John Cournos - Fedor Sologub’s Translator into English and the Role Played by Zinaida Vengerova
Fedor Sologub entered British literary consciousness only after the onset of WWI. The British-Russian war alliance was auspicious for the translation of Russian literature, bringing about what John Cournos termed a “Russian Boom.” In 1915 alone, two translated collections of Sologub’s short stories...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)
2022-07-01
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| Series: | RUDN Journal of Studies in Literature and Journalism |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.rudn.ru/literary-criticism/article/viewFile/31457/20918 |
| _version_ | 1818469723594031104 |
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| author | Marilyn Schwinn Smith Elena V. Yushkova |
| author_facet | Marilyn Schwinn Smith Elena V. Yushkova |
| author_sort | Marilyn Schwinn Smith |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Fedor Sologub entered British literary consciousness only after the onset of WWI. The British-Russian war alliance was auspicious for the translation of Russian literature, bringing about what John Cournos termed a “Russian Boom.” In 1915 alone, two translated collections of Sologub’s short stories appeared. This paper examines the British reception of Sologub, with a focus on John Cournos (1881-1966), one of Sologub’s earliest and most prolific translators, and the role played by Zinaida Vengerova (1867-1941) as mediator between translator and author. In her correspondence with Sologub, Vengerova promotes Cournos as translator. A more pressing concern for Vengerova was to convince Sologub to make Cournos his “authorized” translator. This paper also argues that the reception of Sologub in Britain must be contextualized in terms of war propaganda. Politically, the British government prioritized the promotion of brotherly feeling between the two allies and a positive opinion of Russia. Prior to the war alliance, the British public held a negative opinion of tsarist Russia, of its government and culture. The controversial nature of Sologub’s writing complicated his critical reception. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T21:28:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f877af24cf984fa19f5e5625e7156bb3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2312-9220 2312-9247 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T21:28:26Z |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | RUDN Journal of Studies in Literature and Journalism |
| spelling | doaj.art-f877af24cf984fa19f5e5625e7156bb32022-12-22T02:29:16ZengPeoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)RUDN Journal of Studies in Literature and Journalism2312-92202312-92472022-07-0127228629810.22363/2312-9220-2022-27-2-286-29820877John Cournos - Fedor Sologub’s Translator into English and the Role Played by Zinaida VengerovaMarilyn Schwinn SmithElena V. Yushkovahttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-7388-1123Fedor Sologub entered British literary consciousness only after the onset of WWI. The British-Russian war alliance was auspicious for the translation of Russian literature, bringing about what John Cournos termed a “Russian Boom.” In 1915 alone, two translated collections of Sologub’s short stories appeared. This paper examines the British reception of Sologub, with a focus on John Cournos (1881-1966), one of Sologub’s earliest and most prolific translators, and the role played by Zinaida Vengerova (1867-1941) as mediator between translator and author. In her correspondence with Sologub, Vengerova promotes Cournos as translator. A more pressing concern for Vengerova was to convince Sologub to make Cournos his “authorized” translator. This paper also argues that the reception of Sologub in Britain must be contextualized in terms of war propaganda. Politically, the British government prioritized the promotion of brotherly feeling between the two allies and a positive opinion of Russia. Prior to the war alliance, the British public held a negative opinion of tsarist Russia, of its government and culture. The controversial nature of Sologub’s writing complicated his critical reception.https://journals.rudn.ru/literary-criticism/article/viewFile/31457/20918john cournosfedor sologubzinaida vengerovatranslations from russian into englishmodernism in russian literaturebritish-russian war alliance |
| spellingShingle | Marilyn Schwinn Smith Elena V. Yushkova John Cournos - Fedor Sologub’s Translator into English and the Role Played by Zinaida Vengerova RUDN Journal of Studies in Literature and Journalism john cournos fedor sologub zinaida vengerova translations from russian into english modernism in russian literature british-russian war alliance |
| title | John Cournos - Fedor Sologub’s Translator into English and the Role Played by Zinaida Vengerova |
| title_full | John Cournos - Fedor Sologub’s Translator into English and the Role Played by Zinaida Vengerova |
| title_fullStr | John Cournos - Fedor Sologub’s Translator into English and the Role Played by Zinaida Vengerova |
| title_full_unstemmed | John Cournos - Fedor Sologub’s Translator into English and the Role Played by Zinaida Vengerova |
| title_short | John Cournos - Fedor Sologub’s Translator into English and the Role Played by Zinaida Vengerova |
| title_sort | john cournos fedor sologub s translator into english and the role played by zinaida vengerova |
| topic | john cournos fedor sologub zinaida vengerova translations from russian into english modernism in russian literature british-russian war alliance |
| url | https://journals.rudn.ru/literary-criticism/article/viewFile/31457/20918 |
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