Publishing Chinese Literary Works During 1965–2018 Romania: An in-Depth Study in the Sociology of Literature

Abstract

According to the sociological theory of literature, constraints on the creation and share of cultural works can be placed between two extremes: one with a high level of politicization and the other with a high level of commercialization (Sapiro 2003). Following the principles of Sociology of Translation, the overall objective of the present research is to closely map and analyze the publishing activity of Romania concerning China and Chinese literature during the two stages of Romanian history—1965–1989—which represents the Communist regime of Ceausescu; 1989–2007—a period of transition to democracy, marked by chaos and reestablishment of international relations and 2007–2018—which corresponds to the current period of Romania’s recent history, marked by a strong pro-European and Western direction. The socio-cultural as well as linguistic and literary meanings of the substratum of the text, but also the macro-context in which the literary works are created, can be crucial factors that affect the reader’s understanding and reception of translated texts. However, this is a problem that conventional concepts of translation cannot always solve without sacrifice, either in the sense of understanding of the translated text or in the lack of integral transmission of the substrates of the source text. This shows the need for further investigations into new principles and methods to address the cultural issue of translations. This need is the goal of the present research, a need to which we hope to make a modest but significant contribution. In order to obtain a clear picture, as accurate as possible of the literary relations between Romania and China during two completely opposite political regimes, we carried out an extended study; through quantitative research, we created a statistical database on two stages: the first part containing literary and non-fictional Romanian works that address and discuss issues related to China; the second part includes literary translations of Chinese literature into Romanian, either by direct translation or by an intermediate language. Mapping not only the number of works, but also the topics addressed by writers along the two periods of the political life of Romania, we focused on the specific sociological questions on the interest and functions of translation, the agents and institutions included, on the space in which it is located, but also on the political and economic constraints that surround them.