Cultural Transfer in Georgian-Ukrainian Literary Relations: Hrytsko Khalymonenko – Translator of Georgian Literature

Abstract

Translation as an interdisciplinary field is the subject of research in various branches of the humanities. Theoretical reflections on interme­di­aries, through which literary-cultural relations evolve, have always been and remain highly relevant both to translatology and comparative literature criticism.

The work of the Ukrainian Georgian scholar and translator, Hryts Khaly­monenko, has unjustly remained underappreciated by researchers. As highlighted in the selected analytical sources for this presentation, his trans­lation work is one of the most significant segments in the development and diversification of Georgian-Ukrainian literary relations in the second half of the 20th century.

In 2021, an interview with the elderly scholar and translator Hryts Khalymonenko was published in the 17-18th and 19th issues of the journal „Literary Ukraine“, with the title "The Patriarch's Autumn." This long interview features a subtitle: "I am 100% Ukrainian and 100% Georgian." The article includes many important and unknown facts that have never been analyzed in either Georgian or Ukrainian literary studies concerning their literary relations. Consequently, using the methodology of cultural tran­sfer, the presentation will be based on the information presented in the interview. By generalizing the information, we will analyze the so-called "third force," which, according to this methodology, refers to preparing the foundation for the acceptance of a foreign cultural context in the recipient culture, analyzing literary-cultural processes, supra-literary factors, reve­aling cultural specifics and intercultural differences, translation norms, and more. Research sources also include journalistic materials related to the tran­s­lator in Georgia, as well as Ukrainian-language translations by Khaly­mo­nenko that I have collected, whose theoretical translational research shows the hermeneutic paradigms for understanding foreign texts and cultures.

The methodology of cultural transfer involves identifying synchronous and diachronic relations between the contexts of the transmitting and receiving sides. As a result, the presentation will highlight general trends in the translation of Georgian literature in Ukraine and its place in the poly-systemic paradigm of literary translation. The research presents previously unknown facts and literary histories – the connections between the transla­tor and the Ukrainian dissident movement, as well as their opposition to the Soviet ideological context (for years, Khalymonenko was on the list of ban­ned authors, and his texts were not published, including those concerning the translation of Georgian literature). To further explore these unknown his­tories, the presentation uses qualitative research, primarily the key informant interview.