Czech Reception of Postcolonial Fiction: Reading New Literatures in English in a Post-socialist Situation
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| Year of publication | 2014 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | The paper explores acculturation of translated New Literatures in English by Czech lay readers. In translation theory, the collective collaborative forging of relevance of the translated work of literature to the receiving culture has been termed 'acculturation' (Lefevere, 1998). This paper however focuses on individual spontaneous testimonies of this search for relevance by readers as reflected in their posts on reader websites, which are termed here 'reader-response acculturation'. This exploration may provide valuable insights into how actual lay readers (as opposed to critics or academicians) integrate the values imported through translations of literature created in specific postcolonial situations into their own value systems. Some of the questions the paper will try to answer are the following: To what extent does individual reader reception focus on the postcolonial dimensions of the works (compared to their other dimensions)? How do readers resolve the tension between their cultural situation and the one in the mediated fictional world? Is reference to East-Central European versions of postcolonialism a common strategy or not? |