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Russia in translation

Research group
01.01.2022 -
School of Humanities, Philosophical Faculty
Information People Publications

The research team asks how translated literature constructs, reproduces and questions images of other cultures and societies. Translation is usually (and mistakenly) understood as a neutral activity. However, translation can involve politically and ideologically coloured processes of selection and editing, through which the original work is shaped to fit the literary field of the target culture. The research team will study translation practices and processes that usually ”get lost” in the finished translation. In particular, the research focuses on translations of Russian-language fiction and non-fiction on Russia published in the 21st century. In Finland, readers of Russian literature have traditionally believed that works of fiction provide information about Russian society and history. Is this perception changing? We will also try to find out, how the translation and reception of Russian literature in Finland is changing as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Cooperation

  • University of Gothenburg

    Malin Podlevskikh Carlström

  • University of Iceland

    Rebekka Thrainsdottir

Publications

  • Havumetsä, N., H. Kemppanen, M. Sorvari, E. Vottonen 2024. “Paratekstianalyysi suomennoskirjallisuuden tutkimusmenetelmänä [Paratext analysis as a research method in literary translation into Finnish].” Mikael: Kääntämisen ja tulkkauksen tutkimuksen aikakauslehti, 17, 1, 58–72, DOI: 10.61200/mikael.137428

    Havumetsä, Nina. 2025. “This Is Not Fiction: Russia and the Soviet Union in Finnish Translated Nonfiction in 2000–2023.” Perspectives 33 (3): 483–501. doi:10.1080/0907676X.2025.2450642.

    Sorvari, Marja. 2024. “The Reception of Post-Soviet Russian Fiction through the Peritexts of Finnish Translations.” Perspectives 33 (3): 418–31. doi:10.1080/0907676X.2024.2355189.

    Sorvari, Marja, Nina Havumetsä, and Erja Vottonen. 2025. “Russia in Translation: Nordic Perspectives.” Perspectives 33 (3): 411–17. doi:10.1080/0907676X.2025.2477370.

    Vottonen, Erja. 2024. “Reception of Finnish Translations of Contemporary Russian Fiction: Unveiling Cultural Perceptions through Book Reviews.” Perspectives 33 (3): 432–49. doi:10.1080/0907676X.2024.2355200.

  • Sorvari, Marja, Nina Havumetsä, and Erja Vottonen. 2025. “Russia in Translation: Nordic Perspectives.” Special issue of the journal Perspectives 33 (3).

Posters and presentations

Professors

Senior Researchers

Post-doctoral Researchers

Publications

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