Shakespeare Translation Features

Be great in act as you have been in thought

W. Shakespeare

Shakespeare translation features

Особенности перевода

У. Шекспира

The translation problem

• The translator faces the collision of different, and often directly opposite, cultures, traditions, and worldviews, which he must take into account
• It is important not to literally reproduce the original, but to convey its spirit and mood
• As a result, the translator must become a co-author of the writer or the poet

Translator’s work with the original

3 stages of the translator’s work with the text:

• Stage I : the original is just a subscript, the translator fully relies on the author
• Stage II : the translator percepts the original, gets to know the author better and, as a result, begins to understand him
• Stage III : the translator becomes closer to the author and can easily express his ideas, intonations and images.

Features of Shakespeare’s lyrics

that complicate the task of translators

• The amazing richness of Shakespeare’s language
• Shakespeare’s word-making
• The polysemy of Shakespeare’s language
• The metaphorical nature of Shakespeare’s poetry

First meaningful Russian translations

of Shakespeare

XIX century

• 1802 – ‘Macbeth’ , Andrey Turgenev
• 1808 – ‘King Lear’ , Nikolay Gnedich
• 1808 – ‘Othello’ , Ivan Velyaminov
• ‘ The Tempest ” (1821) and ‘ Falstaff ’ (1825), Alexander Shakhovskoy

XVIII century

• 1748 – ‘Hamlet’ , Alexander Sumarokov
• 1787 – ‘Julius Cesar’ , Nikolay Karamzin
• 1790 – ‘Romeo and Julia’ , Vasily Pomerantsev

1828 – ‘Hamlet’ by Michael Vronchenko, the first poetic translation from the original

Famous Russian translators of Shakespeare

The translation of ‘Hamlet’ in 1837 by Nikolay Alekseevich Polevoy

made Shakespeare known to

all Russian intelligentsia.

This light, theatrical version, written in a lively language,

was immediately put on stage and parsed into quotation.

• XIX century

Famous Russian translators of Shakespeare

In the 60s, the most significant contribution to the creation of the ‘Russian Shakespeare’ was made by the poet and critic

Apollon Alexandrovich Grigoryev .

His ‘Romeo and Juliet’ (1864) remained a standard

for a long time.

• XIX century

• XX century

A new translation style was introduced

in 1940s by Boris Leonidovich Pasternak.

He reproduced the text of Shakespeare in a modern, spoken language.

He worked on ‘Hamlet’ for more than 30 years. It was Pasternak’s translation that began to be used in theatrical and cinematic productions of ‘Hamlet’.

Famous Russian translators of Shakespeare

• XX century

The translations of

Samuel Yakovlevich Marshak

have become a real classic.

For his translations of Shakespeare's sonnets

he was awarded

the Stalin Prize of the 2 nd degree in 1949.

Famous Russian translators of Shakespeare

THANK YOU

for your attention!