The Translation and Reception of John Steinbeck in Slovenia: A Bibliographic Exploration

Abstract

The Translation and Reception of John Steinbeck in Slovenia: A Bibliographic Exploration Vesna Krajnc Click for larger view Figure 1 John and Elaine Steinbeck (wearing hood) touring in Budapest, Magyarorszag (Hungary). Steinbeck's works were widely disseminated in Eastern Europe before he took this tour in 1947 [End Page 178] John Steinbeck is known among Slovenians as the writer of social protest novels exposing the difficulties of living in the United States. He is remembered as an empathetic reporter of fearful conditions on American farms during the 1930s, as a correspondent during World War II and the Vietnam War, and as a Nobel Prize winner for literature. Critics in Slovenia championed his work and helped him achieve popularity based upon his theme of social injustice, but this oversimplification also stunted his Slovenian readership's ability to appreciate the breadth of his literary and aesthetic accomplishments. Steinbeck's name can be first traced in the Slovenian periodical press in 1938. An unknown author of the article "An English novel of the previous year" thought that "Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men was the only novel of American prose worth mentioning, beside Hemingway's To Have and Have Not."1 Steinbeck's name appeared only twice more in Slovenian newspapers before any of his works were translated into the Slovenian language; in 1939 Anton Debeljak mentions him in the article "American Literature Today" in Jutro magazine2 (Steinbeck was also briefly mentioned in an anonymous article called "Notes" in Jutro in 1940). An article from 1943 about a Slovenian storyteller Gelči Jontes states that "the publishing house Plug is planning to translate several works of world-famous authors, among them: Herman Melville, Luigi Pirandello and John Steinbeck."3 The times that coincide with the beginnings of Steinbeck's literary career were not promising, neither in America nor in Slovenia. No wonder the works of foreign writers on Slovenian [End Page 179] bookshelves were rare. Neither is it surprising that Steinbeck's most famous novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939) elicited the biggest interest when it was translated in 1943. The translation was the work of Rudolf Kresal and it was published by Plug.4 An inappropriately translated title and many foreign expressions, especially in Croatian (the translator probably used a Croatian version of the book from 1940) bothered an unknown critic who wrote the article "John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath."5 The Slovenian language has changed a lot since 1943, and recent readers are also puzzled by the archaic expressions. Not many critical discussions can be found in Slovenian periodicals. Božidar Borko's article "Two Translations" (1944) mainly summarized the novel's content.6 After the first of Steinbeck's novels had been translated, it was followed by a several years pause which ended with a study, published in the magazine Novi svet in 1947. In "About the social novel in the United States of America," Russian author A. Starcev condensed his analytical review of socially realistic fiction in the United States.7 The first chronological survey of Steinbeck's work appeared in the article "The latest Steinbeck novel," published in the weekly Ljudski tednik in 1947.8 That same year a series of translations from the novel Tortilla Flat appeared in Ljudski tednik.9 A fragment from the novel can also be found in the newspaper Tovariš, translated by Anton Debeljak, named "Searching for Treasure."10 An important turning point in translating Steinbeck's works into Slovenian occurred in the 1952 and 1953. These years inaugurated the beginning of serial successive translations of his books. The first among them was the short novel Of Mice and Men.11 It was translated by Meta Gosak and published by Slovenski knjižni zavod in 1952. In the foreword, Božidar Borko claimed that "Of Mice and Men was the book that made [Steinbeck] one of the most popular American authors." Nonetheless, the translation of Of Mice and Men garnered even less critical attention than...