Abstract:
This article discusses the processes of bringing translations of literatures from nations
on the (semi)periphery to the German publishing market. Using Dutch and Polish
literatures as case studies, and drawing empirical data from the archives of the
publishing house Suhrkamp Verlag, covering the period from the early 1960s until 1993.
Zajas examines what aspects of the German publishing landscape have propelled
Dutch literature to a relatively prominent position in the second half of the twentieth
century, while literary translations from Polish came to only about half the number and
were thus relegated to the periphery. Latour’s actor-network theory (ANT) allows Zajas
to broaden the theoretical scope of the scholarship on the social and organizational
conditions of translation.
