Translation Under Communism

This book examines the history of translation under European communism, bringing together studies on the Soviet Union, including Russia and Ukraine, Yugoslavia, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Poland. In any totalitarian regime maintaining control over cultural exchange is strategically important, so studying these regimes from the perspective of translation can provide a unique insight into their history and into the nature of their power. This book is intended as a sister volume to Translation Under Fascism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010) and adopts a similar approach of using translation as a lens through which to examine history. With a strong interdisciplinary focus, it will appeal to students and scholars of translation studies, translation history, censorship, translation and ideology, and public policy, as well as cultural and literary historians of Eastern Europe, Soviet communism, and the Cold War period.

Christopher Rundle is Associate Professor in Translation Studies at the University of Bologna, Italy; and Research Fellow in Italian and Translation Studies at the University of Manchester, UK. He has published extensively on the history of translation, including Publishing Translations in Fascist Italy (2010) and Translation Under Fascism (2010). He is co-editor of the book series Routledge Research on Translation and Interpreting History, and is coordinating editor of the translation studies journal inTRAlinea.

Anne Lange is Associate Professor in Translation Studies at Tallinn University, Estonia. She has published on translation in Estonia at the backdrop of its cultural and intellectual history. She initiated the series of international conferences Between Cultures and Texts: Itineraries in the History of Translation held in Tallinn and Tartu. She is co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of the History of Translation Studies (forthcoming).

Daniele Monticelli is Professor of Translation Studies and Semiotics at Tallinn University, Estonia. His research focuses on the ideological aspects of translation and the role of translation in cultural and social change. He is co-editor of the volume Between Cultures and Texts: Itineraries in Translation History (2011) and the Project Leader of the Research Grant “Translation in History, Estonia 1850-2010: Texts, Agents, Institutions and Practices”.