Cover not available

In:A (Re)turn to the Source Text
Edited by Malin Carlström and Richard Pleijel
[Benjamins Translation Library 169] 2026
► pp. 35–64

Get fulltext
PDF logo with download linkDownload Chapter PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Chapter EPUB

Translation as fraud

Tracing the imagined original of a Russian pseudotranslation book series

 | University of Gothenburg | University of Turku
Open Access logo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 20 February 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.169.01car
Abstract
In this chapter, I analyze a Russian pseudotranslation book series as translations from imagined originals. Drawing on Toury’s notion of assumed translation (2012) and Liu’s (2019) focus on the metatextual characteristics of pseudotranslation, I aim to: (1) classify the book series, (2) establish how this type of pseudotranslation differs from translations with regular source and target texts, and (3) discuss the benefits and consequences of perceiving pseudotranslations as translations from imagined originals. Firstly, based on an analysis of paratexts, I classify the book series as a hoax or a marketing strategy. Secondly, I argue that the notion of “imagined original” forces the reader to pay attention to the pitfalls and inherent ambiguity of pseudotranslation, while also drawing attention to issues related to imagology and ethics.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Pseudotranslations as translations of imagined originals
    • 2.1Background and theoretical framework
    • 2.2Reasons for pseudotranslation
    • 2.3Pseudotranslation, manipulation, imagology
  • 3.The Tsvet boli series: Plot and publication history
    • 3.1The plot of the book series
    • 3.2Publication history
  • 4.Results: The generic and discursive levels
    • 4.1The generic level
      • 4.1.1Peritexts
      • 4.1.2Epitexts
      • 4.1.3Generic connections to translations in the main text
    • 4.2The discursive level
  • 5.Textual level: Interferences and distortions
    • 5.1Interferences
    • 5.2Distortions on textual level
      • 5.2.1Outside perspective and stereotypical representations of Swedes
      • 5.2.2Outside perspective and stereotypical representations of Sweden
  • 6.Discussion and conclusions
  • Notes
  • Primary sources
  • References
  • Appendix
References (48)
Primary sources
Khansen, Eva. 2013a. Tsvet boli: belyi [The color of pain: white]. Moscow: Eksmo.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013b. Tsvet boli: chernyi [The color of pain: black]. Moscow: Eksmo.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013c. Tsvet boli: krasnyi [The color of pain: red]. Moscow: Eksmo.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014a. Tsvet boli: barkhat [The color of pain: velvet]. Moscow: Eksmo.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014b. Tsvet boli: lateks [The color of pain: latex]. Moscow: Eksmo.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014c. Tsvet boli: shelk [The color of pain: silk]. Moscow: Eksmo.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
References
Baer, Brian J. 2017. “De-Sacralizing the Origin(al) and the Transnational Future of Translation Studies.” Perspectives 25 (2): 227–244. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2019. “Teaching Literature in Translation.” In The Routledge Handbook of Literary Translation, ed. by Kelly Washbourne and Ben Van Wyke, 58–71. Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Batchelor, Kathryn. 2018. Translation and Paratexts. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beller, Manfred. 2007. “Perception, Image, Imagology.” In Imagology: The Cultural Construction and Literary Representation of National Characters. A Critical Survey, ed. by Manfred Beller and Joep Leerssen, 3–16. Brill. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Berglund, Karl. 2017. Mordens marknad: Litteratursociologiska studier i det tidiga 2000-talets svenska kriminallitteratur [A market of murders: Sociological literary studies in Swedish crime fiction in the early 21st century]. PhD diss., Uppsala University.
Eksmo. 2013а. “Eva Khansen ‘Tsvet boli — krasnyi’ [Eva Khansen ‘The color of pain — red’].” Last modified April 17, 2013. Accessed April 18, 2025. [URL]
. 2013b. “Eva Khansen ‘Tsvet boli — chernyi [Eva Khansen ‘The color of pain — black].” Last modified August 1, 2013. Accessed April 18, 2025. [URL]
. n.d.-a. “Eva Khansen. Biografiia [Eva Khansen. Biography].” Accessed April 15, 2025. [URL]
. n.d.-b. “Knigi avtora Eva Khansen [Books by the author Eva Khansen].” Accessed April 15, 2025. [URL]
Federalʹnoe agentstvo po tehnicheskomu regulirovaniiu i metrologii. 2006. GOST Р 7.0.4–2006 Izdaniia, vykhodnye svedeniia — obshchie trebovaniia i pravila oformleniia [Editions. Publication data. General requirements and rules of design]. Standartinform.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Flynn, Peter, Joep Leerssen, and Luc van Doorslaer. 2016. Interconnecting Translation Studies and Imagology. John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Genette, Gérard. 1997. Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation. Translated by J. E. Lewin. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hatim, Basil. 1997. “Intertextual Intrusion: Towards a Framework for Harnessing the Power of the Absent Text in Translation.” In Translating Sensitive Texts: Linguistic Aspects, ed. by Karl Simms, 29–46. Rodopi B. V.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hermans, Theo. 1999. Translation in Systems: Descriptive and Systemic Approaches Explained. St. Jerome.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hübenette Högberg, Frida. 2009. “Millennium-turister invaderar Stockholm. [Millennium tourists invade Stockholm].” Aftonbladet. May 17. [URL]
Kellman, Stephen G. 2010. “Alien Autographs: How Translators Make Their Marks.” Neohelicon 37: 7–19. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leerssen, Joep. 2007. “Imagology: History and Method.” In Imagology: The Cultural Construction and Literary Representation of National Characters. A Critical Survey, ed. by Manfred Beller and Joep Leerssen, 17–32. Brill. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lefevere, André. 2000. “Pseudotranslations.” In Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English, vol. 2, ed. by Olive Classe, 1122–1123. Fitzroy Dearborn.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liu, Jane Qian. 2019. “Pseudotranslation, Intertextuality and Metafictionality: Three Case Studies of Pseudotranslation from Early Twentieth-Century China.” Perspectives, Studies in Translatology 27 (3): 389–403. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Naudé, Jacobus A. 2008. “The Role of Pseudo-Translations in Early Afrikaans Travel Writing.” Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 26 (1): 97–106. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
NE. n.d. “Shvedskaia semʹia.” In NEs ryska ordbok. Nationalencyclopedin. [URL] (accessed September 19, 2024)
Nationalencyklopedin. n.d. “Ni-tilltal [formal address]”. Accessed April 18, 2025. [URL]
Neumeyer, Joy. 2013. “Fake Reviews in Fake Newspapers Hype up New “Swedish” Crime Novel.” The Internet Archive, Wayback machine. Accessed March 1, 2021. [URL]
Podlevskikh Carlström, Malin. 2022. “Swedish Crime Fiction in the Soviet Union: Publication and Paratextual Framing.” Samlaren 143: 141–177. [URL]
. 2023. “Swedish Crime Fiction in Russia: Publication, Marketing and Paratextual Framing.” Samlaren 144: 320–360. [URL]
. 2024. “In Prosperous Sweden… Representations of Sweden in Russian Reviews of Swedish Crime Fiction 2000–2021.” Mikael: Finnish Journal of Translation and Interpreting Studies 17 (1): 105–121. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Robinson, Douglas. 2022. The Last Days of Maiju Lassila. Atmosphere Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rodríguez Pérez, Yolanda. 2016. “The Adventures of an Amsterdam Spaniard: Nation-Building in a 17th-Century Dutch Pseudo-Translation.” In Interconnecting Translation Studies and Imagology, ed. by Peter Flynn, Joep Leerssen and Luc van Doorslaer, 37–52. John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rühling, Lutz. 2007. “Swedes.” In Imagology: The Cultural Construction and Literary Representation of National Characters. A Critical Survey, ed. by Manfred Beller and Joep Leerssen, 248–250. Brill. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Santoyo, Julio César. 1984. “La traducción como técnica narrativa.” Actas del IV Congreso de la Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos), 37–53. Quoted in Şehnaz Tahir Gürçağlar. “Pseudotranslation on the Margin of Fact and Fiction.” In A Companion to Translation Studies, ed. by Sandra Bermann and Catherine Porter, 516–527. John Wiley and Sons, 2014.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Savchyn, Valentyna. 2021. “Literary Translation behind Bars in the Late Soviet Union: Contextual Voices of Vasylʹ Stus and Ivan Svitlychnyi.” East, West: Journal of Ukrainian Studies 8 (2): 235–273. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sohár, Anikó. 1998. “‘Genuine’ and ‘Fictitious’ Translations of Science Fiction and Fantasy in Hungary.” In Unity in Diversity? Current trends in Translation Studies, ed. by Lynne Bowker, Michael Cronin, Dorothy Kenny and Jennifer Pearson, 39–46. St. Jerome.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Strümper-Krobb, Sabine. 2018. “Pretending Not to be Original: Pseudotranslations and their Functions.” In The Fictions of Translation, ed. by Judith Woodsworth, 199–213. John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tahir Gürçağlar, Şehnaz. 2014. “Pseudotranslation on the Margin of Fact and Fiction.” In A Companion to Translation Studies, ed, by Sandra Bermann and Catherine Porter, 516–527. John Wiley and Sons. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Toury, Gideon. 1981. “Translated Literature: System, Norm, Performance: Toward a TT-Oriented Approach to Literary Translation.” Poetics Today 2 (4): 9–27. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Venuti, Lawrence. 2009. “Translation, Intertextuality, Interpretation.” Romance Studies 27 (3): 157–173. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2019. Contra Instrumentalism. A Translation Polemic. Provocations. University of Nebraska Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Verbeke, Demmy. 2010. “Swag-Bellied Hollanders and Dead-Drunk Almaines: Reputation and Pseudo-Translation in Early Modern England.” Dutch Crossing 34 (2): 182–191. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Witt, Susanna. 2011. “Between the Lines: Totalitarianism and Translation in the USSR.” In Contexts, Subtexts and Pretexts Literary Translation in Eastern Europe and Russia, ed. by Brian James Baer, 149–170. John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zorkaia, Natalia. 2015. “Obraz Shvetsii v obshchestvennom mnenii rossiian” [The image of Sweden among Russians]. Sravnenie dvukh voln 2014–2015. Vestnik obshchestvennogo mneniia. Vol 121 (3–4).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue