Ludvík Kundera. Translating German Literature into Czech
Ludvík Kundera. Translating German Literature into Czech

Summary/Abstract: Ludvík Kundera, a significant Czech translator, had been systematically working on Czech translations of German literature in the second half of the 20th century. The communist regime in former Czechoslovakia made his work complicated, for example by censorship and publication bans. Many translations carried out by Kundera were indeed published, although they were “covered” by another translator, or, they were published without stating any translator’s name at all. Some translations by Kundera were published in samizdat. Furthermore, the social and political situation in the “source country” was rather difficult. At that time, Germany was split into two states: Western Federal Republic of Germany, and Eastern German Democratic Republic. Therefore, what is today understood as German literature of the second half of the 20th century are literatures of two countries in fact: the literature of West Germany and the literature of East Germany. In my contribution, I will focus on detailed characteristics of the translation work of Ludvík Kundera.

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