Odrekhivska, Iryna; (2024) Decolonial analytics in translation history: Ukrainian literature in the contested space of English translation. World Literature Studies , 16 (3) pp. 4-14. 10.31577/wls.2024.16.3.1.

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Abstract

The article offers a decolonial reading and critically examines the ways in which Ukrainian literature and culture have been represented in Anglophone translation since the 19th century to the present day, revealing the colonial aesthetic and social imaginary influenced by both the Russian imperial and subsequent Soviet lenses. For this, I develop a decolonial analytics in the historical studies of translation through a four-step framework: 1) archeology of knowledge through (non-)translation, investigating the foundations of knowledge embedded in translation practices, 2) deconstructive reading of translations to analyze the power structures and built-in distortions, 3) paratextual positioning of translation, exploring the underlying ideologies, and 4) re-existence, concluding with a re-evaluation of translational contribution to decolonial resistance. Grounded in a corpus analysis, the article posits three common colonial strategies in the history of translating Ukrainian works via the Russian imperial/Soviet lens into English: 1) cultural appropriation, 2) indirect translation into English through Russian, and 3) centering on Russian imperial and Soviet recognition of the piece in its English-language publication. These strategies have resulted in a parallel, Russified narrative of Ukrainian literature in Anglophone academia.

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