Special Issue | Rethinking Soviet Translation Studies

Translation Studies: Theory and Practice [journal]

Special Issue 3 - Call for Papers Theme: Rethinking Soviet Translation Studies Guest Editor: Brian James Baer Deadline for submissions: February 1, 2026 Submission link: https://journals.ysu.am/index.php/transl-stud The international scientific journal Translation Studies: Theory and Practice, published by Yerevan State University, is now accepting submissions for Special Issue 3, which sets out to revisit and rethink a field that has long been boxed in by Cold War clichés and post-Soviet amnesia: Soviet Translation Studies. Since the founding of World Literature publishing house in 1918, translation has been at the very center of Soviet political and cultural life both as a techne of internationalism—an important means of fostering transnational solidarity within the mutli-ethnic, multilingual Soviet state and beyond it—and as a symbol of that internationalism and of the Soviet Union’s commitment to it. This led to some of the most sophisticated and sustained theorizing of translation in the world in the decades preceding World War II. At the same time, translation was a site of contradiction and paradox. Repeatedly, the state’s ambitious goals were undermined by a lack of trained translators, and in the 1930s, the increasing xenophobia of the Stalinist state affected not only what texts could be translated but also how—by the end of the decade, foreignizing approaches (chuzheiazychnost’ in Andrei Fedorov’s formulation) would no longer be tolerated. At the same time, increasing Russian chauvinism affected translation practices in the various Republics in ways that put the lie to the official Soviet rhetoric of fraternity and “friendship of peoples.” Informed by Soviet revisionist history, archival-based studies of translation in the USSR, especially in the pre-World War II era, and recent calls to incorporate Soviet World Literature more fully into World Literature Studies, this special issue invites scholars to investigate all aspects of translation in the Soviet Union. We welcome papers addressing (but not limited to) the following topics: Soviet-era translation theories: key figures, concepts and schools Translation as a tool of ideological dissemination and cultural diplomacy Censorship and creativity: translating under surveillance Translations within and between Soviet republics and satellite states Publishing infrastructures, translators’ unions and institutional control The role of translation in shaping a socialist canon Multilingualism, minor languages and Soviet language policy Case studies of translated texts, genres or authors Translating “the West”: resistance, adaptation or re-signification The global afterlife of Soviet-translated literature Internationalist aesthetics in theory and practice Translation and the Making of Soviet World Literature Translation in Soviet periodicals and book series We particularly encourage interdisciplinary approaches that connect Translation Studies with Comparative Literature, Slavic and Eurasian Studies, Cultural History and Postcolonial and Global South Studies. N.B. Manuscripts must be original, in English and not under review elsewhere. Manuscripts should be no shorter than 4,000 words and no longer than 6,000 words, including references and footnotes. All submissions undergo double-blind peer review. Accepted papers will be published in Special Issue 3 of TSTP. Please follow the author guidelines available at: https://journals.ysu.am/index.php/transl-stud/about/submissions For questions or proposals, contact us at tstp.ysu@gmail.com or tstp@ysu.am web site: https://journals.ysu.am/index.php/transl-stud/announcement/view/15