Article

Name: Anna Akhmatova and her co-authors at work on translations

Authors: Olga E. Rubinchik

Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkinskij Dom) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

In the section Study of literature

Abstract:

The paper focuses on the challenges encountered by researchers studying and republishing poetic translations by Anna Akhmatova or those published under her name. Initially, Akhmatova declined to translate poems on commission. However, in the mid-1930s, she occasionally started accepting such work, and by the 1950s and 1960s, she became a professional translator, solely for financial reasons. The most complete presentation of her translations can be found in a two-volume edition published from 1998 to 2005. During the 1950s and 1960s, Akhmatova translated the works of over 150 poets, totaling over 22,000 lines. The work required the assistance of co-authors. This collaboration was informal, with the poems attributed to Akhmatova and the contributing author receiving payment. This paper provides a list of Akhmatova’s co-authors. However, it is necessary to consider each case individually, as it is often unclear which parts were translated by Akhmatova, which were translated by a co-author, and which were translated collectively. The volumes of Akhmatova’s Collected Works that contain the translations do not adequately address this issue. This study examines selected examples to reveal other deficiencies in these collections. It is worth noting that any new collection of Akhmatova’s translations should involve the participation of a team of scholars. The reason for this is that the extensive material requires comprehensive revision, which entails substantial and laborious research.

Keywords: Anna Akhmatova, translations, co-authors, publication problems, republishing poetic translations

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