Básník a překladatel Jiří Kovtun

The aim of this article is to discuss the role of Jiři Kovtun, a Czech writer and historian, in the development of Czech translatology. It is based on the article Čapek’s translations in the development of Czech translatology and verse by Jiři Levy, which serves as the theoretical-methodological basis. Although his work is not extensive, Kovtun’s translations are of importance: in the context of his translation of The Poems of Doctor Zhivago, published by an exile publisher Svědectvi, we tried to demonstrate the character of Kovtun’s translation method and how his creative process and the selection of authors to translate were influenced by the fact that he himself was a poet. The conclusion is that Kovtun’s translations are accurate in the technical sense but often lose track of the original and bring elements of the translator’s own poetic idiolect into the translated poems.