6. Commissioning Political Sympathies

Abstract

The first book translation of Jane Eyre was translated into Modern Greek by Ninila Papagiannē, and published in 1949 by Ikaros publishers under the aegis of the British Council in Greece. This translation, published at the end of the Greek Civil War, was part of a wider political and ideological strategy conducted by Britain to make Greece conducive to British influence. In the wake of the Cold War, Britain was conscious of Greece’s significant political and geographic importance, and adopted a policy of soft power that included the translation of English classics, such as Jane Eyre, to cultivate political sympathy towards Britain.