ABSTRACT
In 1988, the Soviet writer and translator Semyon Lipkin published a fictionalized account of his life as a translator, titled Dekada, which was preceded by an autobiographical preface. This chapter explores the juxtaposition of this non-fictional representation of the translator’s life to the fictional one as a many-layered commentary on the Soviet translation of intranational literature, i.e., the literatures of the various Soviet republics. Special attention is given to the representation of the interlinear trot as a symbol of the hypocrisy of Soviet nationalities policy, where elaborate celebrations of the literature and culture of the various non-Russian Republics, known as dekady, often served to mask violent treatment by the state, up to and including forced resettlement of entire peoples. At the same time, such translation offered Lipkin the opportunity to create an “Imaginary East” within the confines of Soviet official culture.
