Translation Policy in The Interwar Period. The International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation (1925-1946)

Abstract

The historical study of translation policies is certainly in its infancy, but historical research has not even dealt in-depth with the development of cultural policies in important institutional settings such as the League of Nations (henceforth the LN). We can count on a large literature on the history and the political organization of the LN, an international organization created as a result of the Paris Peace Conference after the First World War, but there are very few studies on the cultural activities of the LN; despite the fact that ¿cultural diplomacy¿ and ¿soft power¿ were among the LN¿s most important goals (Grandjean 2018, Carbó Catalan forthcoming). Within the framework of three distinct levels of diplomatic communication (unilateral, bilateral and multilateral) (Vimr 2018: 42), this chapter aims to offer an historical view of the role of the League of Nations in the interwar period (Lacqua 2011) from the perspective of translation. Specifically, I will explore the translation activities of the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation (1925-1946) (henceforth IIIC), and the impact of its translation policies (Meylaerts 2011), both in Europe and beyond. This chapter is divided into three parts: first, I will begin with a brief introduction to the history of the IIIC; then, I will provide an overview of its translation policies and its translation activities, suggesting some reflections on the concept and forms of ¿translation policy¿ in the interwar period. Finally, I will focus on the history and role of a literary series on Latin American literature and the Buenos Aires meeting in 1936 (Giuliani 2020), revealing the close and fruitful collaboration between the IIIC and the PEN Club. When the IIIC¿s role was taken over by UNESCO, in 1946, its translation policies and main activities were maintained ¿ a confirmation of the long-term effectiveness of its initiatives (Vimr 2018).