“The Ghost of the Pedantic Accuracy”: “Romeo and Juliet” by Shakespeare in Anna Radlova’s Interpretation

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-8297-2022-26-222-247
EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/RKBLJB
УДК / UDK: 821.161.1.0
Issue:

2022 №26
Author: Еlena M. Lutsenko
About the author:

Elena M. Lutsenko — PhD in Philology, Senior Researcher, Russian State University for the Humanities, Miusskaya Sq. 6, 125047 Moscow, Russia; Assistant Professor, The School for the Advanced Studies in the Humanities, The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Vernadsky Ave. 82, 119571 Moscow, Russia.

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1993-0983

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Abstract:

The article touches upon the most vital aspects in the discussion of the 1930s on the philologically accurate translation. The author analyses A. Smirnov’s and M. Morosov’s critical remarks to A. Radlova’s translation of “Romeo and Juliet” and reconstructs how Radlova translated this Shakespeare tragedy. The article sets forth the idea that the discussion on Radlova’s translation of “Romeo and Juliet” anticipates Radlova and Chukovsky’s debates. In relation to this the author explains why for the Collected Works of Shakespeare (1958–1960) A. Smirnov chose Shchepkina-Kupernik’s translation of “Romeo and Juliet” but not Anna Radlova’s one. Carried out for the first time, the comparative analyses of these texts allows to see in detail the difference in their interpretation of key terms in the theory of translation of that epoque. The author of the article evaluates Radlova’s interpretation of “Romeo and Juliet” on the basis of A. Smirnov’s claim that in the translation of “Othello” and “Romeo and Juliet” Radlova follows the same translation method. To disprove Smirnov’s idea, we take into consideration such requests of K. Сhukovsky as the oversimplification of syntax, that deforms Shakespeare’s intonation, the omission of important words (as well as the effacement of some small one-syllable words) for the sake of measure and line to line correspondence in translation, and the roughening of the original text. The articles proves that the only method used by Radlova systematically is the last one. Other defects were most probably smoothed out due to A. Smirnov’s corrections.
Keywords: William Shakespeare, A. Radlova, K. Chukovsky, “Romeo and Juliet”, translation, line to line correspondence.
For citation:

Lutsenko, E.M. “‘The Ghost of the Pedantic Accuracy’: ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by Shakespeare in Anna Radlova’s Interpretation.” Literaturnyi fakt, no. 4 (26), 2022, pp. 222–247. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-8297-2022-26-222-247
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