Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences
Monuments of Folklore Siberian Journal of Philology Critique and Semiotics
Yazyki i fol’klor korennykh narodov Sibiri Syuzhetologiya i Syuzhetografiya
Institute of Philology of
the Siberian Branch of
Russian Academy of Sciences
По-русски
  
Sibirskii Filologicheskii Zhurnal (Siberian Journal of Philology)
По-русски
Archive
Editorial board
Our ethical principles
Submission Requirements
Process for Submission & Publication
List of Typos
Search:

Author:

and/or Keyword:

Article

Name: Concept of tree in Varlam Shalamov’s “Kolyma tales” and their translations into Italian

Authors: F. Varlaro

Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

In the section Linguistics

Issue 3, 2021Pages 317-330
UDK: 81’ 373.612DOI: 10.17223/18137083/76/23

Abstract: This paper aims to analyze the metaphorical meaning of phytonyms in Russian and Italian languages and the Russian-Italian version of Shalamov’s literary text. After analyzing the author’s style, we examined the thematic group of phytonyms and their use in the “Kolyma tales.” We divided trees into two categories: 1. plants – the main characters represented by a system of metaphors; 2. plants occurring once or twice in the tales and in a neutral way (even having significant meanings in the Russian culture). The phytometaphor of the stlanik (dwarf cedar), from the first category, is a leitmotif in almost all Shalamov’s works, especially in the “Kolyma tales” and in the “Kolyma notebooks,” where the phytonym has a complex symbolic meaning characteristic of the word tree in general (life, green, wood) but also linked to the author’s view of the world. In Shalamov’s works, the tree reflects not only the picture of the northern nature but also takes on special meanings more related to the prisoner and his physical and psychological characteristics. Thanks to Shalamov, the lexeme stlanik was introduced into the Russian linguistic view of the world. Also, the analysis of the adequate interpretation of this keyword in the translations of the “Kolyma tales” into Italian revealed that when the translation contains a description of parts of this phytonym, for example, branches, the metaphor of the original text is sometimes lost in the translation.

Keywords: phytometaphor, phytonym, Shalamov, communicative lexicology, comparative linguistics, Italian and Russian languages, translation

Bibliography:

Babenko L. G. Bol’shoy tolkovyy slovar’ russkikh sushchestvitel’nykh: ideograficheskoe opisanie. Sinonimy. Antonimy. [Large explanatory dictionary of Russian Nouns: ideographic description. Synonyms. Antonyms.] Moscow, AST-Press, 2005, 864 p.

Babina L. V., Dement’eva A. G. Metaforicheskie modeli, opredelyayushchie formirovanie perenosnykh znacheniy fitonimicheskikh edinits (na materiale angliyskogo, russkogo i frantsuzskogo yazykov) [Metaphorical models of figurative meaning formation of plant names (based on the material of English, Russian and French languages)]. Vestnik of North Ossetian State University named after K. L. Khetagurov. 2011, no. 2, pp. 180–185.

Fasmer M. Etimologicheskiy slovar’ russkogo yazyka [Etymological dictionary of the Russian language]. 2nd ed., Moscow, Progress. 1987, vol. 3, 832 p.

Gichgeldieva M. O. Metafora v khudozhestvennom tekste V. T. Shalamova [Metaphor in V. T. Shalamov’s literary text]. Mast. philol. sci. diss. Novosibirsk, 2017, 113 p.

Karaulov Yu. N., Cherkasova G. A., Ufimtseva N. V. i dr. Russkiy assotsiativnyy slovar’. V 2 t. [Russian associative dictionary. In 2 vols]. 2002. URL: http://tesaurus.ru/ dict/ (accessed: 03.01.2021)

Kovalev V. Dizionario Russo-Italiano Italiano-Russo. Bologna, 1995.

Krotova D. V. Priroda v mirovospriyatii V. Shalamova: retseptsiya klassicheskikh traditsiy i poeticheskoe novatorstvo [Nature in V. Shalamov’s worldview: reception of classical traditions and poetic innovation]. Philological Sciences. Issues of Theory and Practice. 2016, no. 8 (62), pp. 21–25.

Nikolina N. A. “Proza dostovernosti”: (O stile proizvedeniy V. T. Shalamova) [“Prose of authenticity”: (About the style of V. T. Shalamov’s works)]. Russian language at school. 2007, no. 5, pp. 49–54.

Russkiy semanticheskiy slovar’. Tolkovyy slovar’, sistematizirovannyy po klassam slov i znacheniy [Russian semantic dictionary. Explanatory dictionary systematized by classes of words and meanings]. N. Yu. Shvedova (Ed.). Moscow, Azbukovnik, 1998, vol. 1, 807 p.

Tresidder D. Slovar’ simvolov [Dictionary of symbols]. Moscow, “Grand”: Fair-press. 2001, 444 p.

Shklovskiy E. A. Varlam Shalamov. Moscow, Zdanie, 1991, 64 p.

Shreyder Yu. Filosofskaya proza Varlama Shalamova [Philosophical prose of Varlam Shalamov]. Russkaya mysl’. 1991, no. 3883. URL: https://shalamov.ru/research/ 235/ (accessed: 12.12.2020).

Varlaro F. Fitometafora v “Kolymskikh rasskazakh” V. Shalamova i vozmozhnosti ikh perevoda na ital’yanskiy yazyk [The concept of phytometaphor in the analysis of the Russian-Italian translation “The Kolyma tales” by V. Shalamov]. Tomsk State Pedagogical University Bulletin. 2019, no. 7 (204), pp. 72–78.

Volkova E. V. Tragicheskiy paradoks Varlama Shalamova [The tragic paradox of Varlam Shalamov]. Moscow, Respublika, 1998, 176 p.

Institute of Philology
Nikolaeva st., 8, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russian Federation
+7-383-330-15-18, ifl@philology.nsc.ru
© Institute of Philology