Modern Iranian Fiction in the Soviet Union: translation and representation

Shagi/Steps. 2024. Vol. 10. No. 1. P. 107–124.

Nikitenko E.

During the Soviet era, numerous works of modern Iranian fiction were translated into Russian, and published in the Soviet Union. The amount of translated works and their thematic range correlated with the domestic agenda and the changes in the Soviet-Iranian relations, as well as with the current state of Iranian Studies in the Soviet Union. The influence of personal tastes and connections of certain Iran scholars engaged in the process of translation can also be detected. Prefaces and afterwords, usually written by specialists in the field of Iranian studies, presented the works of Iranian authors to the Soviet reading audience, providing them with the perception paradigm for the translated novels and short stories.

This paper aims to provide an analytical survey of the history of the translation of modern Iranian fiction into Russian and to trace the major trends in the representation of the translated works. We will also examine the list of the most prominent contemporary Iranian authors known to the Soviet readers and stages of its formation and development, focusing on its specific features and most evident gaps.

Keywords: translation history, история перевода, современная персидская литература, modern Persian literature, паратекст, literary translation in the USSR, paratexts, Iranian studies in the USSR, художественный перевод в СССР, иранистика в СССР