1st Edition

Russian Writers on Translation An Anthology

Edited By Brian James Baer, Natalia Olshanskaya Copyright 2013
    192 Pages
    by Routledge

    192 Pages
    by Routledge

    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.

    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

    Biography

    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.