Literatures, Cultures, Translation - Böcker

This significant new study is concerned with the role of interpreting in Nazi concentration camps, where prisoners were of 30 to 40 different nationalities. With German as the only official language in the lager, communication was vital to the prisoners’ survival. While in the last few decades there has been extensive research on the language used by the camp inmates, investigation into the mediating role of interpreters between SS guards and prisoners on the one hand, and among inmates on the other, has been almost nonexistent.On the basis of Primo Levi’s considerations on communication in the Nazi concentrationary system, this book investigates the ambivalent role of interpreting in the camps. One of the central questions is what the role of interpreting was in the wider context of shaping life in concentration camps. And in what way did the knowledge of languages, and accordingly, certain communication skills, contribute to the survival of concentration camp inmates and of the interpreting person? The main sources under investigation are both archive materials and survivors’ memoirs and testimonials in various languages.On a different level, Interpreting in Nazi Concentration Camps also asks in what way the study of communication in concentration camps enhances our understanding of the ambiguous role of interpreting in more general terms. And in what way does the study of interpreting in concentration camps shape an interpreting concept which can help us to better understand the violent nature of interpreting in contexts other than the Holocaust?

This significant new study is concerned with the role of interpreting in Nazi concentration camps, where prisoners were of 30 to 40 different nationalities. With German as the only official language in the lager, communication was vital to the prisoners’ survival. While in the last few decades there has been extensive research on the language used by the camp inmates, investigation into the mediating role of interpreters between SS guards and prisoners on the one hand, and among inmates on the other, has been almost nonexistent.On the basis of Primo Levi’s considerations on communication in the Nazi concentrationary system, this book investigates the ambivalent role of interpreting in the camps. One of the central questions is what the role of interpreting was in the wider context of shaping life in concentration camps. And in what way did the knowledge of languages, and accordingly, certain communication skills, contribute to the survival of concentration camp inmates and of the interpreting person? The main sources under investigation are both archive materials and survivors’ memoirs and testimonials in various languages.On a different level, Interpreting in Nazi Concentration Camps also asks in what way the study of communication in concentration camps enhances our understanding of the ambiguous role of interpreting in more general terms. And in what way does the study of interpreting in concentration camps shape an interpreting concept which can help us to better understand the violent nature of interpreting in contexts other than the Holocaust?

In today’s theatre, productions of plays that originated in another language are frequently distinguished by two characteristics: the authorship of the English text by a well-known local theatre specialist, and the absence of the term ‘translation’—generally in favour of ‘adaptation’ or ‘version’. The Translator on Stage investigates the creative processes that bring translated plays to the mainstream stage, exploring the commissioning, translation and development procedures that end with a performed play.Through a sample of eight plays that span two thousand years and six languages—including Festen, Don Carlos, Hedda Gabler and The UN Inspector—and that were all staged within a three-month period, Geraldine Brodie brings in a wide range of theatre practitioners to discuss their roles in the translation process and the motivations that govern London theatre translation activities. The Translator on Stage is informed by specially conducted interviews with the productions’ producers, artistic directors, directors, literary managers, playwrights and specialist translators, including Michael Grandage, Rufus Norris, David Eldridge, Juan Mayorga, David Johnston and Mike Poulton. It sheds new light not only on theatrical translation procedures, but also on the place of translation in society today.

In today’s theatre, productions of plays that originated in another language are frequently distinguished by two characteristics: the authorship of the English text by a well-known local theatre specialist, and the absence of the term ‘translation’—generally in favour of ‘adaptation’ or ‘version’. The Translator on Stage investigates the creative processes that bring translated plays to the mainstream stage, exploring the commissioning, translation and development procedures that end with a performed play.Through a sample of eight plays that span two thousand years and six languages—including Festen, Don Carlos, Hedda Gabler and The UN Inspector—and that were all staged within a three-month period, Geraldine Brodie brings in a wide range of theatre practitioners to discuss their roles in the translation process and the motivations that govern London theatre translation activities. The Translator on Stage is informed by specially conducted interviews with the productions’ producers, artistic directors, directors, literary managers, playwrights and specialist translators, including Michael Grandage, Rufus Norris, David Eldridge, Juan Mayorga, David Johnston and Mike Poulton. It sheds new light not only on theatrical translation procedures, but also on the place of translation in society today.

Exorcising Translation, a new volume in Bloomsbury's Literatures, Cultures, Translation series, makes critical contributions to translation as well as to comparative and postcolonial literary studies. The hot-button issue of Eurocentrism in translation studies has roiled the discipline in the past few years, with critiques followed by defenses and defenses followed by enhanced critiques. Douglas Robinson identifies Eurocentrism in translation studies as what Sakai Naoki calls a “civilizational spell.” Exorcising Translation tracks two translation histories. In the first, moving from Friedrich Nietzsche to Harold Bloom, we find ourselves caught, trapped, cursed, haunted by the spell. In the second, focused on English translations and translators of Chinese literature, Robinson explores accusations against American translators not only for their inadequate (or even totally absent) knowledge of Chinese and Daoism, but for their Americanness, their trappedness in individualistic and secular Western thought. A closer look at that history shows that Western thought and Chinese thought are mutually shaped in fascinating ways. Exorcising Translation presents a major re-envisioning of translation studies, and indeed the literary relationship between East and West, by a pioneering scholar in the field.

Exorcising Translation, a new volume in Bloomsbury's Literatures, Cultures, Translation series, makes critical contributions to translation as well as to comparative and postcolonial literary studies. The hot-button issue of Eurocentrism in translation studies has roiled the discipline in the past few years, with critiques followed by defenses and defenses followed by enhanced critiques. Douglas Robinson identifies Eurocentrism in translation studies as what Sakai Naoki calls a “civilizational spell.” Exorcising Translation tracks two translation histories. In the first, moving from Friedrich Nietzsche to Harold Bloom, we find ourselves caught, trapped, cursed, haunted by the spell. In the second, focused on English translations and translators of Chinese literature, Robinson explores accusations against American translators not only for their inadequate (or even totally absent) knowledge of Chinese and Daoism, but for their Americanness, their trappedness in individualistic and secular Western thought. A closer look at that history shows that Western thought and Chinese thought are mutually shaped in fascinating ways. Exorcising Translation presents a major re-envisioning of translation studies, and indeed the literary relationship between East and West, by a pioneering scholar in the field.

Literatures, Cultures, Translation presents a new line of books that engage central issues in translation studies such as history, politics, and gender in and of literary translation.This is a culturally situated study of the interface between three forms of transtextual rewriting: translation, adaptation and imitation. Two questions are raised: first, how a broader rubric can be formulated for the inclusion of the latter two forms within Translation Studies research, and second, how this enlarged definition of translation enables us to understand the incompatibilities between contemporary Western theories of translation and East Asian realities, past and present. Recent decades have seen a surge of scholarly interest in adaptations and imitations, due to the flourishing of cinema and fandom studies, and to the impact of a poststructuralist turn that sheds new light on derivative literature. Against this backdrop, a plethora of examples from the East Asian cultural sphere are analyzed to show how rewriters have freely appropriated, transcreated and recontextualized their source texts. In particular, Sino-Japanese case studies are contrasted with Sino-English ones, with both groups read against evolving traditions of thinking about free forms of translation, East and West.

Literatures, Cultures, Translation presents a new line of books that engage central issues in translation studies such as history, politics, and gender in and of literary translation.This is a culturally situated study of the interface between three forms of transtextual rewriting: translation, adaptation and imitation. Two questions are raised: first, how a broader rubric can be formulated for the inclusion of the latter two forms within Translation Studies research, and second, how this enlarged definition of translation enables us to understand the incompatibilities between contemporary Western theories of translation and East Asian realities, past and present. Recent decades have seen a surge of scholarly interest in adaptations and imitations, due to the flourishing of cinema and fandom studies, and to the impact of a poststructuralist turn that sheds new light on derivative literature. Against this backdrop, a plethora of examples from the East Asian cultural sphere are analyzed to show how rewriters have freely appropriated, transcreated and recontextualized their source texts. In particular, Sino-Japanese case studies are contrasted with Sino-English ones, with both groups read against evolving traditions of thinking about free forms of translation, East and West.

Literary Translation and the Making of Originals engages such issues as the politics and ethics of translation; how aesthetic categories and market forces contribute to the establishment and promotion of particular “originals”; and the role translation plays in the formation, re-formation, and deformation of national and international literary canons. By challenging the assumption that stable originals even exist, Karen Emmerich also calls into question the tropes of ideal equivalence and unavoidable loss that contribute to the low status of translation, translations, and translators in the current literary and academic marketplaces.

Literary Translation and the Making of Originals engages such issues as the politics and ethics of translation; how aesthetic categories and market forces contribute to the establishment and promotion of particular “originals”; and the role translation plays in the formation, re-formation, and deformation of national and international literary canons. By challenging the assumption that stable originals even exist, Karen Emmerich also calls into question the tropes of ideal equivalence and unavoidable loss that contribute to the low status of translation, translations, and translators in the current literary and academic marketplaces.

Finalist for the 2020 Prose Awards (Language and Linguistics Category)The emergence of transgender communities into the public eye over the past few decades has brought some new understanding, but also renewed outbreaks of violent backlash. In Transgender, Translation, Translingual Address Douglas Robinson seeks to understand the “translational” or “translingual” dialogues between cisgendered and transgendered people. Drawing on a wide range of LGBT scholars, philosophers, sociologists, sexologists, and literary voices, Robinson sets up cis-trans dialogues on such issues as “being born in the wrong body,” binary vs. anti-binary sex/gender identities, and the nature of transition and transformation. Prominent voices in the book include Kate Bornstein, C. Jacob Hale, and Sassafras Lowrey.The theory of translation mobilized in the book is not the traditional equivalence-based one, but Callon and Latour’s sociology of translation as “speaking for someone else,” which grounds the study of translation in social pressures to conform to group norms. In addition, however, Robinson translates a series of passages from Finnish trans novels into English, and explores the “translingual address” that emerges when those English translations are put into dialogue with cis and trans scholars.

At the intersection of translation studies and Latin American literary studies, The Translator’s Visibility examines contemporary novels by a cohort of writers – including prominent figures such as Cristina Rivera Garza, César Aira, Mario Bellatin, Valeria Luiselli, and Luis Fernando Verissimo – who foreground translation in their narratives.Drawing on Latin America’s long tradition of critical and creative engagement of translation, these novels explicitly, visibly, use major tropes of translation theory – such as gendered and spatialized metaphors for the practice, and the concept of untranslatability – to challenge the strictures of intellectual property and propriety while shifting asymmetries of discursive authority, above all between the original as a privileged repository of meaning and translation as its hollow emulation.In this way, The Translator’s Visibility show that translation not only serves to renew national literatures through an exchange of ideas and forms; when rendered visible, it can help us reimagine the terms according to which those exchanges take place. Ultimately, it is a book about language and power: not only the ways in which power wields language, but also the ways in which language can be used to unseat power.

The Relocation of Culture is about accents and borders—about people and cultures that have accents and that cross borders. It is a book that deals with translation and nomadic identities, and with the many ways in which the increasing relevance of forced migrations has affected the practice of languages and the understanding of cultures in our times. Simona Bertacco and Nicoletta Vallorani examine the theoretical and practical nexus of translation and migration, two of the most visible and anxiety-producing keywords of our age, and use translation as the method for a global cultural theory firmly based in the humanities, both as creative output and interdisciplinary scholarship.Positioning their work within the field of translation studies with important borrowings from literary and cultural studies, visual and migration studies, the authors suggest a theory of translation that makes space for complexity, considers different “languages” (words, images, sounds, bodies), and takes into account both our emotional, pre-linguistic and instinctual reaction to the other as an invader and an enemy and the responsibility for the other that lies at the heart of translation. This process necessarily involves a reflection on the location and relocation of cultures in contemporary times.

The Relocation of Culture is about accents and borders—about people and cultures that have accents and that cross borders. It is a book that deals with translation and nomadic identities, and with the many ways in which the increasing relevance of forced migrations has affected the practice of languages and the understanding of cultures in our times. Simona Bertacco and Nicoletta Vallorani examine the theoretical and practical nexus of translation and migration, two of the most visible and anxiety-producing keywords of our age, and use translation as the method for a global cultural theory firmly based in the humanities, both as creative output and interdisciplinary scholarship.Positioning their work within the field of translation studies with important borrowings from literary and cultural studies, visual and migration studies, the authors suggest a theory of translation that makes space for complexity, considers different “languages” (words, images, sounds, bodies), and takes into account both our emotional, pre-linguistic and instinctual reaction to the other as an invader and an enemy and the responsibility for the other that lies at the heart of translation. This process necessarily involves a reflection on the location and relocation of cultures in contemporary times.

Finalist for the 2020 Prose Awards (Language and Linguistics Category)The emergence of transgender communities into the public eye over the past few decades has brought some new understanding, but also renewed outbreaks of violent backlash. In Transgender, Translation, Translingual Address Douglas Robinson seeks to understand the “translational” or “translingual” dialogues between cisgendered and transgendered people. Drawing on a wide range of LGBT scholars, philosophers, sociologists, sexologists, and literary voices, Robinson sets up cis-trans dialogues on such issues as “being born in the wrong body,” binary vs. anti-binary sex/gender identities, and the nature of transition and transformation. Prominent voices in the book include Kate Bornstein, C. Jacob Hale, and Sassafras Lowrey.The theory of translation mobilized in the book is not the traditional equivalence-based one, but Callon and Latour’s sociology of translation as “speaking for someone else,” which grounds the study of translation in social pressures to conform to group norms. In addition, however, Robinson translates a series of passages from Finnish trans novels into English, and explores the “translingual address” that emerges when those English translations are put into dialogue with cis and trans scholars.

At the intersection of translation studies and Latin American literary studies, The Translator’s Visibility examines contemporary novels by a cohort of writers – including prominent figures such as Cristina Rivera Garza, César Aira, Mario Bellatin, Valeria Luiselli, and Luis Fernando Verissimo – who foreground translation in their narratives.Drawing on Latin America’s long tradition of critical and creative engagement of translation, these novels explicitly, visibly, use major tropes of translation theory – such as gendered and spatialized metaphors for the practice, and the concept of untranslatability – to challenge the strictures of intellectual property and propriety while shifting asymmetries of discursive authority, above all between the original as a privileged repository of meaning and translation as its hollow emulation.In this way, The Translator’s Visibility show that translation not only serves to renew national literatures through an exchange of ideas and forms; when rendered visible, it can help us reimagine the terms according to which those exchanges take place. Ultimately, it is a book about language and power: not only the ways in which power wields language, but also the ways in which language can be used to unseat power.

This Is a Classic illuminates the overlooked networks that contribute to the making of literary classics through the voices of multiple translators, without whom writers would have a difficult time reaching a global audience. It presents the work of some of today’s most accomplished literary translators who translate classics into English or who work closely with translation in the US context and magnifies translators’ knowledge, skills, creativity, and relationships with the literary texts they translate, the authors whose works they translate, and the translations they make. The volume presents translators’ expertise and insight on how classics get defined according to language pairs and contexts. It advocates for careful attention to the role of translation and translators in reading choices and practices, especially regarding literary classics.

This Is a Classic illuminates the overlooked networks that contribute to the making of literary classics through the voices of multiple translators, without whom writers would have a difficult time reaching a global audience. It presents the work of some of today’s most accomplished literary translators who translate classics into English or who work closely with translation in the US context and magnifies translators’ knowledge, skills, creativity, and relationships with the literary texts they translate, the authors whose works they translate, and the translations they make. The volume presents translators’ expertise and insight on how classics get defined according to language pairs and contexts. It advocates for careful attention to the role of translation and translators in reading choices and practices, especially regarding literary classics.

Spanning four centuries from the Renaissance to today’s avant-garde, Migration and Mutation explores how the sonnet has evolved in and out of translation. Contributors examine little-studied translation trajectories in the early modern period, such as the pivotal role of France between Italy and England or the first German sonnets and their Italian, French, Dutch and Scottish origins. Essays then shed new light on major European sonneteers In the 19th and 20th centuries, including Shakespeare, Keats, Yeats, Rilke and Pessoa, alongside lesser-known contemporaries and with novel approaches. And finally, contributors explore how translation and adaptation create metaphorical space in the 21st century.Migration and Mutation also pays attention to the political or subversive dimension of the sonnet, with essays on women, gay or postcolonial reclaimings of the sonnet and recent experiments such as post-Soviet Sonnets on shirts by Genrikh Sagpir. It takes the sonnet out of the confines of enclosed national traditions bringing it into renewed contact with mostly European, but also other, cultures.

Spanning four centuries from the Renaissance to today’s avant-garde, Migration and Mutation explores how the sonnet has evolved in and out of translation. Contributors examine little-studied translation trajectories in the early modern period, such as the pivotal role of France between Italy and England or the first German sonnets and their Italian, French, Dutch and Scottish origins. Essays then shed new light on major European sonneteers In the 19th and 20th centuries, including Shakespeare, Keats, Yeats, Rilke and Pessoa, alongside lesser-known contemporaries and with novel approaches. And finally, contributors explore how translation and adaptation create metaphorical space in the 21st century.Migration and Mutation also pays attention to the political or subversive dimension of the sonnet, with essays on women, gay or postcolonial reclaimings of the sonnet and recent experiments such as post-Soviet Sonnets on shirts by Genrikh Sagpir. It takes the sonnet out of the confines of enclosed national traditions bringing it into renewed contact with mostly European, but also other, cultures.

Although Mikhail Bakhtin’s study of the novel does not focus in any systematic way on the role that translation plays in the processes of novelistic creation and dissemination, when he does broach the topic he grants translation'a disproportionately significant role in the emergence and constitution of literature. The contributors to this volume, from the US, Hong Kong, Finland, Japan, Spain, Italy, Bangladesh, and Belgium, bring their own polyphonic experiences with the theory and practice of translation to the discussion of Bakhtin’s ideas about this topic, in order to illuminate their relevance to translation studies today. Broadly stated, the essays examine the art of translation as an exercise in a cultural re-accentuation (a transferal of the original text and its characters to the novel soil of a different language and culture, which inevitably leads to the proliferation of multivalent meanings), and to explore the various re-accentuation devices employed over the span of the last 100 years in translating modern texts from one language to another. Through its contributors, The Art of Translation in Light of Bakhtin's Re-accentuation brings together different cultural contexts and disciplines (such as literature, literary theory, the visual arts, pedagogy, translation studies, and philosophy) to demonstrate the continued international relevance of Bakhtin’s ideas to the study of creative practices, broadly understood.

Although Mikhail Bakhtin’s study of the novel does not focus in any systematic way on the role that translation plays in the processes of novelistic creation and dissemination, when he does broach the topic he grants translation'a disproportionately significant role in the emergence and constitution of literature. The contributors to this volume, from the US, Hong Kong, Finland, Japan, Spain, Italy, Bangladesh, and Belgium, bring their own polyphonic experiences with the theory and practice of translation to the discussion of Bakhtin’s ideas about this topic, in order to illuminate their relevance to translation studies today. Broadly stated, the essays examine the art of translation as an exercise in a cultural re-accentuation (a transferal of the original text and its characters to the novel soil of a different language and culture, which inevitably leads to the proliferation of multivalent meanings), and to explore the various re-accentuation devices employed over the span of the last 100 years in translating modern texts from one language to another. Through its contributors, The Art of Translation in Light of Bakhtin's Re-accentuation brings together different cultural contexts and disciplines (such as literature, literary theory, the visual arts, pedagogy, translation studies, and philosophy) to demonstrate the continued international relevance of Bakhtin’s ideas to the study of creative practices, broadly understood.

Translation is commonly understood as the rendering of a text from one language to another – a border-crossing activity, where the border is a linguistic one. But what if the text one is translating is not written in “one language;” indeed, what if no text is ever written in a single language? In recent years, many books of fiction and poetry published in so-called Canada, especially by queer, racialized and Indigenous writers, have challenged the structural notions of linguistic autonomy and singularity that underlie not only the formation of the nation-state, but the bulk of Western translation theory and the field of comparative literature. Language Smugglers argues that the postnational cartographies of language found in minoritized Canadian literary works force a radical redefinition of the activity of translation altogether. Canada is revealed as an especially rich site for this study, with its official bilingualism and multiculturalism policies, its robust translation industry and practitioners, and the strong challenges to its national narratives and accompanying language politics presented by Indigenous people, the province of Québec, and high levels of immigration.

Translation is commonly understood as the rendering of a text from one language to another – a border-crossing activity, where the border is a linguistic one. But what if the text one is translating is not written in “one language;” indeed, what if no text is ever written in a single language? In recent years, many books of fiction and poetry published in so-called Canada, especially by queer, racialized and Indigenous writers, have challenged the structural notions of linguistic autonomy and singularity that underlie not only the formation of the nation-state, but the bulk of Western translation theory and the field of comparative literature. Language Smugglers argues that the postnational cartographies of language found in minoritized Canadian literary works force a radical redefinition of the activity of translation altogether. Canada is revealed as an especially rich site for this study, with its official bilingualism and multiculturalism policies, its robust translation industry and practitioners, and the strong challenges to its national narratives and accompanying language politics presented by Indigenous people, the province of Québec, and high levels of immigration.

Interpreting The Amistad Trials traces the signal importance of interpreters and translators in the famous 19th-century Amistad case and discusses how race, ethnicity, slavery, and colonialism shaped this story. From the recruitment process to the various oral to sign languages that mediated linguistically in the Africans’ life inside and outside the courtroom, and from evidentiary documents to fraudulent translations to credible testimonies, Jeanette Zaragoza-De León demonstrates the crucial importance of translation and interpretation in the Amistad plot and outcome. De León examines handwritten letters, pamphlets, newspapers, and judicial files, and adopts a critical race theory and postcolonial lens to analyze these materials. Although these critical interpretations and translations travelled transatlantically via Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States, De León highlights the common thread which also geographically unites Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic as part of the Amistad story.One of the most comprehensive studies of recorded events in the history of interpretation and translation in the Americas, Interpreting The Amistad Trials is a valuable resource for researchers studying coloniality, enslavement, race and ethnic studies and examining how these issues mattered then and now.

Brian James Baer explores the central role played by translation in the construction of modern Russian literature. Peter I’s policy of forced Westernization resulted in translation becoming a widely discussed and highly visible practice in Russia, a multi-lingual empire with a polyglot elite. Yet Russia’s accumulation of cultural capital through translation occurred at a time when the Romantic obsession with originality was marginalizing translation as mere imitation. The awareness on the part of Russian writers that their literature and, by extension, their cultural identity were “born in translation” produced a sustained and sophisticated critique of Romantic authorship and national identity that has long been obscured by the nationalist focus of traditional literary studies.By offering a re-reading of seminal works of the Russian literary canon that thematize translation, alongside studies of the circulation and reception of specific translated texts, Translation and the Making of Modern Russian Literature models the long overdue integration of translation into literary and cultural studies.

The first study of the translations of Andy Warhol's writing and ideas, Translating Warhol reveals how translation has alternately censored, exposed, or otherwise affected the presentation of his political and social positions and attitudes and, in turn, the value we place on his art and person.Andy Warhol is one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, and a vast global literature about Warhol and his work exists. Yet almost nothing has been written about the role of translations of his words in his international reputation. Translating Warhol fills this gap, developing the topic in multiple directions and in the context of the reception of Warhol’s work in various countries. The numerous translations of Warhol’s writings, words, and ideas offer a fertile case study of how American art was, and is, viewed from the outside. Both historical and theoretical aspects of translation are taken up, and individual chapters discuss French, German, Italian, and Swedish translations, Warhol’s translations of his mother’s native Rusyn language and culture, the Indian artist Bhupen Khakhar’s performative translations of Warhol, and Warhol as translated for documentary television.Translating Warhol offers a fascinating multi-faceted perspective on Warhol, contributing to our understanding of his place in history as well as to translation theory and inter-cultural exchange.

The first study of the translations of Andy Warhol's writing and ideas, Translating Warhol reveals how translation has alternately censored, exposed, or otherwise affected the presentation of his political and social positions and attitudes and, in turn, the value we place on his art and person.Andy Warhol is one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, and a vast global literature about Warhol and his work exists. Yet almost nothing has been written about the role of translations of his words in his international reputation. Translating Warhol fills this gap, developing the topic in multiple directions and in the context of the reception of Warhol’s work in various countries. The numerous translations of Warhol’s writings, words, and ideas offer a fertile case study of how American art was, and is, viewed from the outside. Both historical and theoretical aspects of translation are taken up, and individual chapters discuss French, German, Italian, and Swedish translations, Warhol’s translations of his mother’s native Rusyn language and culture, the Indian artist Bhupen Khakhar’s performative translations of Warhol, and Warhol as translated for documentary television.Translating Warhol offers a fascinating multi-faceted perspective on Warhol, contributing to our understanding of his place in history as well as to translation theory and inter-cultural exchange.

Presents original archival research on eight largely unknown émigrée translators whose work during the Cold War actively contributed to and, in some cases, decisively shaped the reception of Russian and Soviet literature throughout the English-speaking world.In this open access volume, Cathy McAteer profiles female translators of Russian and Soviet literature into English during the last century, focusing on the UK, USSR and US. Through cultural mediation, most often translation, each woman represents a unique encounter with Cold War politics. Drawing from extensive archival material, including British Intelligence files, reviews, publications and memoirs, Cold War Women sketches the microhistories of eight complex and occasionally controversial bilingual women: Moura Budberg, Vera Traill, Evelyn Manning, Margaret Wettlin, Violet Dutt, Edith Bone, Olga Carlisle, and Mirra Ginsburg. Many of these women, in addition to their work as translators and publishers of Soviet literature, led complex political lives that brought them under scrutiny for espionage, and even suspected assassination.Cold War Women explores how literary translation became a uniquely enabling career for each of these women, both in personally challenging gender norms, and in showing translation's soft power for galvanizing propagandist and humanitarian change. The book thus rehabilitates forgotten but influential female translators of Russian literature whose contributions helped to shape the Anglophone reception of Russian and Soviet literature both during and beyond their fraught historical moment.The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the University of Exeter.