Discussing Translation: Contextualizing Bangla Translations of Latin American Prose

This article examines the reception of Latin American prose in Bangla translation (1980–2010) within Kolkata’s leftist literary culture. While initially framed as a direct South–South exchange, it argues that translations mediated through English nonetheless fostered South–South solidarities. Drawing on Lefevere, Venuti, Jauß, and Even-Zohar, it analyses four key translations to show how domestication and rewriting adapted magic realism and anti-imperial narratives to Bengali literary contexts. Reviews, parallel texts, and sales data demonstrate how these translations enriched Bengali literary culture while exposing the continued dominance of Anglophone mediation in Latin American studies.