Article,
Gaby Thomson-Wohlgemuth. Translation under State Control. Books for Young People in the German Democratic Republic
Target, (2012)
DOI: 10.1075/target.24.1.11stu
Abstract
Gaby Thomson-Wohlgemuth. Translation under State Control. Books for Young People in the German Democratic Republic. New York-London: Routledge, 2009. xvi + 260 pp. ISBN 978-0-415-99580-1. Reviewed by Kate Sturge (Birmingham) Gaby Thomson-Wohlgemuth’s study of children’s literature in East Germany takes us into a surreal world of translation publishing where densely woven control mechanisms tried to ensure that all incoming literature for children and young people conformed to a strictly defined set of values. The author’s admirably thorough examination of publication statistics and censorship files offers a glimpse into an area of translation history that has otherwise been largely neglected — indeed, the main studies of the German Democratic Republic’s translation policy are by Thomson-Wohlgemuth herself (e.g. in Billiani’s 2007 collection on translation and censorship).
