“Taras Bulba” by N.V. Gogol in the English context

Abstract

The article provides an overview of significant translations of the novella “Taras Bulba,” implemented from the time of its writing to the present day. A comparative analysis of translations that differed in time made it possible to trace the specifics of translators’ approaches to the original text and the nature of those gains and losses that accompanied the translations. The peculiarities of Gogol’s style and related difficulties have been in many ways a stumbling block for its perception in England and in other countries. George Tolstoy became the first translator of “Taras Bulba” into English in 1859. That and other latest translations of the novella were made according to its second edition (1842). Among them are the translation carried out in 1886 by the American writer Isabel Hapgood, the translation by the American literary historian John Kurnos (1918), the translation included in the collected works by Constance Garnett (1929), as well as a translation made by the Soviet intelligence officer Ovid Gorchakov (1955). In 2003 American writer and translator Peter Constantine undertook the newest “Taras Bulba” translation into English. It has a particular interest from the point of evolution of the novella reception within specific political and historical circumstances.

Keywords

• russian literature
• gogol
• “taras bulba
• ” translation
• interpretation of the text