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In:A World Atlas of Translation
Edited by Yves Gambier and Ubaldo Stecconi
[Benjamins Translation Library 145] 2019
► pp. 287–308

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Chapter 13
The culture(s) of translation in Russia

 | Kent State University
 | Durham University, United Kingdom
Published online: 5 February 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.145.13bae
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.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The translation economy of Old Rus to the beginning of the eighteenth century
    • 2.1Translation and Kievan Rus
      • What got translated?
      • Who translated?
      • How texts were translated?
    • 2.2Translation in Muscovy
      • What got translated?
      • Who translated?
      • How texts were translated?
  • 3.The long eighteenth century: 1676–1825
    • What got translated?
    • Who translated?
    • How texts were translated?
  • 4.The mid-nineteenth century to the Bolshevik Revolution
    • What gets translated?
    • Who translated?
    • How texts were translated?
  • 5.The Soviet and Post-Soviet periods
    • What got translated?
    • Who translated?
    • How things were translated and the birth of Translation theory
  • 6.Conclusion
  • References
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