M. A. Sholokhov in English-language cross-cultural communication:  on the History of Translation of the novel The Quiet Donˮ

The article is devoted to the history of the English translation of the novel “The Quiet Don&8j1;, carried out by Harry Stevens. The translator belonged to the Quakers, provided humanitarian aid in the famine-stricken Volga region, and loved Russia, due to this love he took up the work on translation so passionately. The translation contained significant differences from the original: the publisher tried to place a new for the English reader book in the right market niche. The contractions and breaking of the novel’s structure affected the spatio-temporal “layers&8j1; of the novel. “Transportation&8j1; is most easily subordinated to “history&8j1; – the plot and genre provide mutual understanding most of all. The simplification of the language made by Stevens affected the verbal representation of the plot: the translator, who is difficult to suspect of wanting to harm the Sholokhov text, fought for the “universality&8j1; of the novel. Harry Stevens obviously understood the “periphery&8j1; of many subjects and plot branches of the “Quiet Don&8j1; for the Western reader. And, as is known from the sales statistics, he won the struggle and earned the reader’s recognition for the Russian author.

Keywords

Sholokhov, translation, cross-cultural communication, cultural hegemony, cultural transfer, canon of long duration, world literature

Acknowledgment

The article was prepared with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project 20-012-00539 A “Nobel laureates B.L. Pasternak (1958) and M.A. Sholokhov (1965) in European cross-cultural communication. New materials for the History of Russian Literature of the 1930s–1960sˮ

Received

19.12.2022

Publication date

19.12.2022

Number of characters

28010

Cite

GOST	Moskovskaya D. M. A. Sholokhov in English-language cross-cultural communication: on the History of Translation of the novel “The Quiet Donˮ // Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka – 2022. – V. 81. – Issue 6 C. 26-33 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://izv-oifn.ru/S160578800023675-8-1 (circulation date: 29.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S160578800023675-8
MLA	Moskovskaya, Daria S "M. A. Sholokhov in English-language cross-cultural communication: on the History of Translation of the novel “The Quiet Donˮ." Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka 81.6 (2022):26-33. DOI: 10.31857/S160578800023675-8
APA	Moskovskaya D. (2022). M. A. Sholokhov in English-language cross-cultural communication: on the History of Translation of the novel “The Quiet Donˮ. Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka 81(6), pp.26-33 DOI: 10.31857/S160578800023675-8

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