Translation of Language Elements Characteristic of the Soviet Social and Cultural Discourse in M. Bulgakov’s Novel The Master and Margarita

Abstract

In Mikhail Bulgakov's novel Master and Margarita, which contains numerous culturally specific details, the author brilliantly uses language elements typical of his time. Current analysis focuses on Gradišnik's translation of the novel into Slovene from the point of view of the translation of culturally specific terms characteristic of the Soviet discourse of the 1930s. The emphasis is on the translation of word-formations of non-standard "Soviet Russian" expressions, called Sovietisms in the paper. The author analyzes Gradišnik's translation on the lexical level, i.e., lexicon typical of the Soviet speech and the adequacy of its translation.