Lucian Blaga - the Translation Theorist

What is it about?

Our research focuses on the metatexts signed by Lucian Blaga as a translator. We prove that, due to the preference of Blaga for ethnocentric translation and his philosophy on poetic translation seen as interpretation, he is a translation theorist. The premise on which we base our research is represented by the remark belonging to Sean Cotter, according to which, in the case of Blaga, translation is a manner of challenging the linguistic policy imposed in Romania during the 1950s by the new regime. In this regard, we analyse the dichotomy margins versus centre in translation and the importance of the translation process in Romania during that decade. The pattern suggested by Lawrence Venuti in nowadays Translation Studies is reversed in the case of the translation subjected to our study: the translator abandons his “invisibility”, while ethnocentric translation becomes, in itself, a technique of resistance. The analysis of certain metatexts signed by Blaga proves that he had a modern philosophy on translation, which allows us to consider him a translation scholar avant la lettre. Thus, a careful analysis of metatexts signed by translators of that period would contribute to a greater visibility of trends existing in Romanian Translation Studies.

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Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The paper aims to prove that ethnocentric translation may become a technique of resistance in case of minor languages and cultures under specific totalitarian regimes.

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