Mirrors in a Labyrinth: Translations of Borges’s Texts on Literature in Separate Publications in Serbian

Abstract

Borges’s texts on literature, which include not only essays but also lectures and prefaces, have begun entering into the horizon of expectations of our reading audience during the early 1980s, almost at the same time as the poetic creations of this Hispano-American author, and much later in relation to the initial reception (1963) of his narrative prose. In the period of almost three decades, that is from 1983 to 2013, eleven special editions were published, which were entirely dedicated to Borges’s texts on literature and three mixed-matter anthologies in which such texts were represented along with Borges’s selected poems and stories.
From the extensive literary legacy of Jorge Luis Borges, three essay collections (History of Eternity, Other Research, What is Buddhism), two collections of lectures (Oral Borges, This Craft of Verse) and a collection of prefaces (Personal Library. Prefaces) were translated into Serbian. Various versions of his collected works, as well as some collections of essays and lectures (Discussion, Seven Nights) from which certain texts were selected and translated into Serbian, entered partially into the horizon of expectations of the Serbian readers.
All these Borges’s texts on literature were translated directly from the Spanish language (with the exception of Lazar Macura’s translation of the book This Craft of Verse from English), thanks to our eminent translators Radivoje Konstantinović, Silvia Monros Stojaković, Krinka Vidaković Petrov, Dragana Bajić, Marina Ljujić, Milan Komnenić, Radica Ostojić, Anđelija Stanojević, Predrag Marković and Biljana Bukvić Isailović, who in most cases were also the editors.
This type of reception of Borges’s texts on literature was held in the most important publishing centers in Serbia and it included fourteen publishers: the most popular were publishers from Belgrade (Stilos, No Limit Books, Bata, Rad, Prosveta, Silmir, Draganić, Narodna knjiga-Alfa, Paideia, Službeni glasnik), Novi Sad (Bratstvo-Jedinstvo, Svetovi), Niš (Gradina) and Čačak (Gradac). The circulation of the editions with Borges’s texts on literature in Serbian varied from 500 to 3,000 copies.
Borges’s texts on literature greatly contribute to a better understanding of his poetics in general as well as the stylistic procedures applied in the fictional creations. Therefore, the translatory reception of Borges’s texts on literature plays a very important role in accepting his entire work in the Serbian linguistic field. The published collections of Borges’s essays, lectures and prefaces testify to the high level of this reception during which a stable horizon of expectations was created, suitable for further modifications, enlargements and consolidation of literary taste of the Serbian readers.