The intricacies of the cultural import of modernist English literature
into German-speaking countries in the Twenties and Thirties set difficult and
intriguing tasks not only for translators. Translation studies scholars alike are
faced with demands for tailor-made approaches to measure the translation
process and accentuate its conditions and the influence of individuals within
the enquiry of texts and actors. With the help of a task model of the
translation process this article aims to account for the decisions that
organise this process. Drawing on the correspondence between the German
publisher Insel and its translators – notably Herberth E. Herlitschka – I will
try to sketch the network of decisions makers, its power relations, the range
of tasks, the matters of discourse and the consequences of the respective
decisions. These sometimes friendly, sometimes heated dialogues greatly enhance
our understanding of the multifaceted range of translators’ tasks, the actors’
basis for decision-making, and the dominance of translational norms and allow
insight into the partners’ self-conception in an increasingly international publishing
industry.