The sonnet “Le vierge, le vivace et le bel aujourd’hui…” by s. Mallarmé in the translational interpretation of V. Bryusov

Abstract

The article discusses the V. Bryusov’s translation reception of the poem by S. Mallarmé “Le vierge, le vivace et le bel aujourd’hui…”. The sonnet is an example of symbolist art, headed by S. Mallarmé in France, and first introduced to the Russian literary tradition by V. Bryusov. The analysis of the embodiment of S. Mallarmé’s poetic images in V. Bryusov’s translation is also important because both authors are renowned for their significant contribution to the world literature. S. Mallarmé created a new poetic language and was proclaimed a “prince of poets”, whereas V. Bryusov’s versatile creative work as well as publicism and translations earned him a status of the master of Russian symbolism. Currently there are more Russian translations of the sonnet “The Swan”, rather than any other language, and the very first one also belongs to V. Bryusov. The article considers the third and most well-known translation, the first to be named “The Swan”. The comparative analysis of the original text of the sonnet and its translation allows to identify the specificity of Bryusov’s perception of S. Mallarmé’s poetry and the peculiarities of the poetics of Russian symbolism.

Keywords

• Bryusov
• French symbolism
• Mallarme
• Russian symbolism
• poetry
• translational reception