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THE EXPERIENCE OF THE BELARUSIAN TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ANGLO-AMERICAN LITERATURE
(AN ESSAY)
Yuras Zhalezka
The history of the direct translations from the Anglo-American literature into the modern Belarusian began in 1925, when our famous poet Yurka Hauruk translated from the English original the Shakespeare’s comedy „The Midsummer’s D]ream”. This first Belarusian translation of the famous masterpiece hasn’t been published until now, but it initiated the great work, which younger generations of the Belarusian translators from English continued, especially in the post-war period, and, at the same time, it was the literary début of Yurka Hauruk as a translator, complemented later by his outstanding direct translations from English, French, German, Polish and other languages. The first published direct translations from English into Belarusian also belonged to Hauruk. Those were some pieces of poetry, written by Shakespeare, Byron and Shelly, and included, in his excellent Belarusian interpretation, into his book „The Flowers from the Foreign Meadows” („Êâåòê³ ç ÷óæûõ ïà븢”), which had been printed in Minsk in 1928. If we don’t take into account some mediocre and hastily made translations from the Russian translations of English and American literatures, which were printed in Minsk beginning from the early 30s, (and I won’t mention these books, which don’t have any literary value, in the further part of my essay), then the Yurka Hauruk’s collection of translations from the foreign poetry, including the English one, published in 1928, had remained the only book of the Belarusian translations from English, ever printed before the Second World War. The reasons which had led to such a situation, should be a matter of a separate analysis, and I won’t mention them, too.
Let this essay be rather a short history of the Belarusian translations from English, American and Australian literatures, which will be short indeed, because I have to pass to the post-war period of our literary history already.
It would be convenient, for our analysis, to divide this period in two parts, especially if we want to study the history of major publications of the translations, and namely in book-form. These sub-periods would be:
The first one: from 1957 (when the first post-war book of translations from English had been published in Minsk) until 1983; and
The second one: from 1983 until now.
My preference for this simple division into periods is grounded on the fact that, before 1983, we had had (with only two smaller exceptions, which I will mention later) only three major translators from English here in Belarus (Yurka Hauruk, Uladzimir Dubouka and Yazep Semiazhon). Two of them had died before 1983 (I mean Hauruk and Dubouka), and also before this very date all their important translations from English had been published in Minsk in book-form. So had been the latest, printed as a book, translation from English by Yazep Semiazhon. These three personalities were the pioneers in their work, and every Belarusian intellectual knows both their names and their achievements. Our most outstanding translator had always been Yurka Hauruk (1905–1979). During the period after the Second World War until 1983, six more books of his translations from English (Shakespeare and Byron), American (Ernest Hemingway) and Australian (Katherine Susan Prichard) literatures had been published. Nobody has done more in this domain until today. His translations are not only numerous, but also perfect. Everybody knows how difficult it is to translate the Shakespeare’s plays. In Hauruk’s interpretation they sound almost as good as in the original. His translations of „Hamlet” (published as a separate book in 1964), „King Lear” (1974) and „Anthony and Cleopatra” (1982), together with the Dubouka’s translations of the Shakespeare’s Sonets (published as a book in 1964) are until today the best, if not the only, Belarusian versions of the masterpieces created by the world-famous English poet. Thanks to Hauruk’s literary talent, the Shakespeare’s Belarusian interpretations are not worse than the translations of his dramas into other European languages, both Slavonic and non-Slavonic. They combine the truthful interpretation of the original English text and the perfect stylistics of the Belarusian version. The English poet sounds in our language just as nice as the best pearls of our own poetry, created by Bahdanovich, Kupala or Kolas, — that is, at least, my point of view on the matter.
Yurka Hauruk translated also poems, written by George Gordon Byron, Henry Longfellow, etc., but these translations, though perfect, are not so numerous. His real literary passion in poetry had been William Shakespeare.
Yurka Hauruk is also known as the translator of novels and stories. Two novels had been translated by him from English and published in Minsk in the 70s. The first one appeared in our book-shops in 1976. It was the Ernest Hemingway’s famous novel „The Sun Also Rises (Fiesta)”, this brilliant and typical example of the American prose of the 20s, in a splendid Belarusian. As in the case with the Shakespeare’s poetry, this Hemingway’s novel in Belarusian was the first ever published in our country major translation from the English-language prose. It had been done just as unreproachably as the Hauruk’s interpretations of the poetry. Only a year after the publication of this book, another novel in the Hauruk’s translation appeared on the bookshelves. This time it was the Katherine Susan Prichard’s autobiography, written as a marvelous novel, with the title „The Daughter of the Hurricane”, less typical but still worth reading example of the Australian literature. Again it was a good translation, though of a less artistic book. But, from my point of view, the Hauruk’s translations of the prose, though unreproachable, didn’t reflect all sides of the outstanding talent of that man as a translator. They could have been done by someone else — if it were happening in another, more culturally developped European country. But it was up to Yurka Hauruk to be the pioneer in all genres of the literary translation, I think, because of his sense of duty of a Belarusian intellectual, in the first place.
Uladzimir Dubouka (1900–1976) was among our best senior translators from English, too. I have already mentioned, that he also translated the Shakespeare’s works, and namely his Sonets, published in Belarusian in 1964 as a separate book. The Dubouka’s second passion in the English poetry was George Gordon Byron. In the collection of Byron’s poems in Belarusian, which had been published in Minsk in 1963, there were excellent translations of the whole text of the poem „Cain”, of the poem „The Chillon’s Prisoner”, as well as some smaller translations which belonged to Uladzimir Dubouka. He was a very gifted poet himself, and published many books of his own works, that is why his activity in the domain of translation had been restricted to only these two great English names (Shakespeare and Byron).
Our third great senior translator from the English-language literature was Yazep Semiazhon. He began his career translating Robert Burns’ poems, and a marvellous collection of small chef-d’oeuvres of the patriarch of the Scottish literature in Belarusian had been printed in Minsk shortly after the war, in 1957. Semiazhon had a great talent as the translator of the poetry, though he never wrote poems himself. He spoke several European languages, so his interests, just like those of Hauruk, were not focused only on the English-language poetry. He began with Burns, and continued with the translation of quite a great number of smaller Byron’s poems, published in Belarusian in the above-mentioned collection of Byron’s works (Minsk, 1963), but later, unfortunately, he turned his attention to other European literatures. Some critics say, that all his translations, including those of Burns’ and Byron’s poems, suffer from going too far from the original text (it is the opinion of Piatro Sadousky, for example), but, taking into account the history and the difficulties of our literary life, they are still invaluable in our literature, and the Semiazhon’s role can be compared to that of Hauruk or Dubouka.
Those were the three pioneers in the domain of translation in our pre-war literary history and in the first half (until 1983) of its post-war period.
Apart from their heritage only two books of translations from the Anglo-American literature had been published in Belarus before 1983. Those were the Yanka Sipakou’s translation of the Walt Whitman’s poetry from his famous book „Leaves of Grass” (published in Minsk in 1978 under the same title), and the splendidly made translation of the Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales, done by a totally unknown before the publication of that book in 1978, young and gifted translator Irina Idelchyk.
Now let me pass to the third part of my essay, which will be about the translations published after 1983. What differs the situation after 1983 from the previous periods, is a much greater number of active and qualified translators, and a greater number of their published books. Due to increasingly higher standards applied for the translations to be published, their quality is comparable with that of the Hauruk’s or Semiazhon’s achievements. The second difference concerns the genres of the translated works. Previously it was predominantly the poetry. After 1983 only three books of the English poetry has been published in Belarusian in Minsk, and all of them were only slightly revised and simply reprinted versions of previously published books. Those were the Semiazhon’s translation of the Burns’ poems (the second edition under the new title was printed in 1983), the second edition of the Byron’s lyrics in Belarusian (1989), and the volume of the already published earlier translations of the Shakespeare’s dramas and poems (1989). All the rest of the books are translations of the English, American and Australian prose. Here almost all of its genres are present: fiction, crime, science-fiction, literature for children and theatre. The most numerous are modern English and American novels, perfectly chosen and representative, then follow collections of short stories. Let me describe the books according to the genres.
The English classics of the XIXth century are represented by a good translation of the Robert L. Stevenson’s „Treasure Island”, made by young and gifted Ales Astashonak (mostly known as the translator from French). The book was published in 1993. Three books of the English modern classics have also been published in Belarusian in Minsk, the fourth one has been edited in Poland. The first of them was the William Somerset Maugham’s collection of short stories, translated into Belarusian by Victar Valynsky (Minsk, 1990). In 1992 appeared the book which contained two famous George Orwell’s novels, namely the „Animal Farm” and the „1984”, perfectly translated into Belarusian by Siarhey Shupa, a young Belarusian polyglot with the literary talent. His translations of the Orwell’s masterpieces, as well as his other translations from various European languages, are marked by the splendid stylistics. One reads them easily and gets real satisfaction from reading, because his Belarusian is not only unreproachable, but also nice. In 1993 the collection fo Graham Greene’s novels was published in Belarus, which included the „Stamboul Train” and the „Loser Takes All”. The novels, translated into Belarusian by Vadzim Niebyshyniets, are for us a good example of the English fiction of the XXth century.
The Irish modern literature is also known in Belarus, thanks to two marvelous translations. The first of them was published in 1993 in Białystok in Poland. It was the unabridged James Joice’s novel „Ulysses” in Belarusian, an important contribution to our culture made by our Polish-Belarusian community. The novel has been perfectly translated directly from English by Jan Maksymiuk. The second Irish modern masterpiece, translated by Leon Barshchevsky, also a polyglot and a prominent political personality, was the Samuel Beckett’s play „Not Me”, published in Belarusian in Minsk in 1995.
Also numerous are translations from the modern American fiction, published after 1983. The first book appeared in 1985. It was the volume of William Saroyan’s short stories, translated into Belarusian by Irina Sliapovich. I think, it is one of our best translations from English. Sliapovich has done quite a difficult work, interpreting the brilliant Saroyan’s humour in another language. The stories of the American writer haven’t lost a bit of their fun, being retold in Belarusian. Three years later, in 1988, Uladzimir Shchasny has published his translations of two Carson McCuller’s stories, namely „The Ballad of the Sad Café” and the „Reflections in a Golden Eye”. The two famous stories have been published in one book. In 1991 the above-mentioned translator of Graham Greene, Vadzim Niebyshyniets has published his Belarusian version of the Ernest Hemingway’s novel „For Whom the Bell Tolls” (let me recall, that we had already had by that time another Hemingway’s novel in the Hauruk’s translation). One of the pearls of the American literature of the XXth century, the John Steinbeck’s best novel „The Grapes of Wrath” has appeared in the Simeon Dorsky’s Belarusian translation in 1993. The Eric Segal’s world bestseller „The Love Story” and the less famous Richard Bach’s novel „Jonathan Livingston Seagull” have been published in one book in 1994 (the first novel was translated by the already mentioned Ales Astashonak, the translation of the second one belonged to Ales Mihalchuk).
A wonderful present for our readers was the translation of, perhaps, the most famous Australian novel of the last decades, I mean the Colleen McCullough’s „The Thorn Birds”, which was published in English in 1977 and immediately became an international best-seller. The Simeon Dorsky’s translation of the book was printed in Minsk in 1988 and had been immediately sold out. No other translation into Belarusian has been such a success.
And now briefly about other literary genres. One Agatha Christie’s novel („The Dead Man’s Mirror”) and several stories have appeared in Belarusian in the two books of crime-fiction (1988 and 1991), together with one of Rex Stout’s novels. In 1990, the collection of foreign science-fiction stories has been published in Belarusian in Minsk, which included short stories written by Isaak Azimov, Frederic Brown, Ray Bradbery, A.E.van Vogt, Eric Frank Russel and Robert Sheckly. The quality of those translations was mediocre, corresponding to the quality of the originals themselves. During the 90s, three books of the literature for children have appeared (the John Finnemore’s „The Story of Robin Hood and His Merry Men”, the Mary Stewart’s „Ludo and the Star Horse”, and „The Book of Dragons’). They were translated much better, still our little readers didn’t hurry to buy them, but that is already another story.
Ó àðòûêóëå àíàë³çóåööà ã³ñòîðûÿ ìàñòàöê³õ ïåðàêëàäࢠíà áåëàðóñêóþ ìîâó ç àíãëàìî¢íûõ ë³òàðàòóð (Àíãë³ÿ, ÇØÀ, À¢ñòðàë³ÿ). Ðàçãëÿäàþööà òîëüê³ ïðàìûÿ ïåðàêëàäû ç àíãåëüñêàé ìîâû íà áåëàðóñêóþ, ÿê³ÿ äðóêàâàë³ñÿ àñîáíûì³ êí³ãàì³ ÿê íà Áåëàðóñ³, òàê ³ ïà-çà ÿå ìåæàì³. Àíàë³ç àõîïë³âàå ¢ñå ïåðàêëàäû ãýòàãà ãàòóíêó. À¢òàð äàå ñâàþ àöýíêó ÿêàñö³ íàéáîëüø çíà÷íûõ ç ³õ.
Yuras Zhalezka is a Belarusian scholar and translator. Born in Minsk in 1961, he graduated from the Belarusian State Linguistic University in 1983, and finished his doctorate studies in philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences in 1990. He is the author of several articles about the Latin American Liberation Theology and the Belarusian cultural history, published in Minsk. He translated poetry from English, French, German, Spanish and Swedish, and published two books of his own poetry. He has also translated several scientific books from English and French for the Belarusian Soros Foundation.
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