Translation in the Albanian communist and post-communist context from a semiotic perspective

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn the semiotic perspective of Lotman, a semiosphere goes through a series of explosive and gradual changes. Explosive moments generate innovation in unpredictable ways while gradual progress ensures novelty via succession. The fact that the Albanian semiosphere developed from stagnation to explosion is demonstrated through emblematic translation cases. With regard to these milestones, the study analyses the relationship between the writer Ismail Kadare and his translator Jusuf Vrioni during the time when the control exercised by the regime had reached its harshest point. Then, the focus is placed on the feminist author-translator Diana Çuli and on the impact that her activism and her translations had during the post-communist time. Together with other young translators, Çuli has brought some of the greatest and provocative writers into the Albanian culture and has employed their motifs and themes to raise awareness on gender issues in order to improve women’s life.