Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants
Inaccuracies in Pasternak's Translations of Shakespeare: Elucidating or Obscuring?
Department
Modern Languages & Literatures
College
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Date Range
2010-2011
Abstract
In Russia, Pasternak's versions of Shakespeare's plays belong to the classics of English literature in translation, and many Russians have learned Shakespeare through them ¿ although not necessarily knowing about their inaccuracies. Since Pasternak's goal was to create translations for the stage production and not for close reading and research, it is natural to expect some departures from the sources in them. What the audience in Shakespeare's time would grasp easily - Latinisms, mythological names, and historical allusions - now requires commentaries. That is why Pasternak, just like many other translators who have worked on the texts from a different culture or epoch, resorted to interpretive translation. It explains why in the Russian version of Romeo and Juliet we see the word Vilafrank ("Villa Franca") matching the "old Freetown" of the original and why in Antony and Cleopatra the names Pacorus and Orodes appear as syn ("son") and tsar ("tsar"). Not all departures from the originals seem to be a result of Pasternak's attempt to elucidate or simplify Shakespeare. The translations contain some obvious blunders caused by misreading, bad logic, and omissions. Some of these errors, especially logical, are not easy to notice, but at close reading they pop up as surprises producing ambiguity and creating changes in the sequence of events and relationships among characters.
Conference Name
The Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture
Conference Location
Louisville, KY
ScholarWorks Citation
Pavlov, Svetoslav, "Inaccuracies in Pasternak's Translations of Shakespeare: Elucidating or Obscuring?" (2010). Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants. 120.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/fsdg/120
