This volume is a selection of papers presented at the international conference on Translation and Censorship. From the 18th Century to the Present Day, held in Lisbon in November 2006.

Although censorship in Spain under Franco dictatorship has already been thoroughly studied, the Portuguese situation under Salazar and Caetano has been, so far, almost ignored by the academic research. This is then an attempt to start filling this gap. At the same time, new case studies about the Spanish context are presented, thus contributing to a critical view of two Iberian dictatorial regimes.

However other geographical and time contexts are also included: former dictatorships such as Brazil and Communist Czechoslovakia; present day countries with very strict censoring apparatus such as China, or more subtle censorial mechanisms as Turkey and Ukraine. Specific situations of past centuries are given some attention: the reception of Ovid in Portugal, the translation of English narrative fiction into Spanish in the 18th century, the translation of children literature in Victorian England and the emergence of the picaresque novel in Portugal in the 19th century.

Other forms of censorship, namely self-censorship, are studied in this volume as well.

"The book fits in one of the most innovative fields of research in translation studies, i.e. the study of social and political constraints on translation processes and translation functions. More specifically, the concept of censorship is crucial to the understanding of these constraints, especially in spatio-temporal settings where translation exhibits conflicts between what is acceptable for and what is prohibited by a given culture. For that reason, detailed descriptive research is needed in as many situations as possible.

It gives an excellent view on the complex mechanisms of censorship with regard to translation within a large number of modern European and non European cultures. In addition to articles devoted to cases dealing with China, Brazil, Great-Britain, Turkey, Ukraine or Czechoslovakia, Spain and Portugal occupy a prominent role. As a whole, the volume marks an important step forward in our growing understanding of the role of socio-political factors for the development and changes of translation policies.

I highly recommend the publication."

Prof. dr. Lieven D’hulst, Professor of Translation Studies at K.U.Leuven (Belgium).