Politika překladu. Nad korespondencí Jana Zábrany s Antonínem Přidalem

This article deals with various aspects of the ‘politics of translation’ in connection with the book When the Cage Keeps Falling (subtitle The Mutual Correspondence of Antonín Přidal and Jan Zábrana, 1963–1984). The political dimension concerns translation in the narrowest sense of the word, but also the choice of text and its reception in the cultural feld, communication with the publisher, number of copies and distribution, as well as (during the period of normalization) translation under foreign names, cancellation of contracts, and the relationship between the book market and samizdat. With this aim, the author works through various examples of Zábrana’s translations from Russian in the broader context of political phenomena and strategies. These examples, in the fnal analysis, appear exceptional insofar as Russian literature was the subject of increased ideological interest during the period under review.