The Translator’s Self-Creation and Translation Work: Povilas Gaučys’ Activities, 1921–1940

Abstract

The article aims to present the self-formation process of interwar Lithuanian diplomat Povilas Gaučys as a translator, as well as his translations and cultural articles from 1921 to 1940. The article analyses his contributions to the cultural life of Lithuania at the time through his translations, texts, and their contexts, and partially reviews the reception of Gaučys’ writings and the resulting polemics. It attempts to fill a historical gap, as Gaučys has traditionally been seen only as a diplomat of independent Lithuania. The study employs methods from the history of ideas, descriptive analysis, and intercultural exile studies. The
research reveals Gaučys’ general translation strategies and his chosen Western school of translation. His translations and other texts from 1921 to 1940 reveal the wide-ranging and
ambitious goals of Gaučys as a young translator: to translate literary classics while engaging with a variety of languages and cultures (French, Spanish, German, Russian, Greek). He can be considered one of the main translators of classical European texts (Ancient Greece, the Middle Ages) in interwar Lithuania. During the early period, Gaučys also published cultural
texts in journals such as Ateitis and Naujasis Židinys. Around 1921, he began contributing to Švietimo darbas, Lietuvos žinios, Naujoji Romuva, Margutis, and Aidai.