Political censorship and translations at the semiperiphery: Érico Veríssimo's political novel in Romania
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7968.2026.e109494Keywords:
literary translation, political censorship, Brazilian LiteratureAbstract
This article analyses the Romanian translation of Érico Veríssimo’s novel Incidente em Antares, published in 1975, during the communist dictatorship, highlighting the role of political censorship and its brutal interventions in the text. To contextualize the analysis, the paper presents the “culture of translation” in Romania, the institutions of political censorship during the communist period, and outlines a brief overview of the translations of Brazilian literature in Romania throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries. In the core section of the article, the fragments suppressed by the censors are identified and analysed. The interventions selected for discussion highlight the themes carefully monitored by the censorship authorities, such as criticism of communism (its ideology, political system, and prominent figures), sexuality (especially homosexuality, but also abortion), religion, and fascism. In this way, we demonstrate how, under dictatorial regimes, the translation of fiction—far from being a neutral act—becomes a field of tension between literary creation and political power.
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