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hexametersbyG.Murnu.Otherwriterstranslatedorretranslatedduringthis
periodincludeJulesVerne,OscarWilde,MikhailLermontov,IvanGoncharov,
RainerRilke,EugeneO’Neill,FrançoisVillon,MarkTwain,MarcelProust,
andBalzac.Thesetranslationsweretheresultofpersonalaffinityandindividual
choiceonthepartofthetranslatorsratherthanofofficialplanning.Publishers
weremainlyinterestedinproducinglucrative,popularliterature.However,high
qualityliteraturecouldalsobesuccessful.Oneofthemostpopularauthors
duringthisperiodwasW.S.Maugham:almostthirtyofhistitlesweretranslated
bytheRomanianwriterJ.Giureaandpublishedbetween1930and1945.
TranslationsfromHungarianwereparticularlywellreceivedduringthisperiod.
Thiscouldbeexplainedbytheexistenceofalargecoreofsharedelementsand
valuesinthehistoryandthedailylifeofRomaniansandHungarians.Thesocial
themewastopicalinbothcountries.ForRomanians,therevolutionaryversesof
theHungarianwriterSandorPetôficarriedmuchthesamemessageasthat
derivedbyHungariansfromthepoetryoftheRomanianwriterGeorgeCoşbuc.
Thisstimulatedtranslationactivitybetweenthetwolanguages,attimeseven
againstofficialpoliticaltrends.Liberallymindedintellectualswereconsciousof
thecontributionmadebytranslationsintermsofachievingbetterunderstanding
andharmonybetweenthetwopeoples,especiallyagainstgrowingfascismin
bothcountries.In1935,forinstance,G.Moşoiu,LordMayorofOradea,
offeredatranslationprizeasawayofpromotingmutualunderstandingbetween
RomaniansandHungarians.Oneofthemostsuccessfultranslatorsfrom
HungarianduringthisperiodwastheTransylvanianpoetOctavianGoga(1881–
1938).HisversionsofPetôfi,AdyandMadáchwereoutstanding.Hewas
awardedtheNationalPrizeforLiteraturein1924andhistranslationof
Madách’sTragedyofManisstillconsideredoneofthebestinexistence.
TranslationafterWorldWarII
WorldWarIIandtheyearswhichfolloweditbroughtaboutanewisolation.
Bothoriginalandtranslatedliteraturewerecensored.The1950switnesseda
growingdemandforforeignliteratures,withadefiniteneedfortranslationssince
themajorityoftheRomanianpublicdidnotspeakforeignlanguages.Many
writersrefusedtopublishtheirownworksonliteraryormoralgrounds,
preferringinsteadtosigntranslationcontractswithpublishinghouses.Theresult
wasthatseveralmasterpiecesappearedinexcellenttranslationsduringthis
period.Forexample,in1955twoimportantworksbyGoethewerepublished:
Faust,translatedbythegreatpoetandphilosopherLucianBlaga,andthe
autobiographicalnovelFromMyLife.PoetryandTruth,translatedbyTudor
Vianu,anoutstandingscholarofthetime.Translationsofthistypewerethe
resultofpersonalchoice.OnlytheRussianclassicsweretranslated
systematicallyinaseriesofcompleteworks,includingGogol(1954–8),
Chekhov(1954–63),andTurgenev(1953–62).TheonlynonRussianauthor
whoseworksweretranslatedandpublishedinacompleteeditionwas
Shakespeare(1955–63,elevenexcellentvolumesbyL.LeviţchiandD.
Duţescu).
Theearly1960sbroughtagradualreappraisalofRomanianandforeign
literature.Highqualitytranslationsappearedofoutstandingworksofliterature
fromallovertheworld.ThemagazineSecolulXX(‘TheTwentiethCentury’)
andtheEditurapentruLiteraturăUniversală(‘PublishingHouseforWorld
Literature’,laterknownasUnivers)playedanimportantroleinthisprocess.
Between1961and1980,Universpublished2,700titlesby2,100different
authors.Inthefollowingyears,numerousotherpublishinghousesweresetup,
forexampleMinerva,Albatros,andTheRomanianBook.These,togetherwith
specializedjournalssuchasFamilia,TheLiteraryRomania,Horizonand
manyothers,ensuredthatalltheclassicsfromeverycountryandepochwere
translated.Thereishardlyaninternationalwriterwhohasnotbeentranslated
intoRomanianatleastonce,afactoftenhighlightedinUNESCOreportsand
statistics.Asinpreviousdecades,themostsuccessfultranslatorswerewriters,
especiallypoets,intheirownright.
OneofthemostvaluablecontributionsofUniverswaspublishingseminalworks
inthefieldsofaesthetics,literarytheoryandcriticismsoonaftertheyhad
appearedabroad.TheEssaysseriesincludedthemainworksofCroce,
Curtius,Genette,Wellek,Eco,Greimas,Kaiser,Lotman,Alonso,Frye,
Tomasevski,Vossler,Zumthor,Friedrich,Walzelandmanyothers.Asimilar