Translation And The Role Of The Second World In The Anglophone Literary Polysystem

Abstract

Many observers of literary translation in the United States regret the low number of translations of foreign literature published in English; the figure of 3% is often cited (and gave its name to the website of Chad Post at Open Letter Books). Why do readers in the United States (and to some extent also in the UK and Canada) rely on “hyphenated” authors to process and “translate” the encounter of foreign cultures with the Anglophone First World? Who are these “hyphenated” writers, in the case of Eastern Europe? Where is the room for nonhyphenated literature in the Anglophone literary polysystem? And what are the implications of these tendencies on world literature as it is produced and taught today? Viewed in this context, East European literatures occupy a position that is both privileged and marginalized