Vasko Popa's poetry in English: The reception and uses of literary translation

Abstract

This paper considers the reception of the Yugoslav poet Vasko Popa (1922–91) in Great Britain. A close examination of this process sheds light on wider issues characterizing the international political and cultural landscapes. The discussion is framed by the notion of “translationscape”, which is interpreted as implying a dual focus: on both global cultural transmission and the translators' personal experience. These different aspects allow us to examine the intra- and intercultural dynamics of exchange and the way they relate to the position of the translator and the specific choices (s)he makes. These choices reveal the connection between intercultural literary flows as determined by various sociocultural landscapes, translatability and literary value. Although the “manipulation” of literary fame remains a valid concept and the translator has been recognized as a located – and far from neutral – actor, the aesthetic concerns are nevertheless an essential propulsive force with Popa's translators.

Keywords:

• Vasko Popa
• Ted Hughes
• Eastern European poetry
• reception
• patronage
• translationscape

Notes

1. The author and editors would like to thank Oberlin College Press, Anvil Poetry Press and Zavod za udžbenike i nastavna sredstva, Beograd, for their permission to reproduce extracts from Popa's poetry here. Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material.

2. Casanova makes no mention of Even-Zohar in this essay, though some of the observations contained therein accord with his hypotheses.

3. Segel includes in this geopolitical entity Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.

4. In his Reception Theory: A Critical Introduction, Robert Holub explains that this phrase “would appear to refer to an intersubjective system or structure of expectations, ‘a system of references’ or a mind-set that a hypothetical individual might bring to any text” (Holub 1984, 59).