Literature and Politics Conference - 6-7 July 2009, Sydney - Australasian Association for Literature

Since the 1960s/70s, the Indigenous literatures of Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand have been translated into roughly more than 20 different European languages other than English and consequently been published by European presses. German is in both instances the most frequent among the translation languages. German is followed by French and Dutch. In general, there are more Indigenous writings translated from New Zealand than from Australia. The translations of both literatures show similarities as well as differences—to mention but three examples: in Australia, significantly more female than male authors have been translated, while in Aotearoa/New Zealand, significantly more male than female writers have been published. The most obvious similarity, in turn, is that the systematic reception of both literatures commenced roughly at the same time, that is, the late 1980s/early 90s. Also, both literatures have undergone almost the same patterns of decrease and increase in the annual numbers of translated publications. The translated genres, by way of contrast, are very different: more non-fictional genres in the Australian case and more fictional genres in the Aotearoa/New Zealand case.

Drawing on statistical data, this paper explores some vital aspects of the politics surrounding the publishing of both Indigenous literatures. It argues that the publishing of Indigenous literatures in German translation is heavily influenced by marketing strategies of the German publishers as well as broader socio-political events.

Oliver Haag studied History and Political Science, and specialised in the German reception of Australian and New Zealand literatures, and theories of nation-building. He is currently working on a collaborative research project entitled ‘unity through diversity’ and on a project on the reception of Oceanic literatures in Europe.