Reception of Literary Translations by Pranas Dovalga

Abstract

The article examines the reception of the works of Pranas Dovalga, the Lithuanian translator from Czech, in the Lithuanian press between the two world wars, based on his biography and an over view of this reception in the texts by the journalist Petras Algis Mikša. The main focus of the research is on uncovering the pretexts and contexts of the reception of Dovalgaʼs translations, thus delving into the motives that encouraged the translator to render many Czech fiction authors into Lithuanian. In addition, the article analyzes the biographical links between Dovalgaʼs reviewers and the authors of the translationsʼ original texts and discusses the political currents in the Lithuanian press between the two world wars in which the reviewersʼ articles on Dovalgaʼs translations were published. The article concludes by showing that reviewersʼ opinions on the quality of Dovalgaʼs works correlate with the political beliefs of the authors, reviewers, and publications of his translations. The research presented in this article makes assumptions that could explain the motives and reasons behind some of Dovalgaʼs biographical choices.