Translation in Portugal during the Estado Novo Regime

Abstract

Without denying responsibility on the part of Portuguese scholars, it is a fact that the history of translation in Portugal remains non-existent to most translation studies experts. The most striking example are the two editions of Mona Baker’s Encyclopedia of Translation Studies (2009), in the second part of which, ‘History and Traditions’, Portugal is totally absent. The present brief study aims to help fill this gap in the world map of relations between cultures and traditions, although on the relatively small scale of a four-decade period. Research on translation and censorship in fascist systems started several years ago without a Portuguese contribution, although some work has now begun to make up for this conspicuous absence.¹