Russian Literature Not Lost in Translation

14 July 2013

By John Freedman

From The Moscow TImes

John Freedman

Franklin D. Reeve's translations of Russian drama were published in various collections in the 1960s.

This week I am thinking about translation. More specifically I am thinking about those translators who were there for me — and several generations of people like me — when I became interested in Russian literature last century.

The topic arose in my mind because I learned a few days ago that Franklin D. Reeve had died at the age of 84. He died June 28, but the news didn't spread until an obituary appeared in the New York Times on July 7.

Read more: http://www.themoscowtimes.com//article/russian-literature-not-lost-in-translation/483098.html#ixzz2Z2Gru2Gd
The Moscow Times 

SLOVO Festival

The 4th SLOVO Russian Literature Festival starts next week in London and Edinburgh!

academia-rossica.org

From academia-rossica.org

With 25 events in 21 days, ACADEMIA ROSSICA brings you leading Russian writers including Dmitry Bykov, Mikhail Shishkin, Vera Polozkova, Vladimir Sharov and Evgeny Vodolazkin for a unique and captivating celebration of the literature and culture of Russia today.

From Pushkin to Pelevin, Dostoevsky to Shishkin, Mayakovsky to Bykov – literature has always been Russia’s calling card and writers have been its most important ambassadors. And undoubtedly, when speaking about the relationship between Britain and Russia, it is historically the literary links that have been the strongest ties between the two countries. It is therefore no surprise then that the only festival of Russian literature outside Russia was established in London! And in its fourth year in 2013, SLOVO is now expanding beyond London with a series of events in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh.

Read More

Are you ready for some Russian Lit?

Fyodor Dostoevsky

At BEA Overlook Press announced it was partnering with Read Russia on the launch of THE RUSSIAN LIBRARY, “an ambitious one hundred and twenty five volume series of translated Russian fiction, drama, and poetry to be published over the next ten years.” The project will commence in the fall of 2013 with the publication of 5 volumes in both print and digital versions, and continue with 10 books published each year thereafter.

 

According to Overlook Press President & Publisher Peter Mayer, “the goal of THE RUSSIAN LIBRARY is to transcend the well-respected classics and broaden the awareness of Russian culture by making available for the first time in uniform editions these important works of literature, so many barely known outside Russia. The English language is the key. Obviously a uniform series is easier and is more commonly published in the original language; however, this Russian project has value both for Americans and British readers and internationally as well, as English comes as close to a lingua franca as one can get. Our intent is to expand the appreciation of Russian literature wherever Russian isn’t widely spoken.”

 

This sounds like a great project and you can learn more about it here.

 

 

 

Absinthe #16: Katya Metelitsa

"Roza Abramovna herself was a little frightening: she was a good-natured, even kind woman, but extremely loud, plus she sported dark black, bushy eyebrows and a mustache. What scared me was that she had several husbands and talked about them non-stop, referring to them by number: my first husband, my second husband, my third. It was all so mysterious and fascinating."


from "Gooseberries" by Katya Metelitsa, translated by Asya Graf, in Absinthe #16