Slavic Folktales in Georgia: Translation and Adaptation

Abstract

This article examines the translation and adaptation of Slavic folktales in Georgia from the Soviet period to the present, analysing their role as instruments of cultural transmission, ideological mediation, and literary transformation. Drawing on a multidisciplinary framework that combines translation studies, folklore studies, polysystem theory, and comparative literary analysis, the study investigates Georgian translations of Czech, Bulgarian, Polish, Slovak, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Russian, and Yugoslav folktales published between the 1950s and the present day. Particular attention is paid to the ideological framing of Soviet-era editions, the function of Russian as an intermediary language, and the translation strategies employed in rendering culture-specific elements, mythological figures, magical objects, and narrative structures. The analysis demonstrates that translated folktales functioned simultaneously as vehicles of socialist cultural policy and as dynamic agents of intercultural dialogue, fostering enduring literary connections between Georgia and the Slavic world. At the same time, translators actively negotiated between foreignization and domestication, integrating Slavic narratives into Georgian folkloric and literary traditions while preserving their cultural distinctiveness. The study further examines contemporary theatrical adaptations, demonstrating that these narratives continue to circulate beyond their original ideological context as living cultural texts that undergo continual reinterpretation. By tracing the historical evolution of translated and adapted Slavic folktales in Georgia, the article argues that translation should be understood not as secondary reproduction but as an active process of cultural creation that reshapes literary systems, collective memory, and intercultural communication.