INDIVIDUAL DECISIONS IN A COLLECTIVIST IDEOLOGY: TWO CZECH TRANSLATIONS OF I. L. PERETZ’S SHORT STORY BONTSHE SHVAYG

This article is focused on Czech translations of Yiddish literature, specifically on two versions of “Bontshe shvayg” (Bontshe the Silent, 1894) by Polish-Yiddish author I. L. [Isaac Leib] Peretz published in the 1960s. The main aims of the analysis are to show: 1) how far the initial norm correlated with the explicit commentaries in the epitexts and peritexts; and 2) to what extent translators Jakub Markovič and Stanislav Taraszka were able to individually shape the initial norms within the frame of a collectivist ideology. Understanding the factors that influenced the translators’ decisions can provide insight into the role of ideology in shaping the preliminary, initial and operational norm.