Inaugural Lecture with Professor Muireann Maguire: Friendship in Exile: A Story of Books, Translation, and Scandal

Developing from the academic subdiscipline of Translator Studies, this lecture explores how Mark Aldanov, a Russian-Jewish "serious" novelist unknown to English-speaking readers, unexpectedly became a bestselling author for the prestigious (and exclusive) New York publisher Scribner's. Using archival sources, memoirs, and personal correspondence, this lecture shows how Aldanov achieved a short-lived American succès de scandale in the late 1940s, almost entirely thanks to the advocacy of his translator and fellow Russian émigré Nicholas Wreden, a charismatic and versatile character who had risen through the ranks of the book industry to become one of the most successful "bookmen" of his generation. My case study of Aldanov and Wreden's relationship proves the vital role of interpersonal networks in achieving cultural change.