The culture(s) of translation in Russia

Abstract

This chapter traces the development of the Russian concept of translation and its relationship to practice across four historical periods, each with its own distinct culture of translation, which shaped the texts selected for translation, who translated them, and how they were translated. These cultures are perhaps more sharply defined than in other European cultures due to the fact that they were brought about by dramatic and radical change from the top, such as the reforms of Peter the Great in the early eighteenth century and the Bolshevik Revolution in the early twentieth. The cultures covered extend from Kievan Rus to the reforms of Peter the Great, the long eighteenth century, the long nineteenth century, ending with the Bolshevik Revolution, and the communist and post-communist periods.

The translation field in Serbia 1960-1990

“…A growing interest in the study of translation in Eastern Europe and the USSR has recently resulted in a number of publications dealing with their contributions to early Translation Studies (Baer 2019, Dmitrienko 2019, Baer and Witt 2018, Pym and Ayvazyan 2015, Ceccherelli, Constantino and Diddi 2015, Špirk 2009, Jettmarová 2008. To the best of our knowledge, the only presentation оf the achievements of translation theory in the former Yugoslavia in English 1 can be found in the compilation of essays on translation theory in Slavic countries edited by Ceccherelli, Constantino and Diddi (2015).…”

“…Liotta 2001) was a unique case, but there are some similarities in the way ideology influenced translation practices across former socialist countries. Baer (2019) and Dmitrienko (2019), for example, independently note that in the Soviet context translation (expectedly) aided modernization, but also served to create a "supranational Soviet identity" (Dmitrienko 2019, 205) or to "construct Soviet society as cosmopolitan" (Baer 2019, 300). As we shall see, the role of translation was similarly understood in some Yugoslav/Serbian contexts.…”