Translating Poetry to Resist Soviet Coloniality: Tracing the Legacy of Uldis Bērziņš
Translating Poetry to Resist Soviet Coloniality: Tracing the Legacy of Uldis Bērziņš

Summary/Abstract: The article traces the history of translations made by Bērziņš in the Soviet period and argues that Bērziņš’s work as a translator should be read as a form of subverting Soviet coloniality. Specific translations are read as a form of creative resistance – both in terms of the choice of texts, and the translating strategies used. The article begins with discussing the possibilities of using postcolonial thinking in the historical context of the Baltics. It them moves on to reflections about the processes of literary translation in the Soviet sphere, emphasizing the uniquely Latvian aspects. Finally, the article draws from postcolonial theory and translations studies to synthesize them into an analysis of Bērziņš’s translations. It is shown that Bērziņš developed a kind of translation-writing that worked with the linguistic specificity of the Latvian language by creating new vocabulary, thus enacting a kind of strategic national essentialism that stands against the Soviet impetus to deafen expressions of national specificity. At the same time, Bērziņš’s translations are creative artworks that evade essentialization because a creative translation proves the non-existence of an original “essence”, and within the fact that there can be a legitimate translation that is simultaneously creative it is evident that texts do not contain any kind of cultural identity but is instead in constant becoming as a web of interpretation. The creativity of Bērziņš’s can be related to his humanistic stance which sees intercultural relations as a polylogue where there is no room for the imperial distinction between an “us” and a “them”.

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