people try and persuade, educate, share opinions for reasons of self-interest or benevolence, sell products, demonstrate allegiance.’ This presentation will explore Batchelor’s views in relation to contemporary Russian fiction in English translation. By considering the paratexts that accompany translations of novels by Ludmila Ulitskaya, Vladimir Sorokin, Mikhail Shishkin and Mikhail Elizarov, I will discuss the extent to which Russian authors are reframed politically for the Western market. This recontextualisation might serve to amplify an author’s ‘dissident’ status, or to occlude any difficult politics. I will trace the influence of these paratexts on critical reception and will raise questions around translator agency and publisher ethics when marketing contemporary Russian fiction in the UK and US.