Abstracts
Abstract
This article describes the discourse and practice of translation during the Soviet colonization of Romania. Translation serves as an ideal object for the study of this cultural political process, because Soviet colonization emphasized the transformation of a nation through language. The new regime pursues a policy of foreignizing Romanian, creating the conditions for a resistant practice of domestication. This model reverses our common understanding of cultural politics of translation, exemplified by Lawrence Venuti. I focus on one actual translation: Lucian Blaga’s 1955 version of Faust. By looking at the role of translation in the Soviet colonization of Romania, we can better understand how culture, language, and power come together, creating unique forms of both domination and resistance.
Keywords/Mots-clés:
- culture,
- literary translation,
- resistance,
- Romania,
- Soviet translation
Résumé
Cet article décrit à la fois le discours et la pratique de la traduction littéraire pendant la période de la colonisation de la Roumanie par les Soviétiques. La traduction est un objet idéal d’étude du processus culturel et politique de cette époque, à cause de la manière avec laquelle la colonisation soviétique a privilégié la transformation de la nation à travers sa langue. Le nouveau régime a poursuivi une politique dans laquelle la langue roumaine subissait des transformations étrangères, ce qui crée des conditions favorisant une pratique réfractaire à l’intégration. Ce modèle renverse la compréhension des politiques culturelles de la traduction, comme elle a été expliquée par Lawrence Venuti. Le présent travail se concentre sur une traduction spécifique : la version de Faust publiée en 1955 par Lucian Blaga. Quand on regarde le rôle de la traduction dans la colonisation soviétique de la Roumanie, on peut mieux comprendre comment la culture, la langue et le pouvoir se rejoignent pour constituer des formes uniques de domination tout autant que de résistance.
Appendices
References
- Anonymous (1945): “Problema traducerilor,” Scânteia 2-294.
- Anonymous (1954a): “În legătură cu problema traducerilor,” Viaţa românească 7-8, pp. 218-230.
- Anonymous (1954b): “Concluzii la discuţia asupra traducerilor literare,” Veac nou 10-39.
- Blaga, D. and I. Bălu (1999): Blaga supravegheat de Securitate, Cluj, Biblioteca Apostrof.
- Vorbeşte Lucian Blaga (1960) (Radio interview, 1956 or 1957 in Cluj).
- Boia, L. (1997): Miturile comunismului românesc, Bucureşti, Nemira.
- Botez, D. (1954): “În problema traducerilor,” Veac nou 10-30, p. 2.
- Buzatu, Gh. and M. Chririţoiu (1998): Agresiunea comunismului în România: Documente din archivele secrete 1944-1989 1, Bucharest, Paideia.
- Deletant, D. (1999): Communist Terror in Romania: Gheorghiu-Dej and the Police State, 1948-1965, London, Hurst and Company.
- Goethe, J. W. von (1955): Faust, trans. Blaga, L., Bucharest, ESPLA.
- Goethe, J. W. von (1999): Faust, ed. Trunz, E., München, Verlag C. H. Beck.
- Gruia, B. (1981): Blaga inedit: efigii documentare 2, Cluj-Napoca, Editura Dacia.
- Iordan, I. (1949): Influenţe ruseşti asupra limbii române, Analele Academiei Republicii Populare Române, Bucharest, Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Române.
- Iordan, I. (1954): “Limba traducerilor,” Veac nou 10-35, p 2.
- Jowitt, K. (1971): Revolutionary Breakthroughs and National Development; The Case of Romania, 1944-1965, Berkeley, University of California Press.
- Levy, R. (2001): Ana Pauker: The Rise and Fall of a Jewish Communist, Berkeley, University of California Press.
- Moore, D. C. (2005): “Is the Post- in Postcolonial the Post- in Post-Soviet? Toward a Global Postcolonial Critique,” in Desai, G. and S. Nair (eds.), Postcolonialisms, Rutgers UP, pp. 514-538.
- Novicov, M. (1951): “Pentru continua imbunătăţire a caltăţii traducerilor,” Viaţa românească 4-7, pp. 198-216.
- Pătrăşcanu, L. (1945): “Curente şi tendinţe în filosofia romanească,” Scînteia 2-115.
- Pavel, D. (1998): Cine, ce si de ce?, Bucharest, Polirom.
- Perry, T. A. (2001): Passage to Romania: American literature in Romania, Iaşi/Portland, Center for Romanian Studies.
- Petrescu, C. (1954): “Traducerile şi arta traducătorului,” Veac nou 10-20.
- Philippide, A. (1952): “Traducerile de proză din limba rusă,” Viaţa românească 5-5, pp. 261-269.
- Porumbacu, V. (1954): “Tălmăcindu-l pe Scipaciov,” Viaţa românească 7-7, pp. 357-361.
- Simon, S. and P. St-Pierre (2000): Changing the Terms: Translating in the Postcolonial Era, Ottawa, University of Ottawa Press.
- Tismăneanu, V. (2003): Stalinism for All Seasons: A Political History of Romanian Communism, Berkeley, University of California Press.
- ţugui, P. (1999): Istoria si limba româna în vremea lui Gheorghiu-Dej, Bucharest, Editura Ion Cristoiu.
- ţugui, P. (2001): Tinereţea lui Petru Dumitriu, Cluj-Napoca, Editura Dacia.
- Tymoczko, M. and E. Gentzler (2002): Translation and Power, Amherst, University of Massachusetts Press.
- Venuti, L. (1995): The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation, London/New York, Routledge.
- Verdery, K. (1991): National Ideology under Socialism: Identity and Cultural Politics in Ceauşescu’s Romania, Societies and Culture in East-Central Europe, Berkeley, University of California Press.
- Vianu, L. (1998): Censorship in Romania, Budapest, Central European University Press.
- Vianu, T. (1956): Literatură universală şi literatură naţională, Bucharest, Editura de stat pentru literatură şi artă.