'The alien within' : translation into German during the Nazi regime
The thesis examines the policy and practice of literary translation into German during the Nazi regime. It is shown that translation survived, albeit in a constrained form, throughout the period and that heavy official intervention was itself grounded in contradictory attitudes to translation. A consideration of the state regulation and reception of translation demonstrates that translated literature was regarded with suspicion as a potentially harmful invasion of the foreign. Terms used - such as the 'alien within' and the danger of miscegenation - clearly participate in the surrounding discourse of anti-Semitism. However, a database of translations published in the period shows that while such views certainly shaped the selection of genre and source language, there was no simple suppression and numbers remained stable or even rose until 1940. This is accounted for on the one hand by the regime's promotion of certain translations, selected on criteria that draw on notions of literature's cultural specificity as an expression of the Volk soul. An approved translation is compared with its source, showing that consonance with this literary ideology has been enhanced by the detail of translation choices; official
Sturge, Kathryn Ecroyd
Germany; Foreign
'The alien within' : translation into German during the Nazi regime. The thesis examines the policy and practice of literary translation into German during the Nazi regime. It is shown that translation survived, albeit in a constrained form, throughout the period and that heavy official intervention was itself grounded in contradictory attitudes to translation. A consideration of the state regulation and reception of translation demonstrates that translated literature was regarded with suspicion as a potentially harmful invasion of the foreign. Terms used - such as the 'alien within' and the danger of miscegenation - clearly participate in the surrounding discourse of anti-Semitism. However, a database of translations published in the period shows that while such views certainly shaped the selection of genre and source language, there was no simple suppression and numbers remained stable or even rose until 1940. This is accounted for on the one hand by the regime's promotion of certain translations, selected on criteria that draw on notions of literature's cultural specificity as an expression of the Volk soul. An approved translation is compared with its source, showing that consonance with this literary ideology has been enhanced by the detail of translation choices; official
the alien within translation german nazi regime examines policy_practice literary_translation german nazi regime show translation survive albeit constrain form throughout_period heavy official intervention ground contradictory attitude translation consideration state regulation reception translation demonstrate translated literature regard suspicion potentially harmful invasion foreign terms use alien within danger clearly participate surround discourse anti_semitism however database translation_publish period show view certainly shape selection genre source language simple suppression number remain stable even rise account one_hand regime promotion certain translation select criterion draw notion literature cultural specificity expression soul approve translation compare source show literary ideology enhance detail translation choice official