Abstract

ZAJAS, Pawet. South goes East. South African literature at Volk & Welt. Tydskr. letterkd. [online]. 2020, vol.57, n.2, pp.67-80. ISSN 2309-9070.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/tl.v57i2.8324.

The paper analyses the transfer of South African literature to the German Democratic Republic. In its historiographic/methodological dimension it presents findings on the statistics of (South) African literature(s) translations in the Verlag Volk und Welt (the major East German publisher in the area of contemporary world literature), and on the place of literary translations in the East German foreign cultural policy, as well as in the socialist solidarity discourse of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and the antiapartheid movement. Furthermore, findings are presented on the publisher-internal selection criteria applied to South African literature, based on the archival data from the Bundesarchiv in Berlin (i.e. applications for a print permit and internal/external reviews), on issues around the transformation and adaptation of literature translated in the realm of the East German Weltliteratur, and on the transfer of South African literature from the GDR, based on the English language series Seven Seas Books. Lastly, the function of this alternative canon, framed within the so-called 'minor transnationalism', is spelled out.

Keywords : East Germany; minor transnationalism; socialist solidarity; sociology of translation; South African literature; Volk & Welt.

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