CENSORSHIP OF MARIO VARGAS LLOSA’S NOVEL THE TIME OF THE HERO IN THE SOVIET UNION (SOVIET RUSSIA AND GEORGIA)

A CENSURA DA NOVELA A CIDADE E OS CÃES DE MARIO VARGAS LLOSA NA UNIÃO SOVIÉTICA (RÚSSIA SOVIÉTICA E GEÓRGIA)

Abstract

In Mario Vargas Llosa’s first novel, The Time of the Hero, the author describes his adventures and experiences as a Peruvian. Vargas Llosa exposes the vices, racial and class prejudices, machismo and corruption of Peruvian society during his adolescence. He clearly depicts Peru through his eyes, his real face. The work fought against Francoist censorship for almost a year, and was eventually published in Spain with only eight changes. Novel censorship has long been the object of research in many scholarly works in Spain. In this article, we will discuss the censorship of the novel in Soviet Russia and, consequently, in Georgia. The censorship of the USSR was much harsher than the Francoist censorship of the work. The article analyzes the changes made to the work by the USSR censorship and the consequences of these changes.

Keywords
The Time of the Hero ; Censorship; Soviet Russia; Georgia

Resumo

No primeiro romance de Mario Vargas Llosa, A Cidade e os Cães, o autor descreve as aventuras e experiências da sua adolescência. Vargas Llosa expõe os vícios, preconceitos raciais e de classe, machismo e corrupção da sociedade peruana durante o período da ditadura de Odría. O autor representa o Peru através dos seus olhos e mostra-nos a verdadeira face de seu país naquela época. A obra lutou contra a censura do Franco por quase um ano e foi finalmente publicada na Espanha com apenas oito modificações. A censura do romance por Franco tem sido objeto de investigação por muito tempo, ao contrário da censura do livro na União Soviética. Neste artigo, descrevemos a censura do romance na Rússia Soviética e também na Geórgia, que tem sido muito mais austera do que a censura franquista. Além disso, analisamos os cortes e as mudanças feitas nesta obra literária e os seus efeitos.

Palavras-chave
A Cidade e os Cachorros ; Censura; Rússia Soviética; Geórgia

Introduction

Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa’s scandalous novel The Time of the Hero (1963) describes a regime based on the violent system of Leoncio Prado military academy. The work is a critique of the various manifestations of the dictatorial system established in Peru in the 1950-60s and the society living under this dictatorship. Numerous scholars were interested in the study of Vargas Llosa’s first novel. Not a single scholar has been interested in the study of the novel and its Francoist censorship. In this article we will discuss the censorship of the work in Soviet Russia and Georgia, which put a much bigger stigma on the work than it was in the case of Spanish censorship. Information on this part of the history of the work is quite scarce. The purpose of this study is to comparatively analyze the first edition of the work (original), Russian translation and two Georgian translations (1979 and 2017) and to discuss and evaluate the cuts and changes made by the USSR censorship, which significantly changed the language of the work and deprived it of its main advantage - realism.

Mario Vargas Llosa completed the work in Paris in early 1962, and it was only published in October 1963. Naturally, publishing a novel would be difficult in the face of Francoist censorship, and the author was well aware of this. M. V. Llosa studied at the Leoncio Prado Military Academy from 1950-1952, and in the novel he depicts this period. The book describes the collapse of a military academy operating under a dictatorial regime, this is the dictatorship of Manuel Apollinario Odria (1948-1950, 1950-1956) with the obvious Nazi elements as most of the dictatorships typical of Latin American countries. Hence it was not ideologically different from the Franco dictatorship. The language of the work and the sexuality expressed in it also posed a resistance to the publication of the novel. Nevertheless the book was eventually published with 8 changes. However, under Soviet censorship, the work was subjected to much harsher censorship.

M. V. Llosa began writing the novel in 1958. He was 22 years old at the time and was protesting against Odria’s dictatorship. In the process of working on the novel, his sympathies with communist ideology were evident; moreover, he was an outspoken supporter of the Peruvian Communist Party and the Cuban revolution. Nevertheless, in Soviet Russia pursuing an obvious communist ideology, many episodes of the censorship novel were cut out and changed even further. The novel was published in the Soviet Union in 1965 by the publishing house Molodaya Guardiya, edited by L. Bespalova. To better understand this period in the history of the novel, let us briefly review the Soviet censorship of that period.

The Time of the Hero under the Soviet censorship

During the publication of Mario Vargas Llosa’s first novel, The Time of the Hero, in 1965, the country was ruled by Leonid Brezhnev (1964-1982). In the era of “stagnation”, the institution of censorship was modernized, as a result of which censorship bodies were transformed into oversight bodies, and the responsibility of editors was significantly increased. As the Russian historian Tatiana Goriaeva (2009) writes in her book Political Censorship in the USSR 1917-1991, all kinds of pre-censorship was carried out by the editorial board during this period. She was responsible for providing information or artistic products to the public and resolving all conflict situations prior to their publication. The party retained crucial, controlling and regulating functions in the field of ideology, while the secondary function of further control remained in the hands of state censors (Goriaeva, 2009, p. 350).

One of the most effective methods of Soviet censorship was the ideologically adapted translation of the so-called Censorship through translation that has resulted in the falsification of many literary works. Censorship in this case had two main purposes: to preserve and reinforce the values introduced by the regime and to filter out all kinds of “polluting” material coming in from abroad.

According to Purificación Meseguer (2015), a professor at the University of Murcia, censorship through translation can be due to the translator’s caution (autocensorship by the translator) or to the editor’s request. There are basically two types of translation censorship: removing episodes and semantically transforming individual words to fit the prevailing ideology and the receiving audience (Meseguer, 2015, p. 113). In the Soviet Union, translation was mainly used for two purposes: to avoid the undesirable influence of the original language and ideology, and to spread Soviet ideology.

In this case, the question arises as to what dangers Soviet Russia saw in M. V. Llosa’s novel and why there was a “remake” of the work. As mentioned above, in the 1960s, especially in the early 1960s, M. V. Llosa was a proponent of communist ideas, and in the novel one of the strongest pillars of the Nazi dictatorship - the military system - was criticized, so Soviet censorship could not have ideological problems with it. The novel was therefore censored for its moral character, due to the language used in the work and the sexual episodes.

The novel was translated into Russian by Dionisio Garcia¹ and the famous Russian philologist Natalia Trauberg. Valery Stolbov, a friend of Dionisio Garcia, a journalist and editor-in-chief of the Spanish edition of Foreign Literature magazine, asked Mario Vargas Llosa to translate The Time of the Hero for his magazine, and this is where the idea of translating the novel began. As for Natalia Trauberg, as she mentions in one of her interviews, she was not fascinated by magical realism and Latin American literature and did not want to stay with the book for a year or six months (Fanailova, 2005). In this case the question is, were the changes made to the novel the result of the translators’ caution or was it due to the publisher’s requirements? Natalia Trauberg answers this question in one of her interviews:

What we were translating was nonsense, there were prohibitions, but we generally translated what the publisher gave us. The fact is that in the Soviet period, the translator was not a freelancer. He was in the service of the state and state ideology. If the translator was ready to perform his official duties with dignity, that is, to translate what the publishing house had to offer, he could really live in peace for a year or two and befriend his novel.

(Fanailova, 2005).

During his visit to the USSR in 1968 to the publishing house Molodaya Guardiya, M. V. Llosa was interested in the censored passages made in his book. As Kristina Buynova (2021) writes in the article “Mario Vargas Llosa in the Soviet Union”, the author disagreed with the censorship of his work and even demanded the abolition of print publication of the work, but his demand was refused (Buynova, 2021, p. 89). M. V. Llosa was surprised and outraged that under Francoist censorship he did not allow censorship to make any significant changes to the work, and Soviet censorship “amputated” his novel. According to M. V. Llosa in an interview with Lana Kalandia, the editor replied him that after reading some episodes of hir novel, Soviet couples could no longer look each other in the eye and the publisher censored the work on a moral note (Kalandia, 2020). I think that this episode answers the above question precisely and once again shows that the changes in the translation were made not by the translators but by the publishing house itself.

Changes in the novel by Soviet censorship

I should mention that the materials about the censorship of the novel are not kept in the Russian state archives. It is possible that some kind of material is stored in Glavlit², which is not accessible to ordinary citizens. Therefore, the research conducted in the article is based on a comparative analysis of the original of the novel (first edition), the Russian edition and two Georgian translations. It is noteworthy that all materials published in Soviet Russia were distributed in the same way in all other countries of the Soviet Union. It was virtually impossible to publish this or that material in other countries of the Soviet Union without the permission of Moscow and the instructions of the Glavlit. It is due to this fact that foreign literature in the languages of the USSR countries was translated from Russian translations published in Moscow. One of the examples of this is the first Georgian version of the novel, which was translated in 1979 by Amiran Gabiskiria. The book contains exactly the same cuts and changes as its Russian translation. It should be noted that in 2017, for the second time in Georgia, the novel was translated by Lana Kalandia, this time the full text, as for Russia, after the translation of Trauberg and Garcia, a new, full text translation of the book is not available. In this study we discuss the changes in the Russian and first Georgian translations of the novel in relation to the second Georgian translation.

Censorship of the novel includes both cutting and mitigation. There is a version that Soviet Russia cut out 30, 40 or 50 pages in the book, which is not true. The novel has 15 pages, which is 5% of the total Russian translation. Some of the cut episodes are sexual in nature, some involve cadet vocabulary, and some episodes are omitted for no reason. The following cuts are made in the original edition (1963) of the novel:

1. Zoophilia act in hen-coop - p. 31-34 - Episode of sexual intercourse

2. The last part of the episode of the meeting between the Poet and the “Golden Toes” - p. 96-97 - Episode of sexual intercourse

3. Cadets talking after the Poet’s visit to the “Golden Toes” - p. 98 – Vocabulary

4. Masturbation competition episode with Paulino - p. 107-108-109-110-111 - Episode of sexual intercourse

5. Episode of writing a Poet’s erotic story - p. 125 and 128 - Sexual act episode / Vocabulary

6. Episode of Jaguar and Teresa - p. 140 - For no reason

7. Military training episode - p. 166 - For no reason

8. Boa’s monologue, his and Vallano’s conversation - p. 174 – Vocabulary

9. Cadets talking to the Poet - p. 174-175 – Vocabulary

10. Boa’s monologue, his and Skimpy’s relationship episode - p. 180 - Episode of sexual intercourse

11. Boa’s monologue, the conversation between Vallano and the Poet, and the episode of Boa and Skimpy’s relationship - p. 228 – Vocabulary

12. Jaguar brothel episode - p. 260 - Episode of sexual intercourse

13. Boa’s monologue, episode of his fantasy - p. 267 - Episode of sexual intercourse

14. Title of one of the Poet’s stories - p. 286 – Vocabulary

15. Epilogue epigraph - p. 321 - For no reason

In addition to the cuts in the novel, the altered paragraphs are clearly noticeable in order to alleviate the vocabulary or sexual episodes. These episodes are alleviated by other, relatively less rude expressions of the words or by removing a few phrases. The table below shows the changes made to the text. The first column contains the original text from the first edition of the novel. The second - its Russian translation and also the Spanish equivalent of the Russian translation (this text does not exist in Spanish, the translation of these changes was done within the framework of the study), the third column contains the text of Georgian translation in 1979 and its Spanish equivalent, the fourth - Russian equivalent of the Spanish original text (this text does not exist in Russian, the translation of these changes was done within the framework of the study), so to speak, the correct form, and the fifth - the text of the second Georgian translation, which is translated from the original Spanish. The level of Georgian translation in 2017 allows us to use the text of the mentioned translation as the correct Georgian equivalent of the original. The table below shows ten of the 25 changes made by the censors.

Table 1
Changes made to the text

Original text (Vargal Llosa, 1963)	Russian translation (Vargas Llosa, 1965) and its Spanish equivalent	First Georgian translation (Vargas Llosa, 1979) and its Spanish equivalent	Correct form in Russian	Second Georgian translation (Vargas Llosa, 2017) – Correct form
1.¨- No juego con serranos - dice Alberto, a la vez que se lleva las manos al sexo y apunta hacia los jugadores - Sólo me los tiro¨. (p. 22)	¨- Я c дикарями не играю, - говорит Альберто, поднося руку к ширинке. Я на них...¨ (р. 20)   (ES: ¨- No juego con serranos - dice Alberto - a la vez que se lleva las manos a la bragueta - yo les…¨)	¨- მე ველურებს არ ვეთამაშები, მე იმათ თავზე. - ამბობს ალბერტო და ხვანჯრისკენ მიაქვს ხელი¨. (p. 16)   (ES: ¨- No juego con serranos - dice Alberto - a la vez que se lleva las manos a la bragueta - yo les…¨)	¨Я c дикарями не играю, - говорит Альберто, поднося руку к ширинке у целяcb в игроков - Я их трахаю¨.	¨– ველურებთან არ ვთამაშობ, - პასუხობს ალბერტო, ხელს შარვლის უბეზე იდებს და მოთამაშეებს უმიზნებს, - მხოლოდ ეჟიმავ¨. (p. 25)
2.¨- Cúbranse los huevos - indica - Con las dos manos¨. (p. 39)	¨- Между ног прикройте, говорит он. Обеими руками¨. (p. 34)   (ES: ¨- Cúbranse entre las piernas – indica - Con las dos manos¨.)	¨- ხელები ლაჯებშუა ამოიდეთ - ეუბნება ბიჭებს¨. (p. 32)   (ES: ¨- Cúbranse entre las piernas – indica - Con las dos manos¨.)	¨- Прикройте яйца, - говорит он. - Обеими руками¨.	¨- კვერცხები ორივე ხელით დაიფარეთ - ასწავლის ბიჭებს¨. (p. 50)
3.¨- Así que se la quieren dar de vivos. Cuidado que se pueden quedar sin bolas¨. (p. 67)	¨- Значит, на рожон лезете? Смотрите, как бы не пожалели...¨ (p. 58)   (ES: ¨- Así que se la quieren dar de vivos. Cuidado que no se arrepientan¨.)	¨- თავს იკლავთ, ხომ? არ ინაწოთ კია¨. (p. 65)   (ES: ¨- Así que se la quieren dar de vivos. Cuidado que no se arrepientan¨.)	¨- Значит, на рожон лезете? Осторожно, как бы не лишились яйц¨.	¨- ესე იგი, სიცოცხლეს გასწირავთ, არა? ფრთხილად იყავით, ყვერები ხელში არ დაგაკავოთ¨. (p. 92)
4.¨Estaba desnuda, pero tenía un sostén rosado, algo caído, que dejaba ver el comienzo de los senos¨. (p. 96)	¨Теперь она была голая, но в бюстгальтере - розовом, обвисшем, сильно открытом¨. (p.83)   (ES: ¨Estaba desnuda, pero tenía un sostén rosado, algo caído, bien abierto¨.)	¨ტიტველი იყო, თუმცა ვარდისფერი ბიუსტპალტერი კი ეცვა¨. (p.97)   (ES: ¨Estaba desnuda, pero tenía un sostén rosado, algo caído, bien abierto¨.)	¨Теперь она была голая, но в бюстгальтере - poзobom, обвисшем, так что видны были ареолы сосков¨.	¨შიშველი იყო, მაგრამ ვარდისფერი ლიფი ეცვა, საიდანაც ძუძუს კერტები ოდნავ მოუჩანდა¨. (p. 135)
5.¨- Sí, negrita - dijo el Jaguar - Cuídate. Te podemos violar¨. (p. 98)	¨- Дa, негритяночка, - сказал Ягуар, - смотри в оба, как бы не обидели¨. (p. 84)   (ES: ¨- Sí, negrita - dijo el Jaguar -. Cuídate. Te podemos ofender¨.)	¨- მაშ, მაშ, ზანგის გომბიოვ, - წაილაპარაკა იაგუარმა - ფრთხილად იყავ, აქ არ გაგაბახონ¨. (p. 99)   (ES: ¨- Sí, negrita - dijo el Jaguar -. Cuídate. Te podemos violar¨.)	¨- Дa, негритяночка, - сказал Ягуар, - смотри в оба, как бы не изнасиловали¨.	¨- ჰო ზანგო, - უთხრა იაგუარმა, - ფრთხილად იყავი, არ გაგაუპატიუროთ¨. (p. 138)
6.¨- El sábado fui donde la Pies Dorados y me dijo que le pagaste para que te hiciera la paja¨. (p. 98)	¨- Я в субботу был у Ножек, и она мне сказала, ты ей заплатил за боевое крещение¨. (p. 85)   (ES: ¨- El sábado fui donde la Pies Dorados y me dijo que le pagaste para el bautismo de fuego¨.)	¨- შაბათს ოქროს ფეხუცებთან ვიყავი. ასე მითხრა შენზე, მოვნათლე და ნათლობის ფულიც მომცაო¨. (p. 99)   (ES: ¨- El sábado fui donde la Pies Dorados y me dijo que le pagaste para el bautismo de fuego¨.)	¨- Я в субботу был у Ножек, и она мне сказала, ты ей заплатил чтобы она тебе дрочила¨.	¨- შაბათს ოქროს ფეხებთან ვიყავი და მითხრა, ფული გადამიხადა, რომ ხელით დამენძრიაო¨. (p. 138)
7. ¨- Estás fregado - le dijo a Vallano - El poeta te come¨. (p. 124)	¨- Съел? - сказал он Вальяно. - Подсек тебя Писатель¨. (p. 102)   (ES: ¨¿ - Has comido? - le dijo a Vallano - El poeta te pisotea ¨.)	¨- ხომ ჭამე? – უთხრა მან ვალიანოს - ხოშიანად მოგაკეტინა მწერალმა¨. (p. 121)   (ES: ¨¿- Has comido? - le dijo a Vallano - El poeta te pisotea ¨.)	¨- Тебе пиздец - сказал он Вальяно. - трахнет тебя Писатель¨.	¨- დაგენძრა - თქვა და ვალიანოს გადახედა, - პოეტი გაგჟიმავს¨. (p. 172)
8.¨¿Acaso no eres mi enamorada?¨ (p. 195)	¨Мы же с тобой дружим?¨ (p.165)   (ES: ¨¿Acaso no eres mi amiga?¨)	¨ჩვენ ხომ ვმეგობრობთ ?¨ (p. 199)   (ES: ¨¿Acaso no eres mi amiga?¨)	¨Ты же моя возлюбленная¨.	¨ჩემი შეყვარებული არა ხარ¨ (p. 277)
9.¨Si alguien hace una broma más, le saco la puta que lo parió¨. (p. 221)	¨Если кто-нибудь еще полезет с шуточками - ребра поломаю¨. (p. 191)   (ES: ¨Si alguien hace una broma más, le romperé las cosquillas¨.)	¨ვინმეს თუ კიდევ დაუკრეჭია კბილები, ნეკნებს ჩავამტვრევ¨. (p. 231)   (ES: ¨Si alguien hace una broma más, le romperé las cosquillas¨.)	¨Если кто-нибудь еще полезет с шуточками - мать его выебу¨.	¨ვიწმე კიდევ თუ გაიცინებს, დედას მოვუტყნავო¨. (p. 315)
10.¨Le conté todos los robos, es decir, los que me acordaba¨. (p. 339)	¨Я рассказал ей, как мы выпивали. То есть что помнил, конечно¨. (p. 306)   (ES: ¨Le conté como emborrachábamos, es decir, lo que me acordaba¨.)	¨ჰო, ისიც ვუამბე როგორ ვლოთობდით. მაშასადამე, რაც მახსოვდა, ყველაფერი¨. (p. 367)   (ES: ¨Le conté como emborrachábamos, es decir, lo que me acordaba¨.)	¨Я рассказал ей, как мы воровали. То есть что помнил, конечно¨.	¨ქურდობის ყველა ამბავი მოვუყევი, რაც მახსოვდა, რასაკვირველია¨. (p. 485)

• Source: Authors

These changes highlight the problems of censorship with M. V. Llosa’s novel and reaffirm the fact that the purpose of Soviet censorship was to alleviate the vocabulary and sexual episodes in the novel. Let us consider these changes.

The most frequently changed verb in the text is “tirar” (four changes). The general meaning of this verb is to throw away, to shoot, although in Peru it also means a sexual act (Lino Gutierrez, 2014, p. 30). M. V. Llosa uses the verb with this meaning more than once in the text, which is obvious from the context. In the first change in the table, the word in the Russian and Georgian (1979) translations is removed and replaced with a softened phrase (¨Я на них…¨ // ¨მე იმათ თავზე...¨ - I am on top of them ...), which more or less corresponds to the context and the use of the verb the verb “tirar” or similar no longer requires. In this case, the context does not change, although the exact meaning of the sentence is lost.

The next most frequently changed word is “huevos” (here: eggs (genitals)). In the Russian and Georgian (1979) translations, it’s replaced by other parts of the body or another obscure phrase. In the second change in the table, he is replaced by the phrase ¨между ног¨ // ¨ლაჯებშუა¨ - between the legs. These changes do not change the meaning, although certain words or phrases removed drastically from their real meanings. The following words have also been replaced by softened phrases: “bolas” (here: eggs (genitals)) has been replaced by the phrase ¨как бы не пожалели¨ // ¨არ ინანოთ კია¨ - do not regret it ... (3); ¨violar¨ (here: rape) is replaced by a relatively light word ¨обидеть¨ - rage // ¨გაბახება¨ - rape (5) (in this case, the difference between Russian and first Georgian translations is clear, in Russian translation the verb “violar” is soften by the verb rage and in Georgian there is a direct translation - the verb ¨გაბახება¨ means to rape); “hacer paja” (masturbation) is alleviated as follows: ¨боевое крещение¨ // ¨ნათლობა¨ – (first) baptism (6); “comer” (here: sexual intercourse (Lino Gutierrez, 2014, p. 135)) is replaced by the following light word ¨подсечь¨ – catch out // ¨მოგაკეტინა¨ - to shut up (7) and ¨enamorada¨ (girlfriend) is replaced by the word ¨друг¨ // ¨მეგობარი¨ - friend (8).

As for unit changes, change the word, word agreement or sentence (“que dejaba ver el comienzo de los senos” (which hardly covered her nipples)) in Russian this phrase is translated as ¨сильно открытый¨ - underwired low-necked (bra) but in Georgian it is totally removed (4), “le Saco la puta que lo parió” (I´ll screw up his mum) is softened as ¨ребра поломаю¨ // ¨ნეკნებს ჩავამტვრევ¨ - I will break their ribs (9), “le conté todos los robos“ (I told her about all robberies) is changed as ¨Я рассказал ей, как мы выпивали¨ // ¨ჰო, ისიც ვუამბე როგორ ვლოთობდით.¨ - I told how we used to drink (10)), which is well seen in the table above. Only in the case of one of the 10 change, the context is changed, where “los robos” (thefts) is replaced by the word ¨выпивать¨ // ¨დალევა¨ - drinking. The changes discussed above do not change the context of the transformed episodes; however, deprive the reader of the opportunity to perceive the story told in the novel realistically.

It should be mentioned that in the study of novel censorship in the USSR, there is a kind of paradox in the face, which implies that in some episodes we find direct translations of sexual episodes or vocabulary without censorship. An example of this is the following phrase: “‘Cómetelo, Paulino’, gritó el Boa. ‘Cómete a la novia del poeta.’” (Vargas Llosa, 1963, p. 109) // ¨–Трахни его, Паулино! – орал Питон. Трахни дамочку!¨ (Vargas Llosa, 1965, p. 92) (In this example, the verb “comer” is translated without censorship, meaning sexual intercourse) // ¨- ჩასცხე მაგას, პაულინო! - ბღაოდა პითონი - ჩააფარე მაგის ტურფას!¨ (Vargas Llosa, 1979, p. 108) - Biff him, Paulino! - shouted the Python - cover the magic turf! (In this case, unlike in Russian, the 1979 Georgian translation of Spanish “comer” and Russian ¨трахать¨ – to fuck is simplified by the word ¨ჩასცხე/ჩააფარე¨ - biff / cover, which has nothing to do with sexual intercourse. This sentence expresses the violence but is far from its real meaning. The phrase is the only exception of the facilitation of the direct Russian translation from Spanish). This fact indicates that the purpose of censorship was not to completely remove the sexual episodes or vulgarities in the novel. His goal was only to reduce them.

As for the difference between the Russian and the Georgian translation of 1979, in addition to the two differences mentioned above, which lie in the translation of the verbs “violar” and “comer”, there is also a difference in the translation of their own names. For example, their names “Esclavo” (slave, enslaved person) and “Malpapeada” (skimpy, lizard, uneaten) are translated as ¨მათხოვარა¨ - beggar and ¨წკავწკავა¨ - yelping, which is quite far from the exact meaning of these words in both the original and the Russian translation (¨Холуй¨ - subject, slave and ¨Худолайка¨ - emaciated, yearling). We can say that the noticeable artistry in the 1979 Georgian translation overshadows the rude language used by the author, which was already mitigated in the Russian translation. M. V. Llosa’s aim was not to express himself in a beautiful language; on the contrary, it was the language he chose that was the author’s strategy to convey the most vicious side of Peruvian society in his adolescence.

Conclusion

As mentioned above, the main reason for the censorship of the USSR was the language of the work and the episodes of sexual acts described in it. Based on the changes discussed, we can confidently say that censorship has transformed the work. Because of cuts and changes (mitigation), some episodes remain completely unknown to the reader, some passages - incomprehensible, because the sentences that logically connect the different episodes are removed, and most importantly, the novel loses the effect of real perception of the story that gives it the language of the novel and the description of sexual inclinations of the cadets.

From the observations of the above examples, it is clear that the Russian and Georgian translations of The Time of the Hero are almost identical and have undergone the same changes and cuts. Therefore, we can say that only a censored version of the novel was available to the Georgian public from 1979 to 2017, while in Russia there is still no translation of the full text of the novel.

The language of the novel and the sexuality expressed in it are the most important determinants of the quality of the work. It seems that censorship was also aware of this fact, which is confirmed by the fact that the mentioned episodes are not completely cut out of the work. On the one hand, the translators could not take responsibility for the changes made or not made in the novel, on the other hand, even due to the severity of the censorship, the changes made or not made in the text would not go unnoticed. The aim of the censorship was only to reduce the number of episodes mentioned above, which drastically worsened the quality of the work. The author’s mastery, his superiority is precisely in his technique, in the language he uses, which, as a result of the linguistic changes made to the text, has been somewhat neglected.

In conclusion, we can say that unlike Franco’s censorship, the USSR censorship had no problem with the author’s ideology, however, the two main characteristics of his target novel were its language (author’s technique) and the sexuality expressed in it. We can say that in the Soviet Union the book was published under double censorship, the first was Francoist censorship, which resulted in eight changes in the novel, and then - the USSR censorship, which we talked about above. USSR censorship of works was carried out independently of the author, in contrast to the Francoist censorship, where the author participated in the censorship process and negotiated with the institution of censorship. We can say that the censorship deliberately left some of the episodes discussed above in the text, as the face of the work was not completely lost, however the main charm of the work, its realistic nature, clarity and persuasiveness were questioned because of cutting out many sections of the text and making lexical changes.

• 1
  Dionisio Garcia was born in 1929 in Asturias. He belonged to a group known as “Children of war” or “Children of Russia”. The members of this group were deported from Spain to USSR during the Spanish Civil War.
• 2
  Main Directorate for the Protection of State Secrets in the Press under the Council of Ministers of the USSR

References

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• Lino Gutierrez, Milagros. Expresiones Sexuales de los Adolescentes Limeños: Un Estudio Semántico-Cognitivo 2014. 212 f. Tesis (Licenciatura en Lingüística) – Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Facultad de Letras y Ciencias Humanas, Escuela Académico-Profesional de Lingüística, Lima, Peru, 2014.
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• Vargas Llosa, Mario. La Ciudad y los Perros Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1963.
• Vargas Llosa, Mario. The City and the Dogs Translation by Amiran Gabiskiria. Tbilisi: Sabchota Sakartvelo, 1979.
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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  19 June 2023
• Date of issue
  2022

History

• Received
  26 Apr 2022
• Accepted
  22 Sept 2022
• Published
  Oct 2022