The Projected Past: Why Were Translated Certain Historical Novels?

The 140 years between 1850 and 1990 cover an important period from the beginning of modern literature and modern publishing houses in the second half of the nineteenth century till the end of the Communist regime. Over this period some 450 Dutch and Flemish literary works were translated into Czech and some 75 into Slovak. Historical novels and novellas make up a good part of them.

As Connor (2015) has clearly shown, historical novels were a popular genre in Communist times for ideological reasons. They were considered “excellent educational instruments for people not yet apt to understand heavier work like the Communist Manifesto” as the young translator Olga Krijtová wrote to the Communist Dutch writer Theun de Vries in the early 1950s. Reviews, editor’s reports and editorial statements indicate, however, that historical novels had a similar function already before Communism, from the beginnings of Czech and Slovak translation of Dutch written literature.

In this paper, we will discuss several historical novels in Czech translation by Hendrik Conscience, Louis Couperus, Madelon Székely-Lulofs, Theun de Vries, and Harry Mulisch – to illustrate changing ideological views.