In order to outline the dynamics of the translational exchange between Slovene and U.S. cultures, a survey of COBISS (Co-operative Online Bibliographic Systems and Services), the most exhaustive Slovene electronic online bibliographic source (COBISS, www.cobiss.si), was checked, focusing on book publications only. The results of the search showed that 11 047 literary books were translated from English into Slovene in the period between the beginning of the 19th century until the end of 2015. A closer look at the figures shows a clear growth trend in this period. 

    In the 19th century only 20 works were translated from English into Slovene, from 1900 to the end of WWII there was a tenfold increase in the number of translations from English into Slovene (261), and in the period when Slovenia belonged to Socialist Yugoslavia (1945-1991) this number again increased almost tenfold to 2482 translated English texts into Slovene. After Slovenia gained independence in 1991, the number of translations from English rose by four to 8306, and English has now become the most important source language in literary translation into Slovene.

    If we have a closer look at which U.S. literary texts were translated in different periods, we can see that almost half of the translated texts in the 19th century are by U.S. authors such as Maria Susanna Cummins (who is represented by 3 translators), Lewis Wallace, and Bret Harte. Also a text by Benjamin Franklin The Way to Wealth appeared in Slovene translation in 1812 and as many as two different Slovene translations of Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe were published in 1853, despite the fact that Slovenes had no experience with slavery. The majority of those translations, if not all, were, however, relay translation, done from the German translations of the English originals.

   In the twentieth century the number of translated literary works from the U.S. steadily increased, and in this period translators started to work from English originals. In the first half of the 20th century until the end of WWII we can find direct translations of works by James Fenimore Cooper, Herman Melville, Lewis Wallace, Mark Twain, Upton Sinclair, Sinclair Lewis, Washington Irving, Pearl S. Buck, Willa Cather, Margaret Mitchell, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jack London, and Ernest Thompson Seton, as well as translations of the works of Louis Adamic, a Slovene immigrant in the US.

    In the first years after the war the number in translations from English declined, while an interest in Russian literature suddenly increased. For example, in the period between 1945 and 1950 there were 144 literary translations made from Russian and only 31 from English. After the quarrel with Stalin in 1948, this trend changed: in the very short period between 1951 and 1955, 109 translations from English and only 42 translations from Russian were made.

   Most probably the change in political positions also influenced the increase in interest in U.S. authors. Thus, in the 1950s, the Slovene public was introduced to translations of E. A. Poe, William Faulkner, James M. Cain, and Sinclair Lewis. Some of the translations and retranslations targeted children and adolescents, in particular translations of works by Jack London, Walt Disney and Ernest Thompson Seton.

    In the 1960s the number of translated American literary works steadily grew; quite a few of them were still done for young audiences (e.g., works by Ernest Thomson Seton, Walt Disney, Jack London, Mark Twain, and James Fenimore Cooper). But this period also saw an increase in the translation of U.S. works targeting a more demanding readership, in particular works by Pearl S. Buck, Harper Lee, F. S. FitzGerald, Ernest Hemingway, John Doss Passos, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, John Steinbeck, Thomas Wolfe, Willa Cather, William Faulkner, and T. S. Eliot.

In the 1970s, besides translations of American classics, which were introduced to the Slovene public in previous decades, translations of plays by Edward Albee appeared along with prose works by Mario Puzzo, Gore Vidal, John Updike, Irving Wallace, Margaret Mitchell, Elia Kazan, Theodore Dreiser, Upton Sinclair, Truman Capote, Kurt Vonnegut Jr and Saul Below.

In the 1980s translations of Erica Jong, Philip Roth, Eugene O'Neill, Norman Mailer, V. V. Nabokov, Isaak Asimov, Charles Bukowski and Stephen King were published, while in 1990s, in addition to new translations of some classical U.S. authors (e.g., James Fenimore Cooper, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Tennessee Williams and Eugene O'Neill), the Slovene reading public was introduced to the translations of David Mamet, Toni Morrison, Phillip Roth, William Burroughs, Richard Bach, and John Irving. This period also saw quite a few of translations for a broader public (e.g., translations of works by Robert Ludlum, Danielle Steel, Michael Crichton and Woody Allen). And finally, in the 21st century, the Slovene readership has been presented with a wide range of translations of U.S. authors; let us mention just of few of the most prominent: Jonathan Franzen, Michael Chabon, Jeffrey Eugenides and Jennifer Egan.

*To cite this article: Nike K. Pokorn. 2016. The translational exchange between the Slovene and American cultures. http://prev-sl-us2015.ff.uni-lj.si/en/Results_Ia.html