Racine’s Phèdre Translated by Mikhail Muravyev

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-8297-2024-34-8-31
EDN:

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

2024. no. 4 (34) 
Author: Alexander D. Ivinskiy
About the author:

Alexander D. Ivinskiy, PhD in Philology, Senior Researcher, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Povarskaya St., 25A, bld. 1, 121069 Moscow, Russia.

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9007-3996

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

The work was carried out at IWL RAS with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation, project no. №23-18-00375 “Russian Literature: The Problem of Multilingualism and Reverse Translation” (https://rscf.ru/project/23-18-00375/).

The article is devoted to M.N. Muravyov’s translation of the tragedy of Jean Racine’s Phèdre. In the 18th century, Phèdre had not been translated into Russian, so this attempt, although incomplete, is of interest to the history of Russian drama. The article introduces the first three scenes of the first action of the tragedy (the Department of Manuscripts of the Russian National Library, St. Petersburg) into scientific circulation. We linked this text with excerpts from” and Thebaide, or The Enemy Brothers, found in the poet’s handwritten Notebook (the Manuscript Department of the Russian State Library, Moscow). In addition, we found a text that indicates Muravyov’s plans for the translation of Racine’s Iphigénie. Also, in the Notebook, several of Muravyov’s poems were found (“No mind is needed for poetry,” “A poet needs to exercise,” etc.), in which he expresses an almost enthusiastic attitude towards Racine. Another source that we used is Muravyov’s letters to his father, N.A. Muravyov, and sister, F.N. Muravyova, from the Department of Written Sources of the State Historical Museum (Moscow); based on them, we hypothesize that the translation of Phèdre was completed by the beginning of 1776. At the same time, we reconstruct the historical and literary context of Muravyov’s hidden polemic with A.P. Sumarokov, in particular, with his “Opinion in a Dream about French Tragedies.” Rejecting the claims of the “northern Racine” to hegemony in Russian drama, Muravyov highlighted “the real” Racine and M.V. Lomonosov, whose heir he thought of himself.
Keywords: Mikhail Muravyev, history of Russian Literature of 18th century, Jean Racine, Phèdre, A.P. Sumarokov.
For citation:

Ivinskiy, A.D. “Racine’s Phèdre Translated by Mikhail Muravyev (On the Materials from the Manuscipts Department of the Russian National Library).” Literaturnyi fakt, no. 4 (34), 2024, pp. 8–31. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-8297-2024-34-08-31
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