Translators as Ambassadors and Gatekeepers: The Case of South Slav Literature

Like scholars and journalists, translators also struggle with notions of objectivity, impartiality, commitment and engagement. They are not merely humble language workers, some claim; their work involves them in conflicts of this world and makes them inevitably partial: ‘engaged and committed, either implicitly or explicitly’ (Tymoczko, 2000, 24). Mona Baker (2013, 24) believes that the inevitable partiality of translation is not to be bemoaned, but embraced and celebrated, and used ‘as a tool for changing the world’. Translators never simply reproduce texts, but ‘reframe aspects of political conflicts, and hence participate in the construction of social and political reality’ (Baker,