2021/03/12 by Itamar Even‐Zohar
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Translation Studies and Practices #Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies
paper · doi:10.4324/9780429280641-23
openalex publication_date 2021/03/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Itamar Even-Zohar’s essay, first published in 1978, assumes that literature is a “polysystem” of interrelated forms and canons. Even-Zohar imagines the body of translated literature as a system in its own right, existing in varying relationships with original compositions. Both original compositions and translations occupy “positions” in literary systems, whether “central” or “peripheral,” and both perform literary “functions,” whether “innovative” or “conservatory.” A minor literature—minor in relation to major literatures with longer and more richly developed traditions—may assign translation a central role in spurring innovation. In a major literature, translation may be assigned a peripheral role, conservatively adhering to norms rejected by original writing.