Thème translation as means of propaganda. The case of Romanian Review

Abstract

In this paper I will try to draw a comparison between two different stages which can be clearly identified throughout the evolution of a rather unusual product of translation. I am referring to a journal issued in Romania under the name of Romanian Review and made up entirely of thème translations. One can identify two distinct periods in the history of Romanian Review – before and after the fall of communism. The former reveals interesting cases of manipulation (either con- or inter-textual), applied by a highly efficient system that dismissed anything that appeared likely to become subversive; a system operating at all social levels, known as “censorship” or “political visé” in totalitarian Romania. Romanian Review was intended for distribution exclusively outside the country’s borders, as a propaganda instrument. This paper will try to answer the following research questions: are the mechanisms through which censorship intervened in the shaping of this cultural product (by means either of omission, attenuation, extirpation or selection of authors, titles and translators) still visible after the fall of the dictatorship? Are there any radical changes in the form or content of this publication after the demise of the system? The Translation Studies descriptive framework may provide one possible approach (among many others) to these issues while the methodological tools for its observation might be borrowed from the field of pragmalinguistics.