ABSTRACT

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.

part |2 pages

Part I: Russian Writers and Translators on Translation

chapter |1 pages

Tsar Peter I (1672-1725)

chapter |2 pages

Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765)

chapter |2 pages

Aleksandr Radishchev (1749-1802)

chapter |1 pages

Nikolai Karamzin (1766-1826)

chapter |1 pages

Andrei Turgenev (1781-1803)

chapter |1 pages

Nikolai Gnedich (1784-1833)

chapter |3 pages

Vasilii Zhukovskii (1783-1852)

chapter |2 pages

Sergei Uvarov (1786-1855)

chapter |2 pages

Petr Viazemskii (1792-1878)

chapter |1 pages

Nikolai Polevoi (1796-1848)

chapter |4 pages

Vilgelm Kiukhelbeker (1797-1846)

chapter |1 pages

Petr Kapnist (1830-1898)

chapter |3 pages

Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852)

chapter |8 pages

A Literary Explanation

chapter |8 pages

Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883)

chapter |1 pages

Afanasii Fet (1820-1892)

chapter |1 pages

Fedor Dostoevskii (1821-1881)

chapter |1 pages

Nikolai Nekrasov (1821-1878)

chapter |2 pages

Aleksandr Ostrovskii (1823-1886)

chapter |4 pages

Nikolai Chernyshevskii (1828-1889)

chapter |2 pages

Mikhail Mikhailov (1829-1865)

chapter |3 pages

Lev Tolstoi (1829-1910)

chapter |2 pages

Nikolai Dobroliubov (1836-1861)

chapter |2 pages

Maksim Gorkii (1868-1936)

chapter |7 pages

Valerii Briusov (1873-1924)

chapter |2 pages

Anatolii Lunacharskii (1875-1933)

chapter |2 pages

Aleksandr Blok (1880-1921)

chapter |3 pages

Kornei Chukovskii (1882-1969)

chapter |2 pages

Osip Mandelshtam (1891-1938)

chapter |4 pages

Aleksandr Fadeev (1901-1956)

chapter |3 pages

Mikhail Lozinskii (1886-1955)

chapter |5 pages

Samuil Marshak (1887-1964)

chapter |3 pages

Nikolai Gumilev (1886-1921)

chapter |1 pages

Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966)

chapter |5 pages

Boris Pasternak (1890-1960)

chapter |1 pages

Ilya Ehrenburg (1891-1867)

chapter |4 pages

Marina Tsvetaeva (1892-1941)

chapter |6 pages

Nikolai Zabolotskii (1903-1958)

chapter |2 pages

Nikolai Chukovskii (1904-1965)

chapter |1 pages

Varlam Shalamov (1907-1982)

chapter |3 pages

Arsenii Tarkovskii (1907-1989)

chapter |2 pages

Aleksandr Tvardovskii (1910-1971)

chapter |3 pages

Nikolai Liubimov (1912-1992)

chapter |3 pages

Efim Etkind (1918-1999)

chapter |2 pages

Sergei Osherov (1931-1983)

chapter |3 pages

Mikhail Gasparov (1935-2005)

chapter |2 pages

Bella Akhmadulina (1937- )

chapter |3 pages

Elena Shvarts (1948-2010)

part |2 pages

Part II: Russian Poets on Translation

chapter |1 pages

Alexander Sumarokov (1717-1777)

chapter |1 pages

Vladimir Soloviev (1853-1900)

chapter |1 pages

Arsenii Tarkovskii (1907-1989)

chapter |1 pages

Leonid Martynov (1905-1980)

chapter |1 pages

Samuil Marshak (1887-1964)

chapter |1 pages

Boris Pasternak (1890-1960)

chapter |1 pages

Vera Zviagintseva (1894-1972)

chapter |1 pages

Natalia Gorbanevskaia (1936- )