The first translations of Gogol’s works in Serbia (1849–1860)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu09.2024.303Abstract
The article deals with the all early translations of Gogol’s works into Serbian (1849–1860). The lower chronological limit is explained by the discovery of the first known translation of Gogol into Serbian, the upper one by the release of the first Serbian realistic novel by Yakov Ignatovich, focused on “Dead Souls”, which indicated the transition of Gogol’s influence to a qualitatively new level. The article also establishes the precedent texts of translations, since the first translations were made from intermediary languages, primarily German. The names of the first translators of Gogol’s stories have been established based on the archive of Matitsa serbskaya in Novi Sad (Serbia). It is revealed that the acquaintance of Serbian readers with Gogol began with the romantic works of the Ukrainian cycle. This can be explained by the fact that foreign readers saw the national Russian flavor in these stories and, although Gogol depicted the romantic world of Little Russia in them, foreign readers perceived him as a source of information about an unknown and fabulous country — Russia. In addition, these translations are considered in the broad context of the Serbian newspaper and magazine discourse of the era. It is found that the early translations of Gogol were made at a time of heightened interest in the Balkans to Russia and its culture, when the Crimean War (1853–1856) marked the anti-Turkish vector of Russian policy, which was enthusiastically received in the Yugoslav countries, still dependent on Turkey. Moreover, the first translations of Gogol not only introduced the Serbian cultural community to the work of the Russian writer, but also contributed to a qualitative change in Serbian literature from romanticism to realism, which once again confirmed the thesis about the genetic relationship of Slavic literatures and the emergence of “hybrid cultures” (Roman Jakobson) in the history of the Slavic languages.
Keywords:
Nikolay Gogol, Serbia, Serbian literature, Russian-Serbian cultural relations
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