Independent Researcher

Self-Translating and censorship Translators tend to select foreign literary texts for translation into their mother-tongue for different reasons. Sometimes, their selection is based on the fame of a certain writer among his or her own people, or for the awarding of a prestigious international prize to a writer, or on the recommendation of an authoritative figure: a scholar, a critic, or a publisher. At other times, however, the opposite can be true. A writer who is not known among his or her own people is translated into another language, because his or her writing subverts the values of the national tradition, or destroys certain clichés about other nations, or simply because his or her work appeals to the translator.1 But we should not entertain the illusion that literary translators are always free agents. Although their literary taste and ideology may play an important role in their selection of foreign texts they often have to consider the literary, political and economic climate of their time. They simply do not translate texts because they like them. They are very much aware of the fact that translation cannot be brought to a fruitful end unless other authoritative bodies support them, and unless a publisher is found at the end of the ordeal. In short, personal, literary, social, political and economic factors always play an important role in the selection and translation of a foreign text. Normally the literary translator, who selects or is helped in selecting a foreign text, is expected to be a master of at least two languages including his or her own native tongue. Nevertheless, translation is usually done from the foreign language into the translator’s mother-tongue. The rationale is obvious. The translator is normally more rooted in his or her native language and culture, while the foreign language is acquired. So it is usually safer to ascertain the identity of a translator and the linguistic and cultural heritage from which she or he comes. The accepted norm for a literary translator is that of a figure who moves from on