From Dostoevsky to Yeltsin: unsuccessful translations and Russian literary landings in the Irish language

Abstract

This article proposes the metaphor of prizemliénie (landing) as a new investigative approach to Translation Studies. The prizemliénie refers to literary texts that " they land" in the literary field of the target language without acquiring a wide readership or that integrate the culture of arrival. With a focus on literary translation from Russian to Irish, I follow the record of activities of An Gúm, the official organization for Irish Free State publications, with attention to what concerns literary translation; I do a close reading and a case study of Dostoevsky's first Irish translation, made in 1938; and examine the habitusof three of the most significant literary translators from Russian to Irish. In conclusion, I argue that even the minimal cultural interaction maintained by the prizemliénie plays an important role in preserving the target language.