This educator organized a 50-volume collection. Russian enlightener of China

240 years ago, on June 28, 1762, Catherine the Second (1729-1796) ascended the Russian throne. The years of her reign were marked by the rise of culture, socio-political and philosophical thought. At this time, Russia became one of the most powerful and developed countries in the world.

The domestic policy of Catherine II is marked by the features of “enlightened absolutism”. Under Catherine, the division of the empire into provinces ended, classes of the population were determined, several wars with Turkey under the leadership of Suvorov and Rumyantsev ended in the victory of Russian weapons, Prince Potemkin conquered Moldova and Crimea, part of Poland, Belarus and Ukraine were annexed to Russia.

A woman of extraordinary intelligence, Catherine II corresponded with the philosophers Voltaire and Diderot, supported scientists and poets, with her assistance the Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens and the Academy of Literature were opened, libraries and theaters were created.

During Catherine's era, a huge number of books were published in Russia. These are prose and poetry, scientific, popular books, various textbooks and reference guides, etc.

In 1767, at Moscow University, with the approval of Catherine II, the publication of the famous “Encyclopedia of Arts and Crafts” by Diderot and D’Alembert began. It was the educational mindset of Catherine II that made it possible to begin this complex, labor-intensive translation work. Although the publication as a whole was not completed, through the efforts of many translators, many articles from the Encyclopedia were translated and published in the form of collections and separate editions.

In 1768, by order of Catherine, Russian became the official language of science and teaching - “for the better dissemination of science in Russia.”

In the same year, a “Meeting trying to translate foreign books into Russian” was opened in Moscow, the purpose of which was to acquaint the Russian reader with the works of thinkers of the 18th century. The most significant works of European educators, thinkers, philosophers, scientists, and writers were translated. The books were translated by professional translators, employees of the Academy of Sciences, as well as many people who speak foreign languages, including students of cadet corps, seminarians, and educated women.

The decree of Catherine II on the so-called “free” printing houses, promulgated in 1783, contributed to the development of book printing in Russia. According to this decree, it was allowed to establish private printing houses, for which it was enough to have the necessary funds and permission from the local deanery. The significance of this decree was great. Private printing houses opened in many cities of Russia, which significantly increased the number of books produced in various fields of knowledge.

In 1783, Catherine II appointed Princess Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova as director of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, and then the Russian Academy, showing her characteristic courage of mind: E.R. Dashkova became the first woman in Russia, not counting the “crowned heads,” to hold a government post.

Subsequently, this appointment fully met Catherine's expectations. Dashkova streamlined the academic administration and paid off all academic debts; significantly expanded the library; contributed to the organization of scientific expeditions, which resulted in the publication of geographical maps of the provinces. Under Dashkova, the first collected works of M.V. Lomonosov were published, the first dictionary of the Russian language was compiled, which was later highly appreciated by A.S. Pushkin.

In her “Memoirs,” E. R. Dashkova talks in detail about how the idea of ​​​​creating the Russian Academy, which became a center for the study of the Russian language and literature, was born.

“Once I walked with the Empress in the Tsarsko-Selo garden; the conversation turned to the beauty and richness of the Russian language; I expressed my surprise why the empress, who was able to appreciate his dignity and was a writer herself, never thought of founding the Russian Academy.

I noticed that we only need rules and a good vocabulary to make our language independent of foreign words and expressions that have neither the energy nor the power inherent in our word.

“I’m surprised myself,” said Catherine, why this idea has not yet been implemented; Such an institution for improving the Russian language often occupied me, and I have already given orders regarding it.”

“This is truly amazing,” I continued; nothing could be easier than to carry out this plan. There are many examples for him, and you just have to choose the best one from them.”

“Please, present me, princess,” added the empress, an essay of some kind.”

“It seems that it would be better,” I answered, if you ordered one of your secretaries to draw up for you a plan for the French, Berlin and some other academies, with comments on those features that can be better harmonized with the genius and morals of your empire.”

“I repeat my request,” said Catherine; take on this work; “I am accustomed to relying on your zeal and activity, and therefore I will confidently begin to fulfill the task, which, to my shame, has not been accomplished for so long.”

Upon returning home in the evening, I began to think about how best to carry out this assignment, and before I went to bed, I drew up some plan, wanting to convey in it the idea of ​​​​the future establishment; I sent this project to the Empress, thinking thereby to satisfy her wishes and not at all considering it worthy of acceptance and practical application. To my utter surprise, Catherine, having personally returned this hastily sketched plan to me, approved it with her own signature as a completely official document and, along with it, issued a decree that designated me as the president of the academy in embryo. A copy of this decree was immediately communicated to the Senate."

Having assumed the leadership of the Russian Academy, Dashkova drew up a clear program of work, which was outlined in a speech at the founding meeting of the Academy on October 21, 1783. “Let the writing of a grammar and dictionary be our first exercise,” the director of the Academy determined. This marked the beginning of the systematic study and enrichment of the Russian language.

“The latter work has been the subject of very heated criticism, especially regarding the method of arranging words, adopted according to an etymological rather than an alphabetical system. They objected to this that the dixioner was confused and poorly adapted for popular use; - this objection was made to me by the empress herself and then picked up with joy by the court courtesans. When Catherine asked me why we did not adopt simpler methods, I answered that in the first lexicon of any language such a system does not represent anything strange; it makes it easier to find and recognize the roots of words; Besides all this, the Academy will repeat the publication within three years, arrange it alphabetically and improve it in all respects.

I don’t understand how the empress, capable of understanding the most diverse and even profound issues, disagreed with my opinion; but I only know that this heteroglossia has bored me; Despite all the reluctance to announce the queen’s displeasure against our work in the academic council, I, however, decided to raise the issue at the first meeting, without touching on other subjects for which I was personally accused.

All members, as was to be expected, expressed a unanimous opinion that the first dictionary could not be arranged differently, and that the second edition would be more complete and in alphabetical order... However weak and unsatisfactory our dictionary was, it was extolled as highly wonderful; for me personally it was a source of great trouble and grief.”

The creation of the “Dictionary of the Russian Academy” became the crown of lexicographical works of that time. Translations appear - bilingual and multilingual dictionaries, small dictionaries of foreign words, dictionaries covering a specific industry, among them the “Trilingual Maritime Dictionary” by Shishkov stands out.

Catherine II, who devoted a lot of time to reading books, was herself inclined to writing, wrote comedies (“Oh, Time!”, “Mrs. Vorchalkina’s Name Day,” “The Deceiver,” etc.), historical works (“Notes on Russian History,” "Antidote"), plays and fairy tales for children ("The Tale of Prince Chlorus", "The Tale of Prince Fevs"), published Russia's first satirical magazine "Everything and everything".

Princess Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova in her “Notes” cites the opinion of the empress, who was fluent in German (which was her native language) and French, about the Russian language: “Talking with her about European literatures and languages, I often heard from her that wealth and energy The German language is immeasurably higher than the French, and if the former were given the harmony of the latter, it would certainly be a universal language. In her opinion, the Russian language, combining the richness, strength and nerve of German with the musicality of Italian, will eventually become the capital language of the whole world.”

Archpastoral feat of Saint Gury (Karpov)

Saint Gury, in the world Grigory Platonovich Karpov, was glorified not only for his missionary and archpastoral service. He went down in the history of science as an outstanding ethnographer, sinologist (that is, an expert on the culture, philosophy, language and customs of China), and the author of a classic translation of the Gospel into Chinese. And in the history of diplomacy - as a person who made enormous efforts to expand the possessions of the Russian Empire in the Far East.

An anniversary church-diplomatic conference, which took place in Simferopol, was dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the birth of Saint Gury (Karpov; 1815–1882). In addition to the diocese, the representative office of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Crimean Federal University, and the State Archive of the Republic of Crimea took part in it.

Grigory Platonovich Karpov was born in Saratov, spent his mature years in China, then was sent to Rome and Kazan, and on December 15, 1867 he was appointed to the Tauride episcopal see, where he worked until his blessed death on March 17, 1882.

It is known that from 1840 to 1865 he served in the Beijing Spiritual Mission, which he headed from 1856. Archimandrite Gury made a huge contribution to the establishment of good neighborly relations between the Russian Empire and China, regularly participating in negotiations between the Russian Embassy and the Chinese authorities, which culminated reunification with Russia of the Amur region, Ussuri and Primorsky territories, including the port of Vladivostok.

This was the time of the so-called Second Opium War, which was waged by Great Britain and France with the support of the United States - with the Qing Empire. Let me remind you of the origin of the name - the allies, among other things, demanded from the ruling dynasty in China the official right to trade opium. During this conflict, Russia offered military assistance to the Qing Empire in exchange for territorial concessions in the Far East. In 1858, the Aigun and Tianjin treaties were concluded, largely thanks to the efforts of the head of the Beijing Spiritual Mission, Archimandrite Guria.

Three years later, in 1861, a protocol on the exchange of maps and descriptions of delimitation was attached to the Tianjin Treaty as an integral part of it. In modern terms, the Russian-Chinese border was delimited. On the officially approved map, the border was marked with a red line along the Chinese bank of the Amur, Ussuri and the Kazakevich channel. Thus, the Amur and Ussuri rivers were recognized as completely belonging to Russia, and along with them significant territories in the region where there had been no previously established border. This diplomatic success was secured by the Treaty of Beijing. As both contracting parties confirmed, this document was adopted “... to further strengthen mutual friendship between the two empires, to develop trade relations and prevent misunderstandings.”

During the same period, Archimandrite Gury did a truly colossal job of translating the books of the New Testament, the Psalter, numerous liturgical, theological, and educational books into Chinese, in order to spread the word of the Gospel and Orthodox piety on Chinese soil.

By the age of 50, he completed the main work of his life - the classical translation of the Gospel into Chinese. This unique book has been preserved in the library of the Crimean Federal University, and researchers have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with it.

In addition to brilliant translations of the Holy Scriptures and other soul-helping books, Saint Gury left research on the history of Orthodoxy in China and Chinese Buddhism, which are of undoubted interest for modern science.

By the way, as a sign of special respect for the head of the Beijing Spiritual Mission, Guria, the Chinese ruling house presented him with a rich 600-volume (!) collection of Buddhist treatises in the Tibetan language worth over 15 thousand rubles. silver, which none of the European libraries had at that time.

After completing his diplomatic work and missionary service in the Far East, Bishop Gury was appointed to the Tauride episcopal see, which he headed for 15 years.

It was thanks to his efforts that during this period the network of Orthodox educational institutions and Sunday schools in Crimea significantly expanded, and the training of both the clergy and scientists reached a new level.

On August 19, 1873, the Tauride Theological Seminary was opened, which was of exceptional importance in the education and enlightenment of the population of Taurida. Simferopol mayor N.I. Ivanov wrote on the occasion of the opening of the seminary: “I consider it my most pleasant duty to bring congratulations to Your Eminence on the opening of the Seminary. God was pleased to allow you to begin and complete a task that is essentially of the utmost importance. May He send you and your closest collaborators the happiness of being present at the first and many subsequent graduations of the Seminary’s students, may you taste the purest of joys to see good fruits ripen in the field of enlightenment cultivated by Your Eminence and your collaborators.”

In addition, the newspaper “Taurid Diocesan Gazette” was established, which was important in the spiritual and social life of Taurida, and extensive church construction began. By the end of the archpastoral service of Bishop Guria, there were 286 churches in the Tauride diocese (in 1868 there were only 120). It is noteworthy that the saint found the time and energy to delve into all the details of church construction, including even design work, as evidenced by numerous archival documents.

Bishop (and since 1881 - archbishop) Gury entered the history of the Taurida diocese as a man of amazing meekness, kindness, kindness, and sacrifice.

The famous church historian Bishop Hermogenes, in his description of the Tauride diocese, noted: “The Reverend Gury was known for many good traits: mainly meekness, courtesy, caution, firm devotion in everything to the will of God.”

Despite his serious illness, Bishop Gury worked selflessly for the good of the Church; his activities, without exaggeration, literally transformed the entire Tauride diocese.
The works of Archbishop Guria on the organization and development of church life were tirelessly supplemented by his educational activities, theological creativity, which is imbued with the deepest education and versatile knowledge of the archpastor. Thus, in his “Word for the New Year,” Saint Gury reflects on the problem of existence in a completely special way: “God is not only the goal of the aspirations of our soul, but also the only guide on the path to the goal. Only in God and by God are all tasks of the mind resolved; only in God and by God is the thirst for the highest good that torments our heart quenched; Only in God and by God does the feeling thirsting for perfect beauty calm down. The Lord, as the true Sun of the spiritual world, warms, illuminates, and enlivens our soul...”

Already in the 20th century, these ideas were brilliantly developed by St. Luke (in the world Valentin Feliksovich Voino-Yasenetsky), an outstanding scientist and theologian, professor of medicine, author of an exceptionally deep and universal monograph “Spirit, Soul and Body.”

All the activities of Bishop Guria were subordinated to one single great goal - to fulfill the will of God. He emphasized: “The will of God must be the inspiring beginning and the final goal of our activity.” The feat of the Savior and His Most Pure Mother was for Saint Gury the highest guiding star in his entire ascetic life.

After his blessed death in 1882, Archbishop Gury was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral of Simferopol. For about half a century, his honest remains were in this temple.
In May 1930, the Crimean Central Executive Committee decided to demolish the main “religious building” of Simferopol. And on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, on the night of September 27, 1930, the cathedral was blown up. On the eve of this act of vandalism, inspired by the atheistic government, parishioners managed to transfer to the cemetery near the All Saints Church the remains of St. Gury and four other clergy buried on the territory of the temple. According to eyewitnesses, after opening the burial, all those present saw the absolutely incorrupt relics of Archbishop Guria.

“And during the transfer, my hand was accidentally injured and blood flowed out of my hand. He was truly a saint of God,” said Protodeacon Vasily Marushchak, a member of the Canonization Commission. – Saint Gury was canonized by the Church in 2008, that is, relatively recently, but his veneration took place quite a long time ago. He was reburied in the cemetery near All Saints Church. And before his canonization, his relics were found and transferred to the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Simferopol. And since then we have been performing intense prayer, intense worship at the relics of St. Gury.”

It is expected that the relics of St. Gury will soon be transferred to the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral of Simferopol, restored on a historical site. Construction work has almost been completed, and services are regularly held in the upper church. And in the lower one the walls are being painted, including scenes from the life of St. Gurias. In a conversation, one of the artists shared what difficulties arose: it turns out that the masters had to decide for a long time how to paint the Chinese, with whom the archimandrite had soul-saving conversations - after all, there is no canon here. But in the end, an artistic solution was found, and soon Simferopol residents and guests of Crimea will be able to see with their own eyes the scenes of the missionary activity of Bishop Guria depicted on the walls of the temple.

The participants of the church-diplomatic conference were presented with a draft of a monument to the saint by sculptor Oleg Radzevich. The bronze figure of Archbishop Guria is supposed to be installed in front of the building of the Simferopol and Crimean diocese and the Central Museum of Taurida.

Andrey Ishin, Elena Ivanichenko

The 18th century made a decisive contribution to the development of translation activity in Russia. If for all of Europe in the 18th century. was the century of classicism and Enlightenment, then for Russia it primarily began as the era of Peter I.

Peter's era. The era of Peter the Great was a turning point, when many old traditions were interrupted and many new things were introduced. The political reforms of Peter I significantly expanded Moscow's economic and cultural contacts with European countries, creating the need for numerous translations of scientific and technical texts and works of fiction. Russia in the 18th century made a huge leap in the development of all areas of translation, decisively moving away from the Orthodox tradition and adjoining the Western European one. Changes in the field of translation corresponded to changes in the life of Russian society. If previously the management of the translation process came mainly from the monasteries, now a strong competitor has appeared - the state. State disapproval of the dominance of translations of texts with “divine” content is clearly heard in the decrees of Peter I. Higher quality requirements began to be placed on translations. Tsar Peter issued a special decree on translations, requiring “intelligible” transmission of the translated content. During this period, the literary norm of the Russian language began to take shape, and many educated people saw translations as a means of enriching their language, increasing its semantic and expressive potential.

An outstanding role in this process belonged to the great Russian scientist and poet Mikhail Lomonosov. Lomonosov and his talented contemporaries Sumarokov and Trediakovsky created a large number of predominantly poetic translations. They often accompanied their translations with theoretical reasoning, explaining why it was necessary to translate exactly this way and not otherwise, emphasizing the special importance of translation work and its creative nature.

At this new stage, the development of translation activity was characterized by three main features:

1) this activity has acquired new organizational forms.

2) a change in the nature of the books being translated.

3) new awareness of the social significance of translation.

Translations that bring new knowledge to Russia are declared useful and important. The range of translations of secular non-fiction texts from various fields of knowledge is expanding sharply: military affairs, law, engineering, shipbuilding, fortification, architecture, mathematics, astronomy, geography. Peter believed that the style of translations should be close to the style of the embassy order. Peter also monitored the translations of fiction, mostly without delving into the quality of the translation, but trying to promote their publication in Russia. Peter himself translated. The desire to ensure regularity of cultural contacts through translation was also manifested in the decree on the creation of the Academy in Russia, which Peter I issued a year before his death, in 1724: “To establish an Academy in which they would study languages, as well as other sciences and arts, and translate books."

In 1735, the “Russian Assembly” (Russian Assembly) was created at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences - in fact, the first professional organization of translators in Russia, which existed until 1743. Lomonosov, Tredyakovsky and some other members of the Academy took an active part in its work. The Assembly was involved in the selection of books for translation, developed rules and principles to guide translators, and critically assessed the work performed. It also trained future translators: a foreign language school was created at the Academy, whose graduates became official translators. It was believed that the translator had to be able to translate from at least three foreign languages: Latin, German and French. The Academy also sent students abroad to study “languages ​​and sciences,” held exams to test the professional training of translators, and tried to increase public interest in translation work.

In 1748, the president of the Academy published Queen Elizabeth's order to translate more non-religious (civil) books. Later, the Academy’s office appealed to “nobles and people of other classes” to engage in translations. It was at this time that translators began to receive regular remuneration for their work.

At the beginning of the century, translations of classical literature were supplemented by a large number of pragmatic translations, so necessary for the age of reform. At the same time, the ratio of languages ​​from which translations were made also changed: modern languages ​​such as French, German, and English began to predominate more and more, while Polish lost its popularity. Later, “technical” translations gave way to literary translations. The reforms were accompanied by an increase in the cultural demands of society, which the level of domestic literature could not satisfy, and literary translations were supposed to fill this gap and satisfy an important socio-cultural need. Translators now considered their work to be a service to their country and emphasized its importance in numerous prefaces to their translations. They saw their task as enlightening their compatriots, improving morals, and creating new Russian literature. Since that time, literary (or artistic) translation has acquired a high status in Russian culture. Translation began to be seen as a form of creativity, as deserving of respect as the creation of original works of art. The translator acted as a rival to the original author, and sometimes he set himself a more ambitious goal and sought to surpass the original in artistic merit.

Catherine's era . Russian educators set themselves the task of familiarizing society with foreign works, striving to assimilate foreign literary experience and thereby enrich their native literature. However, the connection between the original and translation texts in the 18th century. quite complicated. The lack of a sense of national specificity gave translators the opportunity to use adaptation techniques. Thus, translator E.I. Kostrov, translating in 1781-1788. Homer's Iliad introduces such cultural substitutions as “boots,” “steel,” and “buttons.” Translator Glebov Russifies personal names from Voltaire: Perrault, Colin and Pirette turn into Sidor, Karp and Agafya. In the 50-70s. translations into Russian of the works of Lessage, Prevost, Cervantes and others appeared, which was the catalyst for the birth of the Russian novel, the first authors of which were Emmin, Chulkov, Kheraskov. Translated literature shapes literary tastes, enriches the language of Russian prose, and develops the technique of plot construction. It is especially important that, along with traditional works of antiquity, modern works written in the 18th century are increasingly being translated.

Particularly important at that time was the contribution made to the development of translation by major figures of Russian culture: Trediakovsky, Lomonosov, Kantemir. Translations Vasily Trediakovsky(1703 – 1769) formed a kind of boundary, marking the transition to the specifics of the 18th century. in the field of translation. In the 18th century, poetic translation appeared, which subsequently took a particularly honorable place in Russia. Thus, Tredyakovsky won universal recognition thanks to his translation of P. Talman’s novel “Journey to the Island of Love” in 1730, where he included many poems successfully translated into Russian rhythms. Replacing Old Church Slavonicisms with Russian words, Trediakovsky created vocabulary that has firmly entered the Russian language: “uselessness”, “integrity”, “integrity”, etc.

Translation creativity of A. D. Cantemira developed in the same direction. He also chose Russian rather than Old Church Slavonic as the translation language, introducing neologisms (“substance”, “love of wisdom”, etc.) and providing the translations with extensive comments. The educational mission of translation in Russia at this time is illustrated by the fact that it was thanks to Cantemir’s translation in 1740 of B. Fontenelle’s treatise “Conversation on the Many Worlds” that Russians became acquainted with the Copernican system.

The translations were especially numerous and varied M. V. Lomonosova, made from Latin, German, French, Italian and Greek. In them he showed a remarkable ability to both achieve equilinearity and create free versions of the originals. Lomonosov paid great attention to conveying the rhythmic organization of the original, using various forms of iambs and trochees as an equivalent to the Alexandrian verse of French epics and the hexameter of Greek tragedies. Since Russian poetry was just taking shape at that time and was based on syllabic versification, Lomonosov’s innovation enriched its resources and created new norms and traditions in the use of poetic genres and metric systems. He also devoted a lot of time to reviewing other people's translations.

Up until the 60s. XVIII century Mostly works of classic genres (ode, tragedy), as well as philosophical works are translated. Catherine's era, marked by the transition to enlightenment, shifts the emphasis to literary prose. Catherine II actively supported translation activities and even, together with her retinue, translated Marmontel’s novel “Belisarius” in 1767. Translation activity is becoming a fashionable and prestigious activity, albeit a side one, since it was difficult to ensure one’s existence through translation.

In the second half of the 18th century. V translations such a need was felt that in 1768 in St. Petersburg, Catherine II established a special society translators"The congregation trying to translation foreign books into Russian" and assigned 5 thousand rubles for the annual payment of translators. The repertoire of translations of the “Collection” included books on the exact and natural sciences, philosophy, and, to a lesser extent, fiction. The “Collection” existed until 1783, and during this time it published 112 translated works in 173 volumes. Translation of this era satisfied to a large extent the demands of those reader groups who had poor command of foreign languages ​​or did not speak them at all, which determined both the choice of works and peculiar attempts to adapt them to class (adapting them to “Russian mores”). On the other hand, “translation competitions” were also common, in which translation was a work that received its artistic meaning only in relation to the original. Such translation performances had a different audience in mind - a relatively narrow, but quite linguistically cultural circle of readers, representatives of the class elite (cf. the competitions of Sumarokov and Lomonosov - translation odes of J.B. Rousseau “For Happiness”, etc.). The fact that most Russians translations was done from the French language (this is explained by the exceptional predominance of French culture and language among the noble intelligentsia of the 18th century), in turn contributed to the assimilation of French theory in Russia translation.

SM 6. Translation in Russia in the 18th–19th centuries.

The nineteenth century became the golden age of Russian translation. If in the previous century translation turned into a special type of professional activity, then in the 19th century this activity was elevated to the rank of high art. In the 19th century, translations were actively criticized. Quality criteria are an understanding of the language and artistic intent of the original text, compliance with standards, and preservation of national specifics. During this period, translation was enriched with technical techniques that made it possible to convey the richness of the original - the need to preserve national, genre and individual originality. Free translation was welcomed if it contributed to preserving the impression.

The new Russian school of translation began to take shape thanks, first of all, to the outstanding contribution of such famous cultural figures as the historian N. Karamzin and the poet V. Zhukovsky. Late 18th early 19th century Karamzin published a large number of translations in various journals. He saw translations as a good school for improving a writer's style. Karamzin translated the works of classical and modern authors from Greek, French, Latin, German, English, Italian and some oriental languages. Introduced 72 authors into Russian use.

Pushkin called Zhukovsky“a genius of translation.” He was a talented poet, but a significant part of his work was translations. Zhukovsky translated from English, French, Old Church Slavonic, Latin and German. Thanks to him, Russian readers gained access to many works by Schiller, Goethe, Byron, Walter Scott and other luminaries of world literature. The range of his creative searches is truly amazing: from translations of fairy tales by Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm to Homer's Odyssey and the famous Russian epic The Tale of Igor's Campaign. Zhukovsky was one of the greatest masters of translation in the entire history of this activity. Just like Karamzin, Zhukovsky was a supporter of free translation, which sometimes turned into a paraphrase or even an imitation, a new text based on the original. Sometimes he could move the scene to Russia, give the original characters Russian names, etc. However, his powerful talent enabled him to reproduce with extraordinary power the style, rhythm and intonation of foreign verse, and his best translations are distinguished by amazing accuracy. " Translator in prose there is a slave; translator in poetry - a rival,” said Zhukovsky. The Russian school of translation owes a lot of its achievements to Zhukovsky. In 1811 in St. Petersburg, a treatise by B.V. was published anonymously as a separate book in French. Golitsina"Reflections on the Russians" translators", containing a detailed description of Russian translation art of the 18th century. and a comparative analysis of its most important samples. The purpose of the treatise is to increase responsibility for the most accurate recreation of the original, to achieve which the author proposes a number of measures, recommending in some cases even the prosaic rendering of poetic texts. However, until the mid-20s. with abundance translations there are relatively few that would meet the requirements of semantic and stylistic proximity to the originals. As a result of censorship restrictions, on the one hand, the growth of the diverse intelligentsia, which was increasingly involved in the literary movement, and on the other, with its insufficient command of foreign languages, Russian literature between the 20s and 50s. XIX century poorer translations than at the beginning of the century. But translations of this period, they are increasingly approaching the task of reproducing the originals as accurately as possible. Example translations of this type can serve translations from Goethe, Shakespeare, modern French poets (Hugo). In the 60s Translation activity is once again intensifying significantly. Continuously growing since the early 60s. a circle of readers with little knowledge of foreign languages ​​persistently put forward the need for such translations, which could “replace” the original. Hence the continuous growth of Russian translated literature in the second half of the 19th century. The needs of the Russian theater give rise to translations classics of European theater: Shakespeare, Moliere, etc. were published in new editions during this period. Since the mid-80s. Scientific activity in the field of the history of “universal” literature is rapidly developing; interest arose in the hitherto untranslated monuments of ancient European literature. P interpreters(some of them came from the school of academician A.N. Veselovsky, who himself gave excellent literary qualities translation Boccaccio’s “Decameron”) combine a subtle critical sense with a good philological understanding of the monument being translated. During these same decades, we encounter many examples of exceptionally persistent translation work; so, D.E. Min worked on over 40 years translation"The Divine Comedy" by Dante; above translation"Faust" by Goethe N. Kholodkovsky worked for more than 25 years. Despite this translations of this period, the overwhelming majority are distinguished by significant shortcomings - approximate transmission, smoothing character - and convey only the outline of thought, but not its stylistic expression. This can be said even about such translations, which at one time seemed exemplary (eg. translations P.I. Weinberg from Heine).

A place of honor in the history of translation in Russia belongs to two great Russian poets A.S. Pushkin And M.Yu. Lermontov. Although translations occupied a relatively modest place in their work, they made a significant contribution to improving the quality of literary translations in Russia. In poetic paraphrases and imitations, they were able to reproduce the most important features of foreign poetry, but most importantly, their creations were wonderful works of art, not inferior to their original masterpieces. Their paraphrase translations served as exemplary examples for other translators, since they affirmed the main principle that a good literary translation should be an integral part of the national literature in the target language. The role of Pushkin in the development of the Russian school of translation should be especially emphasized. Pushkin constantly showed great interest in translation issues, and his critical notes on translations are distinguished by objectivity and depth. He emphasized the importance of proper selection of literary works for translation, and his demands for fidelity to the original, combined with the high quality and expressiveness of the translator's literary style, had a beneficial influence on Russia's best translators in the 19th and 20th centuries. Closeness to Pushkin’s judgments about translation is represented by the views Belinsky. The reason for the generality is the similarity of the premises underlying the judgments. He repeatedly dwells on the choice of works to be translated, saying that books are translated that, in terms of content, are not worth translation, have neither ideological nor artistic value, while classical works of literature remain untranslated.

Although during this period the majority of translators advocated free translation, some of them continued to insist on maximum proximity of the translation to the original, on extreme literalism, even to the detriment of meaning and understandability. Among them were such famous writers as P. Vyazemsky, N. Gnedich, A. Fet, who translated a lot from different languages. True, they themselves did not always adhere to the principles they proclaimed. Sometimes the translator's talent and artistic intuition overcame the barriers of literalism. Translations Vyazemsky the works of Constant and Mickiewicz are not without literary merit, and the works Gnedich, especially the translation of Homer’s Iliad, was highly appreciated by Pushkin. Extreme formalism Feta doomed most of his translations to failure, but many successful solutions can be found in them. Fet translated Goethe, Schiller and others. He owns translations both parts of Goethe's Faust, Antony and Cleopatra and Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. And also required significant labor translations Latin poets: all Horace, Catullus, Juvenal's satyr and Persia], etc.

A special place in the translation culture of the 19th century. are occupied by translations of famous Russian writers - I.S.. Turgeneva, L.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky.

Translators such as V. Kurochkin, D. Minaev, M. Mikhailov and some others, achieved the goal by selecting appropriate texts for translation or by making subtle changes to the translation text that evoked associations with the Russian reality of that time.

Thus, the Russian art of translation throughout the 19th century. enriched mainly with ideas and technical techniques that made it possible to increasingly convey the richness of artistic works. Among them: the need to preserve the national, genre and individual originality of the original. It became finally clear that it was impossible to solve such problems within the framework of word-by-word, “literal” translation;

on the contrary, free translation was welcomed if it contributed to preserving the “impression”.

4. Development of translation in post-Petrine times

The problems of translating scientific and technical literature remained relevant throughout the 18th century, and even later (let us recall at least the famous remark of A.S. Pushkin that “scholarship, politics and philosophy have not yet been expressed in Russian - the metaphysical language of we don’t exist at all”) 192. However, from the second third of the “eighteenth century”, other issues began to come to the fore, related to the transmission of works of “belle literature”. The publication in 1830 of the translation of the allegorical novel by the French writer P. Talman “Riding to the Island of Love,” made “through the student Vasily Trediakovsky,” marked the beginning of the history of translations of narrative prose, which quickly gained popularity among a fairly wide range of readers. Already in the second half of the century, noting the ever-increasing demand for entertaining literature, one of the Russian satirical magazines noted that if in previous decades one could hear many complaints about the lack of useful literature, now the picture is completely different: despite the abundance of translations from foreign languages ​​“ the best books,” the latter are much less popular than some novels (considered a kind of “lower genre” in classicist aesthetics).

This process became noticeable already during the reign of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna (reigned 1741–1761), when the number of published translated books intended for easy reading began to noticeably increase. The Tsarina herself also contributed to him, who issued a decree according to which the Academy of Sciences was to organize the work of translating and publishing books of various contents in Russian, “in which benefit and fun would be combined with moral teachings decent in social life.” On the other hand, increased reader demand increased the need for translators, and in 1748 an announcement from the academic office appeared in the St. Petersburg Gazette, inviting those wishing to try their hand at translation. If the level of the applicants was considered satisfactory, they were given an order to translate a certain book, and upon completion of the work and printing of the latter, a fee in the amount of one hundred copies of the circulation (which the translator had to sell independently).

But translations of fiction acquired a particularly wide scope during the era of Catherine II, who reigned from 1762 to 1796. Translators called this period the “golden age of translation.” It was then that the most important works of world literature from antiquity to the 18th century first appeared in Russian, and many of them, until the 20th century, existed only in versions of Catherine’s time. The work of translation itself became more and more prestigious, and among the translators there were people belonging to the most diverse classes and strata of society. One translator even asked readers to excuse possible errors, citing her age of ten. Many outstanding writers of the 18th century also engaged in translations: A.T. Bolotov, I.F. Bogdanovich, D.I. Fonvizin and others, not to mention V.K. Trediakovsky, A.P. Sumarokov and M.V. Lomonosov, whose work will be discussed below. An example was set by the empress herself, who, together with the courtiers accompanying her, during a trip along the Volga in 1767, translated a novel by the French writer J.F. Marmontel's "Belisarius", by the way, was banned in his homeland for political reasons.

The development of translation activities has raised the question of the need to give it appropriate organizational forms. Already in 1735, on the initiative of V.K. Trediakovsky, a Russian meeting was created, intended to meet academic translators and discuss the results of their work. But a particularly important event in this area occurred more than three decades later, when in the issue of St. Petersburg Gazette dated October 8, 1768, the following message appeared: “Her Imperial Majesty, our most gracious empress, constantly concerned about the happiness of her people, the third day, according to the bounty generously poured out from her throne, protected by wisdom, for the spread of science, she was pleased for the first time to grant annually five thousand rubles for Russian translations of good foreign-language books, and to supervise the use of this treasury for the benefit of society and for rewarding those who wish to work in translations highest and entrusted them to His Excellency Count Vladimir Grigorievich Orlov, Count Andrei Petrovich Shuvalov and collegiate adviser Grigory Kozitsky" 193.

This was the beginning of the famous “Meeting Trying to Translate Foreign Books into the Russian Language,” which existed until 1783, which was destined to become one of the most important factors in the development of domestic translated literature.

The choice of persons appointed by the queen at the head of the new association is also characteristic. If the director of the Academy of Sciences V.G. Orlov and A.P., who wrote French poetry. Shuvalov (by the way, personally acquainted with many French writers, including Voltaire), stood close to the court, then Grigory Vasilievich Kozitsky(c. 1724–1775) was directly related to Russian literary life. A graduate of the Kyiv Theological Academy, who completed his education at the University of Leipzig, held the position of the Empress’s secretary for receiving petitions, had an excellent knowledge of ancient and modern languages, and had a reputation as a talented translator (in particular, he owns translations of Sappho and Lucan), Kozitsky turned out to be the most suitable candidate for leadership this kind of society.

Both in terms of the number of participants and the volume of work done, the Collection occupies a unique place in the history of Russian (and, perhaps, not only Russian) translation. During its existence, more than one hundred and ten people took part in the activities of this society, including A.N. Radishchev. In total, during the existence of the Collection, 112 works were published in 173 volumes; Moreover, it must be taken into account that the number of translations significantly exceeded the indicated number, but some of them remained in manuscripts, and some were published after 1783, when the Assembly ceased its activities.

The repertoire of literature selected for translation is characteristic. The time when the Assembly began its activities was distinguished by its passion for educational philosophy (to which the Empress herself generously paid tribute). Therefore, in the first years, the focus was on the works of Voltaire, Montesquieu, Mabley, and articles from the famous “Encyclopedia” of d’Alembert and Diderot, although their appearance in Russian faced certain censorship difficulties, primarily on the part of the spiritual authorities. European fiction was not forgotten either: works by Swift, Tasso, Corneille, Gellert, and Goldoni were published. Gradually, however, the ancient heritage began to come to the fore, the need for translation of which had long been advocated by representatives of the Academy. Catherine was especially proud of this side of the work of Russian translators, writing to Voltaire in 1770 that she would soon have to study Greek at some university, but for now they were translating Homer into Russian, and this also meant something, especially for a start. Finally, quite a lot of attention was paid by the translators grouped around the Collection to scientific literature, primarily to works on history and geography. Works on mathematics, physics, natural sciences, and even textbooks were also translated. Thus, in a certain sense, we can talk about the Assembly continuing the traditions laid down in the era of Peter the Great.

The main source languages ​​were French, German, ancient Greek, and Latin. Translations were carried out from Italian and even Chinese. True, some of them, due to the lack of translators who knew certain languages, were still translated second and even third hand (for example, Fielding’s novels were translated from the German version of the French translation of the English original). However, the norm (especially when it came to monuments of ancient literature) was the transfer directly from the originals. Moreover, on behalf of the Assembly a special announcement was even published that if any work of ancient authors, which had hitherto been published in translation from other languages, was presented in translation from the original, then the Assembly would gladly accept such work and give the author an appropriate reward . With rare exceptions, books written in French and German were also translated from the originals.

The activities of the Assembly were highly appreciated by many contemporaries. Among them was the famous educator Nikolai Ivanovich Novikov(1744–1818), to whom the words belong: “How much benefit has come from the translated books under the supervision of this Assembly? Unbiased reader who loves his fatherland, you know this” 194. It can be added that Novikov himself, who was heavily involved in publishing translated literature, also had direct connections with the Collection. In 1773, he organized the “Society for the Printing of Books,” which seemed to complement the activities of the organization of translators; in addition, most of the manuscripts that he submitted for publication to the academic office belonged precisely to the number of translations carried out by members of the Assembly.

The activities of the Assembly continued successfully until 1775; however, after the death of G.V. Kozitsky and replacement V.G. Orlova S.G. Domashnov, it gradually fell into decay, as a result of which it was abolished in 1783, and translation affairs became the subject of the Russian Academy established at the same time, the main task of which was the development of the Russian language and literature. In 1790, on the initiative of the famous princess Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova(1743–1810), who headed both Academies, the Translation Department was established at the Academy of Sciences, headed by Professor A.P. Protasov, “whose main concern should be to translate various useful books from languages ​​into our native language, and through this our students and translators will improve both in various knowledge and in the native language” 195. However, the new institution dealt primarily with scientific literature: works on geography, history, architecture, etc., as a result of which the activities of the Department, in essence, did not go beyond the narrow academic framework.

Evgeny Nemirovsky

Continuation. For the beginning, see No. 12, 1999.

Currently, there are over 2,500 different languages ​​spoken by peoples inhabiting the globe. Diversity of languages ​​is one of the serious obstacles to universal human unity and mutual understanding. True, most of these languages ​​have a limited distribution; Not everyone has their own writing and literature. According to the famous French sociologist and bibliologist Robert Escarpi, only eight languages ​​are enough to communicate with 3/4 of the reading population of the planet. It is stated that 18.1% of the world's population reads English, 16.9% reads Chinese, 15.9% reads Russian, 6.2% reads Spanish, 5.0% reads German, 5.0 % - in Japanese, 3.8% - in French, 2.4% - in Italian.

The structure of the world's reading population is clearly presented in the graph (with some rounding of indicators).

Knowledge of just one language, absorbed “with mother’s milk,” or even two - native plus one foreign - today is clearly not enough for regular acquaintance with scientific and cultural information, in the creation of which many peoples of the world take part. The era of the scientific and cultural revolution put an end to scientific and cultural isolationism, the positions of which were quite strong in the recent past. But even today they make themselves felt in the ideological concepts of the so-called patriots, in discussions about the “special path” of this or that country.

In order not to fall behind in the scientific and economic field, each country must daily follow the new developments in political, legal, scientific, and aesthetic thought that appear in other countries. Until the beginning of the 19th century, the international language of science was Latin, and this was provided relatively easily. Today books, leading scientific and technical journals need to be translated.

The problem of translation, however, was relevant even in ancient times. The Old Testament was translated from Hebrew into Greek in the 3rd century BC. In the 4th century AD. The Holy Scriptures were translated into Latin. But the Latin translation made by the early Christian writer Jerome (about 347-420) is considered canonical. The Old Church Slavonic translation appeared in the 9th century; he is associated with the activities of the great enlighteners Cyril and Methodius. According to Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky, translated literature of each of the new European peoples had a very important role in the development of national identity.

Translation of works of fiction, or, as they often say, literary translation, is an independent type of literary creativity. It also happens that translation is subjective: it reflects not so much the individuality of the author of the original work as the individuality of the translator. This often happens when great masters of literature, such as Boris Leonidovich Pasternak or Anna Andreevna Akhmatova, are engaged in translation.

The importance of literary translation is difficult to overestimate. According to Vissarion Grigorievich Belinsky, such a translation should “replace, if possible, the original for those for whom it is inaccessible due to ignorance of the language, and give them the means and opportunity to enjoy it and judge it.”

The history of literary translation of the twentieth century knows many names of brilliant masters of this genre. Among them was Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (1899-1977), who translated “Eugene Onegin” into English and commented in detail on this great work. Among the Russian masters of literary translation, let us name, for example, Mikhail Leonidovich Lozinsky (1886-1955), who owns a wonderful translation of Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” or Ivan Aleksandrovich Kashkin (1899-1963), who made many of E. Hemingway’s works available to our readers , W. Faulkner, R. Frost.

Ronald Barker and Robert Escarpi argued that "translation is an extremely rare phenomenon." The statement seems paradoxical, but it is not as far from the truth as it seems at first glance. Let's take a look at the data in the table. 1 information about the number of translated publications in the world and their share in relation to all book production. The source of this information is the UNESCO Statistical Yearbook. Unfortunately, starting in 1995, UNESCO stopped publishing data on translated publications. And since the publication was carried out with a great delay, the latest data that we have at our disposal dates back to 1987.

As we see, although the total number of translated publications published in the world has been constantly growing, their share in relation to the total mass of book production in 1960-1985. decreased just as steadily. This trend seemed frightening because it showed how little attention the world pays to the creation of translations - the most important means of international communication. True, 1987 saw a certain increase in this indicator.

On the graph, the trends in the development of publishing and translation activities look as follows.

The volume of publishing and translation activities is limited by the significant labor intensity of translation work and its relatively low payment. The role of computer technology in this matter is still insignificant. The computer is capable of producing a translation that allows you to get acquainted with the original in the most general terms. But he is not yet capable of conveying the subtleties of literary speech, the stylistic features of the original, or the beauty of its sound.

The number of translations produced worldwide in 1987, the last year for which we have relevant information, may seem significant. However, it does not reflect the number of scientific and literary works introduced into international circulation, since some books are simultaneously translated in different countries into different languages. For example, in 1982, the works of the 50 most translated authors were published in 4,422 editions, accounting for 8.49% of the total number (52,198) translations published that year.

Information about translated publications published in individual countries is given in table. 2. They are placed in descending order of the share of translations in the total output of book products in each given country (according to 1985 data).

Data in table. 2 are placed in descending order of the share of translated publications in relation to the total mass of book production in 1985. If we talk about the absolute numbers of translated publications (according to 1987 data), then individual countries will line up in the order shown in the graph.

As we can see, countries around the world differ significantly from each other in their attitude towards publishing and translation activities. The leading place in terms of the share of translations in the total mass of book production (in terms of the number of publications) has been occupied by the Netherlands for many years. Much attention is traditionally paid to publishing and translation activities in Spain. The share of translated publications, which amounted to 21.84% here in 1980, increased to 22.90% over the five years. Over 20 years, in 1965-1985, the number of translated publications published in Spain increased almost 4 times.

The level of publishing and translation activity is also high in the Scandinavian countries - Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Norway was recently on this list. But in 1985, according to UNESCO data (perhaps erroneous), the production of translated publications here fell sharply: from 1251 in 1984 to 448 in 1985. The number of transfers is also decreasing in Sweden and Denmark. In Finland, on the contrary, it is constantly growing.

Among the large industrialized countries of Europe, the level of translation activity is quite high in France and the Federal Republic of Germany. For the latter country, we can provide more detailed and up-to-date data, the source of which is national statistics. The relevant information is presented in table. 3 and on the graph, where the ordinate axis shows data on the number of translated publications.

The information for 1997 in this table is preliminary.

The level of publishing and translation activity in English-speaking countries is traditionally low. In Great Britain, the number of translated publications is growing from year to year: in 1965 it was 633, and by 1987 it had grown to 1560 - almost three times. But the share of transfers continues to remain low: in 1980 it was 2.8%, and in 1985 it dropped to 2.12%.

The situation in the USA is even worse. Here even the number of translations is constantly decreasing, although book output as a whole is growing steadily. The share of translated publications in relation to the total mass of book production here is only 0.8-0.9%. Explaining this phenomenon, Robert Escarpi wrote back in 1969: “A language bloc, whose book production is so vast and whose clientele is so numerous, has no need to look for products from outside: the English-language countries mainly exchange books with each other, and the main supplier among them is England ". However, he immediately noted that “this character of autarky - a consequence of the power of the British book market - may in the future become the Achilles heel of English literature.” In another place in his famous work, R. Escarpi considered it necessary to warn the countries - the largest producers of book products: the USA, Great Britain, Japan and the USSR, which produce very few translated publications. “Here lurks one of the least noticeable, but most serious dangers,” he wrote, “with which the material and intellectual power of the culture of a large country can threaten. If you do not take precautions and do not maintain constant contacts with foreign countries, dangerous consequences are possible - the country will become isolated in its own culture.” Over the past 30 years, the countries mentioned by R. Escarpi - alas! - they did not listen to his warnings.

The number of translations made from a particular language, to a certain extent, indicates the authority of the scientific and artistic literature of the peoples using this language. Of the 65,297 translated publications published in 1987, 32,219 (49.34%) are translations from English, 6,732 (10.3%) from French, 6,595 (10.1%) from Russian, 5,077 (7 .77%) - from German, 1725 (2.64%) - from Italian, 1193 (1.83%) - from Swedish, 933 (1.43%) - from Spanish, 797 (1.22%) - from Czech, 709 (1.09%) - from Latin, 615 (0.94%) - from Hungarian, 560 (0.86%) - from Danish, 479 (0.73%) - from Ancient Greek, 401 (0. 61%) - from Arabic, 399 (0.61%) - from Polish, 390 (0.59%) - from Serbo-Croatian. Let us again make adjustments regarding translations from Russian. Of the 6,595 translations from Russian published in 1987, 4,464 editions (67.69%) were published in the USSR. For comparison, we point out that out of 6732 translations from French, only 100 were published in France, and out of 1725 from Italian, only 10 were published in Italy.

What are the trends in the number of translations carried out from individual languages? The share of translations from English is constantly increasing. In 1954 it accounted for 34.6% of the total number of transfers, in 1982 - 42.54%, in 1985 - 46.51%, in 1987 - 49.34%. The share of translations from Russian, on the contrary, was declining. In 1954 it was 17.9%, in 1982 - 11.95%, in 1985 - 11.04%, in 1987 - 10.1%. The share of translations from French also decreased. In the above years, it was 13.2%, 11.98%, 11.02% and 10.3%, respectively. The share of translations from German compared to 1954 (9.85%) decreased to 8.62% in 1982, 8.39% in 1985 and 7.77% in 1987.

According to the research of Robert Escarpi (1969), English as the original language of translated works dominated the publishing and translation activities of 38 out of 50 countries (76%), French - in 6 countries, five of which are English-speaking, Russian - in 7 countries ( Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Uruguay, Czechoslovakia). In 1982, translation from English dominated in 51 countries, from French - in 6 countries (Lebanon, Mauritius, Morocco, New Zealand, Romania, Syria), from Russian - in 7 countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, USSR, Czechoslovakia and Ethiopia), from German - in two countries (Great Britain and the USA). Previously, French was the dominant language in these latter countries.

More recent information on the structure of transfers can be provided for the Federal Republic of Germany and Russia. The source in this case is national statistics. In Germany in 1997, as before, English dominated as the original language of translated publications (74%). The remaining languages ​​were approximately an order of magnitude lower: French - 8.1%, Italian - 3.8%, Spanish - 2.7%. Russian was the original language for only 1.6% of translated publications. The relevant information is clearly presented in the diagram.

The structure of translations published in 1997 in Russia differs from the structure of translations in Germany, primarily in the set of languages. And these two countries cannot be compared quantitatively. Let us recall that in Germany in 1996, 9,791 translated publications were published, and in Russia in 1997, almost half as many - 5,802. The largest number of works - 4,204 (or 72.45% of the total number of translations) - were made from English. This is followed by: French - 441 translations, German - 330, Russian - 192, Polish - 74, Ancient Greek - 61, Italian - 44, Spanish - 29. In graphical form it looks like this.

Of undoubted interest is information about exactly which languages ​​works of science and literature, originally published in a particular language, are translated. The information below applies to 1987. In this particular case, the time to which the information relates does not matter much. Here it is interesting to identify the most general “orientations” for individual languages, and they remain more or less constant over a long period of time.

Works published in English are most often translated into German (7589 editions), Spanish (5516), Dutch (2582), Japanese (2466), Norwegian (2060), French (1792), Swedish (1391), Danish (1045 ), Italian (952), Russian (574). The number of translations into German and Spanish is increasing from year to year. The number of translations from English into Russian has increased significantly in recent years: in 1997 it reached 4,204 in Russia alone. But the number of translations from English into French is decreasing - from 3,785 in 1980 to 1,792 in 1987.

Works written in French are most translated into German (1463 editions), Spanish (1450), English (534), Dutch (473), Italian (422), Japanese (227), Swedish (146), Russian (139 ), Turkish (88), Polish (83) languages. In Russia, by 1997, the number of translations from French increased to 441.

Works written in German were most often translated in 1987 into Spanish (846 editions), Dutch (672), English (628), French (426), Italian (280), Japanese (234), Danish (196), Russian (168), Swedish (156).

In 1997, 330 translations from German were published in Russia.

Works by Russian authors in 1987 were most often translated into English (691 editions), German (687), Spanish (417), French (355), Polish (212), Hungarian (191), Slovak (149), Arabic ( 122), Italian (93), Japanese (92) languages. In recent years, interest in Russia has decreased, and the number of translations from Russian has sharply decreased. Thus, in Germany in 1997, only 90 translations from Russian were published (compare with 4914 translations from English).

Previously, as a rule, the Russian language dominated in translations from the languages ​​of the peoples of the former Soviet republics. In 1987, for example, 74 books were translated from Ukrainian into Russian, 21 into English, 11 into French, 8 each into Polish and German. Now the situation has changed radically. Very little is translated from the languages ​​of neighboring peoples in Russia. Thus, in 1997, only two books each by Ukrainian, Georgian and Latvian authors and one by Kazakh, Lithuanian, Tajik, Uzbek and Estonian authors were published. Not a single book has been translated from the Belarusian language, and in 1987 there were 41 of them.

At one time, the UNESCO Statistical Yearbook regularly published information about the number of translated editions of the world's most popular authors. Since 1991, unfortunately, such information has ceased to be published. The source of such publications was another UNESCO yearbook, called Index Translationum, that is, “Index of Translations.” This yearbook publishes bibliographical descriptions of translated publications published throughout the world. It began publishing in 1932. During the war years, in particular in 1940, publication was discontinued and resumed in 1948 under the auspices of UNESCO. Bibliographic descriptions are located here by country in which the translation was published. Countries are listed alphabetically in French spelling. Within each country, a grouping according to the UDC (Universal Decimal Classification) is adopted.

As for the list of the most translated authors, it included the names of those political figures, writers and scientists whose works were published in at least 20 translated editions in any given year. In 1980 there were 206 such authors, in 1982 - 191.

Of the 191 authors registered in 1982, 47 came from the USA, 45 from Great Britain, 26 from Russia and other national entities that were then part of the USSR, 23 from France, 12 from Germany. The indicators of the USSR are actually lower, because 11 Soviet authors are the authors of stable textbooks, whose works were translated into the languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR. These textbooks, of course, were not translated in other countries.

The translation and publishing activities of the Soviet Union had two characteristic features. Firstly, translations from one language of the peoples of the USSR (mainly Russian) into other languages ​​of the peoples inhabiting the country were widely practiced here. Secondly, Marxist-Leninist literature was actively translated in the USSR, which was subsequently sent, as a rule, free of charge, to foreign countries. Publishing literature in foreign languages ​​was one of the main tasks of the Progress publishing house, founded in 1963. It published, for example, the 50-volume Collected Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in English, the 55-volume Collected Works of V.I. Lenin in Spanish and Polish, the 45-volume Works of V.I. Lenin in Vietnamese, Finnish, French and other languages. In total in the USSR in 1918-1988. 7,102 editions of V.I. Lenin’s works were published in the languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR with a total circulation of 81.1 million copies. and in the languages ​​of the peoples of foreign countries, 5630 publications with a total circulation of 68.2 million copies. 10 .

It was the latter circumstance that explained the fact that the list of the most translated authors for a long time was headed by the name of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. In 1961-1970, his works were published in 2354 translated editions, in 1979 - 416 editions, in 1980 - 468, in 1981 - 384. In 1982, 335 translated editions were published in 9 countries. 268 of these 335 publications were published in the USSR, and the vast majority of the rest were published in the then socialist countries.

The same circumstance explained the “popularity” of party leaders, which immediately ended after these leaders passed away. In 1980, L.I. Brezhnev was in 10th place in terms of the number of translated publications - books signed with his name were published in 109 translations in 14 countries. Among the latter were capitalist ones, where the publication of Brezhnev’s books was financed by the Soviet Union. In 1982, in the list of the most translated authors, Brezhnev moved to 7th place. And two years later, we will no longer find the name of the elderly Soviet leader on this list. His place was taken by Yu.V. Andropov, whose works were published in 28 translations in 1982, 89 in 1983, and 34 in 1984. In 1984, the name K.U. appeared on the list of the most translated authors. Chernenko, whose “start” was impressive: 122 translations of his works were published this year. And then M.S. Gorbachev comes to replace him. Until 1984, his works were not translated into foreign languages. In 1984, 138 translations were published, in 1985 - 98, in 1986 - 209, in 1987 - 186. Most of these translations were published in the USSR. Of the 186 translations of 1987, 153 were published in our country.

Now let’s get acquainted with the real leaders of publishing and translation activities. In 1980, Walt Disney (Walt Disney, 1901-1966) was in second place (after V.I. Lenin) in the list of most translated authors. Under the name of this famous director of animated films popular all over the world, works of children's literature were published, most of which did not belong to Disney himself, but told about the heroes of his cartoons. Another "champion" of 1980 was the English writer Victoria Holt (1906-1993). Eleanor Alice Burford Hibbert was hiding under this pseudonym. She also performed under other pseudonyms: Philippa Carr, Kathleen Kellow, Jean Plaidy. She wrote historical novels and love stories. The first novel that brought her great fame was the book “The Royal Road to Faucheringay”, published in 1955, which told about the dramatic fate of Queen Mary Stuart of Scotland, who was beheaded by order of Elizabeth I. Translations of V. Holt’s novels were published in 29 countries in 1980 .

Other leaders of 1980 are well-known scientists and writers: Aristotle, whose works were published in translation in 28 countries, A.P. Chekhov, published in 24 countries, L.N. Tolstoy - in 22 countries, W. Shakespeare - in 22 countries .

In 1982, second place in the list of most translated authors was taken by Agatha Christie (Agatha Christie, 1890-1976), whose detective stories were published in 21 countries in 291 editions. In third place was the ever-living Jules Verne, whose widely popular novels were published in 23 countries by 224 editions.

The English children's writer Enid Mary Blyton (1897-1968), author of over 600 books, enjoyed great popularity in the 80s. In the list of the most translated authors, she was in fifth place in 1980 and 1982, and in 1984 - in eighth, in 1987 - in sixth. In 1971-1980 1,392 translations of Mary Blyton's works have been published worldwide.

Of the writers who lived at that time, Barbara Hamilton Cartland (born 1901), stepmother-grandmother of the untimely death of Princess Diana, occupied an honorable place in the list of the most translated authors. Her first book was published in 1923. Since then, she has created more than 400 “women's novels” that have enjoyed great popularity throughout the world. It began to be translated in Russia in 1992. On the list of most translated authors, Cartland usually ranked fifth to seventh. In 1971-1980 812 translations of her novels were published.

Contrary to the popular belief that classical fiction does not attract the attention of readers abroad (and recently here too), classical writers still predominate quantitatively in the lists of the most translated authors, although they do not occupy leading positions. In 1961-1970 the works of L.N. Tolstoy were translated 1063 times, and the works of F.M. Dostoevsky - 872 times.

The lists of the most translated authors invariably include A.S. Pushkin, Maxim Gorky, N.V. Gogol, I.S. Turgenev, A.P. Chekhov... Children's books by Nikolai Nikolaevich Nosov (1908-1976), the author of “Adventures”, are often translated Dunno and his friends. In 1971-1980 87 translations of his books were published, and in 1987 alone - 52. Among domestic scientists, only physicist Lev Davydovich Landau (1908-1968) was awarded the right to be included in the list, whose works in 1961-1970. translated 117 times. And of the living writers writing in Russian, only Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn and Chingiz Aitmatov are named among the most translated authors. The latter is ahead in popularity of G. Maupassant and G. Wells, and among modern writers - Stephen King, Henry Miller, Ray Bradbury and even the Golon spouses, authors of such a popular series of novels about Angelica. In the last decade, we will no longer find the name A.I. Solzhenitsyn on the lists of the most translated authors. His former popularity has waned. And Ch. Aitmatov continues to be translated.

Speaking about political figures, we note that in the 70s the works of L.D. Trotsky and I.V. Stalin were actively translated around the world. In the 80s, they disappeared from the list of most translated authors.

Among the classics of foreign fiction, William Shakespeare invariably leads. In 1980 and 1982 he took 9th place, in 1984 - 14th. In terms of the number of translations published in 1961-1970, Shakespeare took 2nd place - after V.I. Lenin, who, as we have already said, was translated mainly into the USSR. In these years, 1227 translations of the works of the great English playwright were published. Agatha Christie for the same period is represented by 920 translated editions, Georges Simenon - 1076, Jack London - 539.

In conclusion, a few words about some features of publishing and translation activities in Russia in the last decade. The number of translated publications has increased significantly. But their quality has definitely deteriorated. The attention of publishing houses is primarily paid to the authors of action films, thrillers, horror films, book versions of soap operas, and erotic literature. The works of Stephen King (b. 1947), Sidney Sheldon (b. 1917), Erle Stanley Gardner (1889-1970) are actively being put on the market... At one time we even published pulp novels by Mickey Spillane (b. 1918), who all over the world has long gone out of fashion.

In addition to the selection of works for translation, the work of the translator himself also affects the artistic merit of translated publications. Other publishers are looking for cheaper “specialists” to do this work, and at the same time they also give them strict deadlines. Sometimes, striving for efficiency, publishers even entrust the translation not to one writer, but to several at once, due to which the stylistic unity of the work is disrupted. In this case, the names of the translators are mostly not indicated on the publication. All this undoubtedly causes damage to the reputation of the domestic translation school, which previously enjoyed universal respect.