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serieswaspublishedbythePoliticalPublishingHouseunderthetitleIdei
contemporane(ContemporaryIdeas);thisincludedworksbyMarshall
McLuhan,Marcuse,Habermas,andJaspers,amongothers.
UnderthedictatorshipofCeauşescu,whowaselectedPresidentoftheState
Councilin1967andeventuallyPresidentofRomaniain1974,translatingwas
regardedasanethicallysoundactivity,whereasoriginalliteraryworkswere
subjecttocensorshipandcouldonlybepublishediftheyglorifiedthetotalitarian
regime.Thisfurtherstimulatedtranslationactivity,andimportantworksfromall
languagescontinuedtobetranslatedandretranslatedintoRomanian.Inaddition
toindividualworks,alargenumberofanthologieswerealsopublishedinthe
1960sand1970s.TheseincludedAntologieShakespearebilingvă(‘A
BilingualAnthologyofShakespeare’,1964),AntologialiteraturiimaghiareI
III(‘AnthologyofHungarianLiteratureIIII’,1965–8),Antologiapoeziei
romanticegermane(‘AnthologyofGermanRomanticPoetry’,1969),Sonetul
italian(‘TheItalianSonnet’,1970),Antologiebilingvădepoezieifranceză
(‘BilingualAnthologyofFrenchPoetry’,1970),andPoeţiaiexpresionismului
(‘ThePoetryofExpressionism’,1971).Acomprehensiveoverviewofthe
literatureofthefirsthalfofthecenturyisgivenbyA.E.Baconskyinhis
Panoramapoezieuniversale(1972),whichcoversninetyninepoetsfrom
AdytoYeats.TheAntologiapoezieiamericane,compiledin1979byI.
Caraion,coversallrepresentativeareasofAmericanpoetry:130poetsfrom
AnneBradstreet(161272)tothepresentday.Simbolismuleuropean,
compiledin1983byZ.Molcuţ,isanimposinganthology(1,800pages)of160
authors,oneofthemostcompleteaccountsofEuropeansymbolismin
existence.
Inrecentdecades,therehasbeenagrowinginterestinnonWesternliterature.
S.Al.GeorgepublishedacompletetranslationofBhagavadGitafromHindi
in1971;thisisoneofthemostfamousphilosophicalpoemsoftheoriental
world.TheAntologialiteraturiiprecolumbiene(coveringtheliteratureof
threecultures:Mayan,MexicanandInca)appearedin1973,andAntologie
Haiku(Japaneselyricpoetryfromthesixteenthtothetwentiethcenturies)
followedin1974.
Therelationshipbetweennationalandtranslatedliteratureisoftenoneofclose
interdependence.WorksbyGideandProust,whogreatlyinfluencedthe
evolutionoftheRomaniannovelinthefirsthalfoflastcentury,remainedlargely
untranslatedduringthatperiod.Bythe1960sand1970s,thegroundhadbeen
preparedbyindigenouswritingsandtheircompleteworksbecameavailablein
translation.UndertheinfluenceofBalzac,thenovelistCezarPetrescucreated
the‘Comédiehumaine’ofRomaniansocietybetweenthetwoWorldWars.It
wasonlyduringthesecondpartoflastcentury,whentheRomanianpublichad
cometoappreciatehisownwork,thathewasabletopublishsuccessfullyhis
excellenttranslationsofBalzac’sLePèreGoriotandEugénieGrandet.The
popularityofcertainworksinaforeigncultureisalsooftenaidedbythe
relevanceoftheirpoliticalandsocialthemes,particularlywhenthesethemes
cannotbeaddressedopenlyintheindigenousliterature.Thecharacterofthe
dictator,developedinthecontextofaturbulentpoliticalsituation,isarecurring
featureofmorerecentSouthAmericanliterature,asinThePresidentby
MiguelAngelAsturias,TheAutumnofthePatriarchbyGabrielGarcía
Márquez,aswellasthenovelsofAlejoCarpenter;translationsofallthese
workswereverypopularundertheCeauşescudictatorship.
Translationtoday
TranslationtheoryremainscloselyconnectedwithpracticeinRomania.Mostof
theliteratureontranslationispublishedbyprofessionaltranslatorsorteachersof
translation.Titlessuchas‘HowITranslatedFaust’(Blaga1955),‘Notesofa
Translator’(Doinaş1972b)and‘OntheFaithfulTranslationofPoetry’(Doinaş
1988b)aregoodexamplesoftheoreticalstudieswhicharegroundedingenuine
translationtasks.In1965,themagazineSecolulXX,whichhaspublished
worksbytheoristssuchasGeorgeSteiner,JiříLevýandOrtegayGassetona
regularbasis,organizedadebateonGeorgesMounin’sLesproblèmes
théoriquesdelatraductiontowhichmanywellknowntranslators
contributed.Avarietyoflinguistic,aestheticandculturalissueswerediscussed.
Inthetitleofhiscontributiontothisdebate,ŞtAug.Doinaş(1965)expressed
theviewheldbyagenerationofRomaniantranslators:‘Difficult,Riskybutnot
Impossible’.