Use the "back" button of your browser to return to the list of abstracts.
LITERATURE OF PROGRESS: THE HISTORY OF SOVIET TRANSLATIONS INTO AMHARIC. [Abstract ID: 0811-02]
Amharic literature in the 60s has experienced a unique and extensive inflow of books translated from Russian. These translations could be perceived as a part of the huge Soviet project of ideological expansion when books on Marxism-Leninism were translated into a great variety of languages. However, the case of Ethiopia was rather different as most of the books translated from 1961 to 1976 represented classics of Russian and Soviet literature and children stories. At the same time, for example, speakers of Swahili and Hausa were mostly exposed to Lenin’s writings. Pieces of Russian classics have become an important part of Ethiopian cultural environment and are well remembered until the present day. While the topic raises a number of intriguing questions, this preliminary presentation is focused on the statistical data and its interpretation in the light of the relationship between two countries.