American literature, communist Czechoslovakia, reception, ideology, ecocriticism, Robinson Jeffers, John Steinbeck

This chapter addresses the reception of the works of two California authors, Robinson Jeffers and John Steinbeck, in communist Czechoslovakia (1948-1989), where they both enjoyed immense popularity. Its primary focus is on selected nature images, namely trees, rocks, and the ocean. I discuss the associations and meanings these images acquired after they were transplanted from the United States to communist Czechoslovakia through high-quality translations. The different political environment into which the literary texts were introduced affected their reading in ways that even the authors could hardly have anticipated. The new associations and interpretations, determined largely by ideological factors, thus receive considerable attention in the present study.