Overview

Since the early eighteenth century, following Peter the Great’s policy of forced westernization, translation in Russia has been a very visible and much-discussed practice. Generally perceived as an important service to the state and the nation, translation was also viewed as a high art, leading many Russian poets and writers to engage in literary translation in a serious and sustained manner. As a result, translations were generally regarded as an integral part of an author’s oeuvre and of Russian literature as a whole. This volume brings together Russian writings on translation from the mid-18th century until today and presents them in chronological order, providing valuable insights into the theory and practice of translation in Russia. Authored by some of Russia’s leading writers, such as Aleksandr Pushkin, Fedor Dostoevskii, Lev Tolstoi, Maksim Gorkii, and Anna Akhmatova, many of these texts are translated into English for the first time. They are accompanied by extensive annotation and biographical sketches of the authors, and reveal Russian translation discourse to be a sophisticated and often politicized exploration of Russian national identity, as well as the nature of the modern subject. Russian Writers on Translation fills a persistent gap in the literature on alternative translation traditions, highlighting the vibrant and intense culture of translation on Europe’s ‘periphery’. Viewed in a broad cultural context, the selected texts reflect a nuanced understanding of the Russian response to world literature and highlight the attempts of Russian writers to promote Russia as an all-inclusive cultural model.

Full Product Details

Author:   Brian James Baer (Kent State University, USA) ,  Natalia Olshanskaya
Publisher:   St Jerome Publishing
Imprint:   St Jerome Publishing
Weight:   0.358kg
ISBN:  

9781905763948

ISBN 10:   1905763948
Pages:   192
Publication Date:   01 March 2013
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Translators’ Preface Part I: Russian Writers and Translators on Translation Tsar Peter I (1672-1725) Edict 4438, On the Preparation of Translators of Books for Instruction in the Sciences Antiokh Kantemir (1708-1744) Foreword to the Epistles of Horace Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765) Russian Grammar Materials for a Russian Grammar Foreword on the Usefulness of Church Books Aleksandr Radishchev (1749-1802) A Journey from Petersburg to Moscow (excerpt) Aleksandr Shishkov (1754-1841) On Translating Classical Poets A Conversation between Two Friends about Translating Words from One Language into Another (excerpt) Nikolai Karamzin (1766-1826) Letter to Ivan Dmitriev From the Foreword to Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar Scenes from Sakuntala, an Indian Drama Andrei Turgenev (1781-1803) Letters to Vasilii Zhukovskii Nikolai Gnedich (1784-1833) Homer’s Iliad Translated by Nicholas Gnedich. Foreword Vasilii Zhukovskii (1783-1852) Homer’s Odyssey. In Place of a Foreword Commentary to Nala and Damayanti Letters Sergei Uvarov (1786-1855) Letter to Nikolai Ivanovich Gnedich on the Greek Hexameter Petr Viazemskii (1792-1878) Adolphe. A Novel by Benjamin Constant. A Note from the Translator Letter to A.I. Gotovtseva Nikolai Polevoi (1796-1848) Review of Lara, The Bride from Abydos. A Turkish Novella by Lord Byron in Ivan Kozlov’s Translation Review of Goethe’s Works. First Edition Aleksandr Bestuzhev-Marlinskii (1797-1837) Old and New Literature in Russia Russian Literature in 1823 Vilgelm Kiukhelbeker (1797-1846) On the Greek Anthology On the Direction of Our Poetry, Especially Lyrical Poetry, over the Last Decade On Von der Borg’s Translation of Russian Poetry Aleksandr Pushkin (1799-1837) On M. Lémontey’s Introduction to the Translation of Ivan Krylov’s Fables Letter to Nikolai Golitsyn On Milton and Chateaubriand’s Translation of Paradise Lost Petr Kapnist (1830-1898) On Nikitin Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) What is the Ultimate Essence of Russian Poetry? On the Odyssey as Translated by Zhukovskii Letters Vissarion Belinskii (1811-1848) A Literary Explanation Russian Literature in 1841 Thoughts and Observations on Russian Literature Review of The Exile, a Historical Novel Translated from the German Review of Hamlet: Prince of Denmark. A Dramatic Production. A Composition of William Shakespeare. Translated from the English by Nikolai Polevoi Review of The Works of Aleksandr Pushkin, Article 1 Review of The Works of Aleksandr Pushkin, Article 2 Review of The Works of Aleksandr Pushkin, Article 3 Review of Shakespeare. Translated from the English by Nikolai Ketcher Review of The Poetry of V. Zhukovskii, Volume 73 Review of Gogol’s Work in French Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883) Review of Schiller’s William Tell Translated by F. Miller Review of Goethe’s Faust, A Tragedy Translated by Mikhail Vronchenko Letters Afanasii Fet (1820-1892) Poems of Catullus. Translations and Notes by A. Fet Fedor Dostoevskii (1821-1881) On Account of the Exhibition. Excerpt from The Diary of a Writer Nikolai Nekrasov (1821-1878) Notes on the Publishing Policy of The Contemporary in 1850 From the Editors of The Contemporary A Review of October Journals from 1855 Aleksandr Ostrovskii (1823-1886) From the Translator Letters Aleksandr Druzhinin (1824-1864) Letters from a Foreign Subscriber. Letter IV Letters from a Foreign Subscriber. Letter VII Schiller as Translated by Russian Poets Nikolai Chernyshevskii (1828-1889) Review of Songs of Different Nations, Translated by N. Berg News of Literature, Art, Sciences, and Industry Schiller as Translated by Russian Poets Mikhail Mikhailov (1829-1865) A Letter to the Editor of the Journal Notes of the Fatherland Lev Tolstoi (1829-1910) A Preface to Wilhelm Von Polenz’s Der Buttnerbaur [The Peasant] Nikolai Dobroliubov (1836-1861) Works of Roman Writers Translated into Russian Maksim Gorkii (1868-1936) World Literature The Literary Endeavours of the Peoples of the USSR Letters Valerii Briusov (1873-1924) Violets in a Crucible A Few Reflections on Translating Horace’s Odes into Russian Verse On the Translation of Virgil’s Aeneid From the Editor: An Introduction to Armenian Poetry Translated by Russian Poets A Letter to S.A.Venegerov Anatolii Lunacharskii (1875-1933) Introduction to Issue One of the Herald of Foreign Literature Aleksandr Blok (1880-1921) Heine in Russia Kornei Chukovskii (1882-1969) Translations Old and New. From A High Art Osip Mandelshtam (1891-1938) Torrents of Hackwork Aleksandr Fadeev (1901-1956) For the Cause of World Peace On Soviet Patriotism and Soviet National Pride Answers to Questions from English Writers (excerpt) On the Universal Significance of Chinese Culture Mikhail Lozinskii (1886-1955) The Art of Poetic Translation Samuil Marshak (1887-1964) The Art of the Poetic Portrait Robert Burns Turns Two Hundred The Poetry of Translation Nikolai Gumilev (1886-1921) Poetic Translations Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966) On Lozinskii Boris Pasternak (1890-1960) Letters Ilya Ehrenburg (1891-1867) The Poetry of Pablo Neruda Marina Tsvetaeva (1892-1941) Two Forest Kings Nikolai Zabolotskii (1903-1958) Translator’s Notes Letters Nikolai Chukovskii (1904-1965) The Tenth Muse Varlam Shalamov (1907-1982) The National Borders of Poetry and Free Verse Arsenii Tarkovskii (1907-1989) The Opportunities of Translation Aleksandr Tvardovskii (1910-1971) On Translations by Samuil Iakovlevich Marshak Mikhail Lozinskii (1886-1955) The Art of Poetic Translation Samuil Marshak (1887-1964) The Art of the Poetic Portrait Robert Burns Turns Two Hundred The Poetry of Translation Nikolai Gumilev (1886-1921) Poetic Translations Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966) On Lozinskii Boris Pasternak (1890-1960) Letters Ilya Ehrenburg (1891-1867) The Poetry of Pablo Neruda Marina Tsvetaeva (1892-1941) Two Forest Kings Nikolai Zabolotskii (1903-1958) Translator’s Notes Letters Nikolai Chukovskii (1904-1965) The Tenth Muse Varlam Shalamov (1907-1982) The National Borders of Poetry and Free Verse Arsenii Tarkovskii (1907-1989) The Opportunities of Translation Aleksandr Tvardovskii (1910-1971) On Translations by Samuil Iakovlevich Marshak Nikolai Liubimov (1912-1992) Translation Is Art Efim Etkind (1918-1999) A Master of Poetic Composition (An Approach to Benedikt Livshits’s Heritage) Sergei Osherov (1931-1983) Several Answers to a Questionnaire from the Bulgarian Union of Translators Stylistic Perspective and the Translation of Historical Novels Mikhail Gasparov (1935-2005) Briusov and Literalism Bella Akhmadulina (1937- ) A Poem Offered for Translation Elena Shvarts (1948-2010) A Few Thoughts on the Translation of Russian Verse Part II: Russian Poets on Translation Alexander Sumarokov (1717-1777) Epistle on the Russian Language Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883) Epigram on Nikolai Ketcher Nikolai Nekrasov (1821-1878) A Business Conversation Vladimir Soloviev (1853-1900) The Birthplace of Russian Poetry Osip Mandelshtam (1891-1938) Tatars, Uzbeks and Nentsy Arsenii Tarkovskii (1907-1989) The Translator Novella Matveeva (1934- ) The Translator Iulia Neiman (1907-1994) A Translator to a Poet Leonid Martynov (1905-1980) Poets Ivan Elagin (1918-1987) Like a Scarecrow in the Garden Samuil Marshak (1887-1964) 1616-1949 Boris Pasternak (1890-1960) For Paolo Iashvili Sergei Osherov (1931-1883) Sonnet Boris Slutskii (1919-1986) I Translate from Mongolian and Polish Vera Zviagintseva (1894-1972) To a Translator Friend Aleksandr Gitovich (1909-1966) If I were to Speak of Translations Maria Petrovykh (1908-1979) The Editor Natalia Gorbanevskaia (1936- ) To Czesław Miłosz

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Author Information

Brian James Baer is Professor of Russian and Translation Studies at Kent State University where he is a member of the Institute for Applied Linguistics. He is author of Other Russias: Homosexuality and the Crisis of Post-Soviet Identity (Palgrave 2009), co-editor of Beyond the Ivory Tower: Rethinking Translation Pedagogy (2003), editor of Contexts, Subtexts, Pretexts: Literary Translation in Eastern Europe and Russia (Benjamins 2011), founding editor of the journal Translation and Interpreting Studies, and general editor of the Kent State Scholarly Monograph Series in Translation Studies. Natalia Olshanskaya is Professor of Russian Language and Literature at Kenyon College, USA. She has taught courses in translation studies at the Odessa State University (Ukraine), at the University of St Andrews (Scotland), and at the College of William and Mary (Virginia, USA).  She has worked as interpreter and translator, and has published numerous articles on the theory and practice of translation. In 2011 she received a Mellon research grant to pursue research on the translation of Roma literature in Soviet Russia.

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