S. Pushkin "The winter road": the poem’s reception in the English-speaking world through the mirror of close reading

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S. Pushkin, „The winter road“: the poem's reception in the English-speaking world through the mirror of close reading

Nenarokova M.R.

Moscow, Russia

Abstract

translation english poem

The article focuses on the problem of the reception of Russian poetry translations in English-speaking culture. The object is Pushkin's poem “The Winter Road'', translated into English in the period of 1885-2016. The subject is the particularities of conveying the content of the poem in English translations. The study materials are 12 translations of “The Winter Road''. The translations were carried out both by English and Russian native speakers.

The main objective of the research is to see using the close reading method, what difficulties can be encountered by translators of Russian poetry. The tasks of the study were as follows: to describe the peculiarities of conveying the poem's vocabulary, to outline the group of the key words, recognize and describe discrepancies in their translation, to analyze the process of adaptation of the poem in the English-speaking culture. The close reading method, the descriptive one, the componential one, the conceptual one, the contextual one, that of collocation were used in the course of the study. The study showed that at the lexical level, an insufficient knowledge of the source language and the translation of culture-specific vocabulary are main problems. The laconicism of Pushkin's vocabulary allows translators to be the poet's collaborators. A change in the landscape description in translations as compared to the original demonstrates the translator's notions concerning Russia inherent in English-speaking culture. The “key words" of Russian culture are impossible to translate due to the culture difference. The translations reflect profound changes in culture that occurred during the 19th century. Due to the abundance and variety of texts slow reading of Pushkin's translations can serve as an excellent training for translators.

Keywords: Russian poetry; Russian poets; poetic creative activity; poems; literary translation; English; slow reading; non-equivalent vocabulary; cultural adaptation.

Ненарокова М.Р. Москва, Россия

А.С. Пушкин «Зимняя дорога»: восприятие стихотворения в англоговорящем мире через методику внимательного прочтения

Аннотация

Статья посвящена проблеме рецепции переводов русской классической поэзии в англоязычной культуре. Объектом изучения стали переводы стихотворения А.С. Пушкина «Зимняя дорога» на английский язык, выполненные с 1885 по 2016 гг. Предметом изучения стали особенности передачи разных уровней содержания стихотворения Пушкина в английских переводах.

Исследование выполнено на материале двенадцати существующих сегодня переводов «Зимней дороги», выполненных как русскоязычными, так и англоязычными переводчиками. Автор поставил себе цель определить при помощи метода медленного чтения, с какими сложностями могут столкнуться переводчики русской поэзии в случае пушкинского стихотворения «Зимняя дорога». В задачи исследователя входило: определить и описать особенности передачи лексики «Зимней дороги»; определить круг ключевых лексем стихотворения; выявить и описать расхождения в их переводах, указать, почему выбранный вариант возможен или невозможен в переводе пушкинского текста; проанализировать процесс адаптации пушкинского текста в англоязычной культуре. Были использованы методы медленного чтения, лингвистического наблюдения и описания, компонентного анализа, концептуального анализа, контекстуального анализа, анализа сочетаемости слов. Исследование показало, что на лексическом уровне основная трудность заключается в недостаточном знании исходного языка, когда переводчик не учитывает возможное изменение значения слова или его стилистические нюансы. Более трудной проблемой для переводчиков является перевод культурно-специфического словаря, поскольку некоторые из реалий, которые были частью русской повседневной жизни во времена Пушкина, теперь полностью исчезли. Лаконичность пушкинского словаря позволяет переводчикам быть соавторами поэта. Изменение описания ландшафта в переводах по сравнению с оригиналом демонстрирует представления переводчиков о России, присущие англоязычной культуре. «Ключевые слова» русской культуры практически невозможно перевести из-за различий в культурных кодах России и англоязычного мира. Переводы отражают глубокие изменения в культуре, которые произошли в 19 веке. Благодаря этим изменениям эмоциональный подтекст стихотворения также становится другим. Из-за обилия и разнообразия текстов медленное чтение пушкинских переводов может послужить отличной школой для переводчиков.

Ключевые слова: русская поэзия; русские поэты; поэтическое творчество; стихотворения; литературный перевод; английский язык; медленное чтение; безэквивалентная лексика; культурная адаптация.

The reception of A.S. Pushkin's works outside Russia, the history of Pushkin translations into foreign languages cannot but quicken the interest of foreign and Russian researchers, since Pushkin is not only the first poet of Russia, the “sun of Russian poetry”, but also one of the country's symbols. The fundamental work, which should be recommended to any researcher, is the article by P.N. Berkov “Pushkin in Translations into Western European Languages” [Berkov 1937], published in 1937 on the 100th anniversary of the poet's death. Another equally important work written on the 200th anniversary of Pushkin's birth was the article by L.G. Leighton “Pushkin in the English-speaking world” [Leighton 1999]. This article names the main translators of Pushkin, who worked in Russia and abroad during the XIX-XX centuries. This article is based on another work by L.G. Leighton: it is “A Bibliography of Alexander Pushkin in English Studies” [SSLL 1999], published in the series “Studies in Slavic language & literature” It is safe to say that it contains the most complete and detailed bibliography of the English translations of Pushkin's works up to year 1999. That makes Leighton's “Bibliography” an indispensable source for any specialist in comparative studies. The article by Andrey Lipgart, “Ob angliyskikh perevodakh poezii i dramaturgii” (1999), serving as a Preface to a parallel edition of Pushkin's selected lyrics, is also of interest for a philologist. All the works in question focus on the history of Pushkin translations in the English-speaking world. In the XXIth century there arose a new line of investigation concerning the translated texts themselves. Thus, the article by Yu.A. Tikhomirova, “Sovremennyy angloyazychnyy Pushkin: strategii reprezentatsii liriki” (2013), considers different adaptation strategies, used by the modern translators of Pushkin's lyrics [Tikhomirova 2013].

The method of close reading is quite effective, when the research is aimed at studying the translations of a particular poem. This article deals with twelve translations of Pushkin's poem “The Winter Road” that were made from 1887 till 2016.

The Poem's History.

“The Winter Road” belongs to the so called “travel” lyrics, written by Pushkin [Pushkinskaya entsiklopediya 2012: 196]. It was published for the first time in Moskovsky Vestnik (1828, № 4), but Pushkin wrote the text earlier, in 1826. The creation date of the poem is mentioned approximately in the commentaries, included in the 1st volume of Pushkin's six-volume collected works (1936): “Judging by its contents, the poem was written in November - December of this [1826 - M. H.] year” [Zimnyaya doroga. Primechaniya 1936: 752]. The circumstances that inspired the poet to write this poem are reported equally vaguely: «The poem was inspired by repeated winter trips from Moscow to Mikhailovskoye and from Mikhailovskoye to Pskov» [Zimnyaya doroga. Primechaniya 1936: 752].

According to the “Materials for the Annals of the Life and Works of A.S. Pushkin, 1826-1837,” compiled by M.A. and T.G. Tsyavlovskys, Pushkin really traveled a lot in November and December, and the journeys were quite long and difficult. Thus, on November 1, 1826, the poet left Moscow for Mikhailovskoye [Materialy k Letopisi zhizni i tvorchestva ... 1999: 38]. After spending eight days on the road he wrote to his friend S.A. Sobolevsky in the letter from November 9, 1826: “I am again in my hut. I was on the road for 8 days, broke two wheels and arrived by post horses” [Materialy k Letopisi zhizni i tvorchestva ... 1999: 40]. Pushkin included in the same letter the “travel” poem “At Galyani `s or Kalyoni's ...”, as a kind of “instruction” for his friend [Materialy k Letopisi zhizni i tvorchestva ... 1999: 40], if he chose the same route for his journey.

Arriving at Mikhailovskoye, Pushkin, however, did not stay there for long: in November, perhaps in the middle of the month («1826. November <?> 9<?>.26<?>» [Materialy k Letopisi zhizni i tvorchestva ... 1999: 45], according to the Tsyavlovskys' research), he visited Pskov, and on November, 25 or 26 he again left for Pskov, “in order to arrive at Moscow by December, 1” [Materialy k Letopisi zhizni i tvorchestva ... 1999: 55]. This journey turned out to be not only “sad” and “boring”, but also dangerous for the poet's health: “1826. November, 25.26. Departure from Mikhailovskoye for Pskov. On the way, falling out of the carriage. Badly bruised” [Materialy k Letopisi zhizni i tvorchestva ... 1999: 51]. The poet had to stay in a Pskov hotel and wait until he felt better. Besides, the sleigh-road was not yet established, and it was necessary to wait until it snowed enough to drive in a sledge: “I am going to Moscow as soon as it snows and I have money enough. It is already snowing (...)”, Pushkin wrote to Velikopolsky on December, 1-13” [Materialy k Letopisi zhizni i tvorchestva ... 1999: 55]. According to the Tsyavlovskys' calculations, Pushkin could leave Pskov not earlier than December 14 and arrive in Moscow on December 20, and «it was this journey that inspired the poem “The Winter Road”” [Materialy k Letopisi zhizni i tvorchestva ... 1999: 55]. The exact date of Pushkin's arrival in Moscow is established by record in M. P. Pogodin diary from December 19, 1826. According to the Tsyavlovskys' research, “The Winter Road” was created in the period from the 14th to the 19th of December, 1826 [Materialy k Letopisi zhizni i tvorchestva ... 1999: 54].

The First Translation of “The Winter Road”.

Ch. T. Wilson, the first translator of the poem, chose for his translation only the first four stanzas of Pushkin's text. He excluded the love theme and characterized the poem as descriptive in a little preface [Pushkin Wilson 1887: 90]. The translator keeps the title of the poem and conveys it as The Winter Journey - [Pushkin Wilson 1887: 90] Wilson could choose such a variant of the title, because the Russian word “doroga” means both a certain strip of land along which one can move, and the journey itself. The abbreviation of the poem was not the only licence we can find in the translation.

Pushkin depicts the moon as a living creature: the moon “probirayetsya”, that is “gets with some difficulty” through the “volnistyye tumany” - `wavy mists'. At first sight, it seems that Wilson replaces Pushkin's image with a more natural description: Through the wave-like clouds of mist/ The moon's pale beam is breaking [Pushkin Wilson 1887: 90], but in English literature a similar picture is associated with the “horrid” [Austen 2012: 29] “gothic” novels, that is “full ofhorrors”. For example, in the episode of the famous novel “Melmoth the Wanderer” by Ch.R. Maturin, when Isadora and Melmoth climb the half-destroyed steps to the ruins of the chapel, the scene is illuminated by the moon: a faint and watery moonbeam breaking ... through the heavy clouds [Maturin 1835: 131]. The minds of the XIXth century readers, Wilson's peers especially, were influenced by their reading, and the literary associations based on the books they read, could completely alter their perception of the remaining stanzas. One could assume that the journey was associated not with boredom, but with the presentiment of something terrible. Interestingly, the epithet of Pushkin's `mists' is “volnistyye”, that is, “resembling waves in shape”, and at the same time “moving like a wave”. It depicts both the visual image of “mists” and their movement. Wilson translated the epithet literally: wavelike [Pushkin Wilson 1887: 90]. An English-speaking reader can imagine only the shape of the “mists”, but not their movement in the sky.

The landscape in the poem is changed as well. Pushkin's “pechal'nyye polyany” turn into All the drear and dismal plain [Pushkin Wilson 1887: 90]. Now it is the protagonist that shows his emotions, and not the moon.

To convey the first line of the second stanza “Po doroge zimney, skuchnoy ...'', Wilson chooses the adjectives sad - `that makes smb feel unhappy' and wintry - not only `typical of winter', but also `not friendly', thereby securing the gothic allusion of the first stanza: O'er the sad and wintry road [Pushkin Wilson 1887: 91]. Pushkin does not hint at something unpleasant that awaits the traveler on the way. The traveler's boredom is caused by the monotony of the journey, the inability to occupy himself with something interesting, by the lack of entertainments, but not by the premonition of any troubles.

It is quite obvious that Wilson did not understand the line “Troyka borzaya bezhit...''. He perceived “borzaya” as a noun „greyhound“, and not as an adjective with the meaning “fast, high-spirited”. That is why a completely unexpected image emerges: The Troika is bounding, / Like a greyhound from the slip [Pushkin Wilson 1887: 91], where the verb bound - `to run with long steps' - describes the running of hunting dogs rather than horses.

The key notions of the Russian culture “razgul'ye udaloye” and “serdechnaya toska” which are hard to find English analogues for, are substituted by the neutral sadness [Pushkin Wilson 1887: 91] and sweet happiness [Pushkin Wilson 1887: 91].

The last stanza translated by Wilson contains mentions of realia that are not reflected in the English text. “Chernaya khata” is a kind of izba, a traditional Russian countryside house, where smoke is channeled out of the dwelling through a small window with help of a wooden pipe. It is a dwelling of the poor peasants. In Wilson's translation “chernaya khata” turned into hut [Pushkin Wilson 1887: 91] - `a small, simply built house'. The translation of the noun “glush'” as silence [Pushkin Wilson 1887: 91] - `a complete lack of noise or sound', and not as `dense forest' presents to the English reader a landscape completely different from that depicted by Pushkin. In Pushkin's text “pechal'nyye polyany” of the first stanza and “glush'” of the fourth one help to imagine a typical Russian landscape: it is a road going through a snow-covered dense forest, where one can see some clearings from time to time. Wilson's traveler moves across the vast plain, in other words, across the steppe covered with deep snow. Only Pushkin's “versty polosaty”, that is the mileposts, painted with black and white stripes, remain in the translation. The given word combination is conveyed as mile-posts striped [Pushkin Wilson 1887: 91].

Thus, the first translation of “The Winter Road”, albeit imperfect and incomplete, points out the pitfalls of Pushkin's text that can complicate the work of a translator.

The Poem's Title.

The translation of the poem's title was a reflection of how the translators understood the meaning of the Pushkin text. As mentioned above, the word combination “zimnyaya doroga” can be understood as “a journey made in winter” and as a “sleigh-road”, that is `a way of winter travelling'. Ch. T. Wilson, who was the first to translate the poem, understood the poem's title as The Winter Journey [Pushkin Wilson 1887: 90], but such an interpretation did not catch on among translators. Wilson's interpretation was accepted only by A. Z. Foreman: Winter Journey [Pushkin Foreman 2009]. The lack of the definite article in Foreman's version of the title may indicate that, in his opinion, the journey described by Pushkin, the thoughts that arise while travelling, the feelings that a person experiences in the depicted situation are typical of a long and boring journey in winter, while Wilson sees “The Winter Journey” as a separate event, which was remembered by the poet.

Most translators tend to understand the title of a poem as A/The Winter Road, where “zimnyaya” is understood as `typical of winter', and “doroga” means `a hard surface to travel on' [Pushkin Panin 1888: 104; Pushkin Bowra 1948: 19; Pushkin Boland 1999: 22; Pushkin Curnow 1999: 47; Pushkin Денисов 2003; Pushkin Lowenfeld 2009: 363; Pushkin Clarke 2016: 103]. Such a translation was first made by Ivan Panin, and he conveyed the phrase “zimnyaya doroga” with a neologism, making a complex word The Winter-road [Pushkin Panin 1888: 104]. If we translate Panin's neologism back to Russian, we get “zimnik”, that is “a snow road”, a word that belongs to the domain of transportation services.

Walter May uses road instead of way. The word road can be understood both as `a hard surface to travel on' and `a direction one follows to get from one place to another'. The second meaning of the given word makes it a synonym of journey [Pushkin May 1999: 106].

As a rule, the adjective “zimnyaya” in the poem's title is translated as `winter' - `of winter', `typical/characteristic of winter', but two translators chose another adjective - `wintry' - not only `typical of winter', but also `unfriend- ly/ cheerless'. Thus, Irina Zheleznova translates the title as Wintry Road [Pushkin Zheleznova 1984: 21], and Walter May's choice is Wintry Way [Pushkin May 1999: 106]. In Russian culture, winter is perceived as a time of holidays and fun (New Year, Christmas), as a very cold season (for example, the proverb “There is no winter without frost”, “Frost breaks iron, and kills a bird in its flight”, “In the ringing frost stars dance”, “Frost and blizzard are two best friends”, “Take care of your nose in a biting frost” [Poslo- vitsy o zime]), which, however, will sooner or later change to a warmer season (“Frost froze the river but not forever” [Poslovitsy o zime]), as a time of trials, from which people with high morals emerge victorious (e.g. the Russian folk tale “Father Frost”). Pushkin, it seems, did not put additional meaning into the adjective “winter” (cf. the names of the poems “Winter Evening”, “Winter Morning”), but in the text of the poem we find the words “skuchnyy” - `tedious', e. `tiresome because of length or dullness'; “grustnyy” - `sad', i.e. `unhappy'; “pechal'nyy” - `melancholy' i. e. `in a sad and pensive mood'.

Apparently, the choice of the adjective wintry by the translators is explained by their own close reading of Pushkin's text.

The Image of “...Waving Mists...”.

The word combination “volnistyye tumany” is extremely capacious with all its simplicity and economy of words.

It allows the reader to imagine the form of the mists, and their movement across the sky. Translators do not always succeed in conveying these two qualities of Pushkin's mists just as briefly. Ivan Panin's successful translation of the word combination in question can be considered literal: the waving fogs [Pushkin Panin 1888: 104]. Unlike his predecessor, Ch. T. Wilson, Panin uses as an epithet not an adjective, but a Present Participle Active, which emphasizes the action, but still allows one to imagine how Pushkin's “mists” look like. Eavan Boland focuses on conveying the motion of the “mists”. In her experimental translation, the word combination is replaced by a simple sentence: Mist shifts and turns [Pushkin Boland 1999: 22]. The fluidity of Pushkin's line completely disappears: of the four words in Boland's sentence, two - `mist' and `shifts' - contain a short vowel, the vowel in the conjunction `and' is most likely reduced, and it is the vowel in the word “turns” that is long, which creates a rhythm rather jerky than fluid. Julian Lowenfeld conveys the form of the `mists' and their movement by two Present Participles Active: a mist that's waving, rolling [Pushkin Lowenfeld 2009: 363]. Sometimes there appears a “shadow” in translation: such a word can well be used, because “mists” partially obscure the moon: Drifting mists and shifting shadows - [Pushkin Clarke 2016: 103]. Since the definitions of the words `fog' and `mist' include the word `cloud', it quite naturally appears in some translations the billowing mist and cloud [Pushkin May 1999: 106]; the dim and through the clouds [Pushkin Denisov 2003]. The anonymous translator, or Anonym, seeking to preserve such an stylistic means as personification, creates his own image: the misty billows'fingers [Pushkin Anonym 2016].

In three translations, the wavelike movement of light clouds across the sky has been replaced by a different kind of motion. Curnow perceives it as fluctuation: the wavering hazes [Pushkin Curnow 1999: 47]; Foreman chooses `shiver': shivering fog [Pushkin Foreman 2009]. Oliver Elton replaced the motion of the waves, which comes in two projections, the vertical and horizontal ones, with the whirlpool motion: the eddying haze and shadows... [Pushkin Elton 1948: 19].

Two translators completely change the image of the night sky compared to the original. Gurvich foregoes conveying motion, choosing the word murk [Pushkin TypBm]

Irina Zheleznova completely changes Pushkin's text and creates an image that has virtually no common ground with the original: Slow the moon, embraced by shadow, / Climbs the hilly clouds of night [Pushkin Zheleznova 1984: 21].

The Image of “.the Moon.” in the Translations.

The image of the moon as a feminine creature is rooted in Indo-European, in particular in ancient Roman mythology. Thus, the Roman personification of the moon was the goddess Diana [Mify narodov mira 2008, 1: 376], and before Diana the Romans worshipped Luna, the goddess of moonlight [Mify narodov mira 2008, 2: 78]. The imagery of the classic poetry “became a clichй” [Sapyolkin 2013: 103] for the European poets, for Romanticists in particular. Although the poem “The Winter Road” is classified by the researchers either as a “travel” poem [Pushkinskaya entsiklopediya 2012: 196], or `the Nature lyrics' [Glukhov 1998:163], the image, which became a kind of clichй, “the quintessence of all the romantic techniques, depicting the moon poetically” [Sapyolkin 2013:103], is quite naturally introduced into the text of Pushkin's poem.

The translators strived to convey the Pushkin image of the moon, bringing into their texts indication to the feminine gender. Thus, Ivan Panin retains the pronoun she: Breaking thro' the waving fogs/ Forth the moon is coming, / And on the gloomy acres / She gloomy light is shedding [Pushkin Panin 1888: 104]. Anonym does the same: On the dismal glades she lingers, / Casts her dismal beams' parade [Pushkin Anonym 20x6]. In other cases translators introduce the possessive pronoun her: her mournful light [Pushkin May 1999: 106] her melancholy hue [Pushkin Clarke 20x6: 103].

Conveying the image of the moon in translation lies between the two extremes. On the one hand, this is a re-creation of a realistic picture of the moonlit night and, accordingly, of the moon as a celestial body: Mist shifts and turns. / The moon breaks through it. / Gloomy clearings fill with/ gloomy moonlight [Pushkin Boland 1999: 22]. On the other hand, some translators, for example, Anonym, create an image of the mists and the moon as living beings: Through the misty billows' fingers/ Threads the moon with pallid shade... [Pushkin Anonym 20x6]. Sometimes the result is rather unexpected: Through the dim and through the clouds/ Moon is crawling in the night [Pushkin Denisov 2003]. The first meaning of the verb crawl is `move forward on one's hands and knees, with one's body close to the ground', and no matter how used the reader is to the flights of poetic fantasy, the image of the moon belly crawling among the clouds cannot fail to hit the reader's fancy.

Other translators, conveying the actions of Pushkin's moon, choose more neutral expressions: “probirayetsya” is translated as is making way [Pushkin Elton 1948: 19], is breaking (Across the wavering hazes) [Pushkin Curnow 1999: 47], break through [Pushkin Clarke 20x6: 103]. The glow of the moon is depicted in neutral words: pour, i. e. `flow quickly in a continuous stream': Pours a melancholy ray [Pushkin Elton 1948: 19]; pours its pallid light [Pushkin Zheleznova 1984: 21]; Pours a melancholy light [Pushkin Curnow 1999: 47]; shed, i. e. `to let light fall somewhere': shed her melancholy hue [Pushkin Clarke 20x6: 103]; Sending its wistful light [Pushkin Denisov 2003].

“Pechal'nyye polyany”: the landscape in the poem.

Several details create a typical Russian winter landscape in the poem “Winter Road”: “doroga”, “pechal'nyye polyany”, “glush' i sneg”. To a person who grew up in Russia these details help to imagine a dense forest, covered with snow, with occasional clearings and a road, going through it. However, it seems that most translators do not know what the Russian countryside look like in winter, and do not take into account that `the Winter Road' was written under the impression of a real journey, not an imaginary one. Even today, at the beginning of the XXI century, according to V.I. Kravtsova (Moscow State University, Geographical Department), the territory to the north-west of Moscow is covered with forests [Kravtsova], so Pushkin's impression of the road is based on real observations. However, in some translations, Pushkin's “поляны” turn into meadows [Pushkin Elton x948: x9; Pushkin Clarke 20x6: x03; Pushkin Foreman 2009]. It is rather strange that the forest clearings became „meadows“ in Irina Zheleznova's text [Pushkin Zheleznova 1984: 21]. Once we find fields unploughed in Walter May's version [Pushkin May 1999:106], and this image completely changes the landscape of the poem. Like Wilson, May depicts a steppe rather than a territory covered with forest. Nevertheless, there are cases when the translators chose the words that accurately convey the meaning of Pushkin's “fields”: clearing - an open space in a forest where there are no trees [Hornby] and glade - `a small open area of grass in a wood or a forest' [Hornby], for example, the dismal glades [Pushkin Anonym 2016], the melancholy clearings [Pushkin Gurvich 2014].

The word “glush'” caused the greatest discrepancies in the translations. In the XIX century, according to the dictionary of V.I. Dal, this word had the meaning “wild, barely passable forest” [Dal], as well as “deserted place” [Dal]. In some cases, the translator was influenced by the meaning of word “glukhoy” - “deaf, soundless”: Only snow and silence... [Pushkin Panin 1888: 104], Silence, snow [Pushkin Curnow 1999: 47], Snow and hush... [Pushkin Gurvich 2014], where silence means a complete lack of noise or sound [Hornby], and hush is a period of silence [Hornby]. It seems that most translators tried to convey the meaning of the fragment “glush' i sneg”, focusing on the word `snow'. Thus, the plurals of the noun “sneg” - “snega” can be combined with an adjective “beskraynie” - `boundless'. The noun “snega” means not only “sneg” как `a kind of atmospheric precipitates', but also a large territory, covered with snow, so we find in some translations the word wastes - a large area of land where there are very few people, animals or plants [Hornby]: these snows and wastes [Pushkin Elton 1948: 19], Empty wastes, unending snow... [Pushkin May 1999: 106], Empty wastes and snows! [Pushkin Clarke 2016: 103], Snowy wastes [Pushkin Anonym 2016]. While the word wastes conveys such a connotation as “solitude”, it indicates the vastness and boundlessness of space (for example, the polar wastes) as well, and therefore the English-speaking reader can imagine that the road between Pskov and Moscow goes along the steppe, and not through the forest.

Conveying “... troyka borzaya ...”.

Troika is called one of the “national symbols of Russia” [Russkaya kul'tura 2006: 678]. It is a well-known manner to harness horses three abreast, typical for Russia. According to the definition given on the website “Tolkovyy slovar' russ- kogo yazyka”, “The troika was intended for fast driving over long distances” [Tolkovyy slovar' russkogo yazyka]. Since the word itself was borrowed into English in the 1st part of the XIXth century (it was first registered in 1842 [Mer- riam-Webster]), for most translators it was not difficult to translate this Russian realia. In English, the word “troika” means a Russian vehicle drawn by three horses abreast [Merriam-Webster]. Thus, in Panin's translation of “The Winter Road” we find: Along the wintry, cheerless road / Flies the rapid troika [Pushkin Panin 1888: 104]. In the course of the XXth century the noun troika is found in all the translations: Flies the troika, swift, alone... [Pushkin Elton 1948: 19]; Runs my troika [Pushkin Zheleznova 1984: 21], and in those, published in 1999 by the 200th anniversary of Pushkin's birthday [Pushkin Curnow 1999: 47; Pushkin Boland 1999: 22; Pushkin May 1999: 106]. Another word is used only once, in the 2009 translation, made by A. Z. Foreman: My quick carriage carries on [Pushkin Foreman 2009]. The Russian realia troika is substituted by carriage - a road vehicle, usually with four wheels, that is pulled by one or more horses [Hornby].

However, there are differences in the translations of this line of Pushkin's text. One of them concerns the transfer of the meaning of the verb “run” - “move fast” [Tolkovyy slovar' russkogo yazyka]. As you can see, the meaning of the word is rather vague, the emphasis is on the speed of movement, but not on what this movement is in itself. Some translators choose the same neutral verb run - move using your legs, going faster than when you walk [Hornby], for example: Runs the troika... [Pushkin Curnow 1999: 47]. Other translators turn to concretization and use verbs that characterize the fast running of horses: Flies the rapid troika [Pushkin Panin 1888: 104], where fly means `to go or move quickly', but also `to move through the air, using wings'. The verb fly can point to a hidden comparison of the troika with the bird. I. Panin, being the bearer of Russian culture, could be influenced by the image of the “bird-troika” from Gogol's “Dead Souls”. Later similar choice was made by Oliver Elton. [Pushkin Elton 1948: 19]. The verb glide, used by R. Clarke, is, to my mind, quite appropriate: glides the troika, swift, alone [Pushkin Clarke 2016: 103]. The verb in question means `move smoothly and quietly, especially as though it takes no effort [Hornby] and helps to create the image of the winter road, which is easy to travel in the sleigh. Other translations emphasize the speed of the troika (race [Pushkin Anonym 2016] - to move very fast [Hornby]), continuity of movement (carry on [Pushkin Foreman 2009] - to continue moving [Hornby]), travelling at a certain distance (cover the miles [Pushkin Boland 1999: - to travel the distance mentioned).

The epithet “борзая”, that is, “fast, frisky” [Tolkovyy slovar' russkogo yazyka] is translated in many ways. This adjective in the explanatory dictionaries of the Russian language is marked “obsolete” and “folk-poetic”. Most translators take into account the development of the Russian language and convey it with adjectives denoting the speed of movement: the rapid troika [Pushkin Panin 1888: 104], the troika, swift, alone [Pushkin Clarke 2016: 103], my quick carriage [Pushkin Foreman 2009]. However, there is a variant that brings to mind Wilson's translation. Apparently, Anonym did not take into account the fact that some words in the Russian language became obsolete. In addition, he was confused by the homonymy: “borzaya” as a feminine form from “borzyy” - “fast” and “borzaya” as “breed of hunting dogs”. As a result, a funny translation appeared: Races troika pulled by hounds [Pushkin Anonym 2016], in which hounds are harnessed into the carriage.

The Key Words of Culture.

The third stanza of the poem contains the so-called “key words”, “especially important and significant for a separate culture” [Verzhbitskaya 1996: 35], in this case for the Russian culture. The concepts in question - “razgul'ye udaloye” and “serdechnaya toska” are antithetic: “.the Russian merry-making was heard in the overture as well as distant echo of the Russian melancholy” (Boris Yevseyev. Yevstigney // «Oktyabr'», 2010) [NKRYA]. According to the observations of Anna Verzhbitskaya, melancholy is one of the “conceptual categories that are very important for Russian culture” [Verzhbitskaya 2001: 24]. A Russian or Russian-speaking person perceives melancholy as grave, groundless, unaccountable, acute. Melancholy can grow so much that it becomes almost unbearable, fatal. Melancholy is associated with disappointment, pain, fear, anxiety, uncertainty, the absence of something very valuable to man. Heart is the focus of melancholy. The person seized by melancholy is deeply unhappy: “I was so overcome with such melancholy that I nearly cried, I felt that I was no longer needed, lonely, betrayed” (R.B. Akhmedov. Probleski (2011) // Belsky Prostory) [NKRYA].

The same can be said about the “razgul'ye”, the opposite of melancholy. In the Russian linguistic world view, “razgul'ye” is associated with joy and fun, lack of boredom, an abundance of food and drink, dancing, pranks, perhaps not completely harmless, uncontrolled waste of money: “Noise and revelry were his elements. Whether to taunt a fat artisan, catcall a professor, break windows, shout `vivat', start a feast, fence, drink, dance in a club - Victor was the first everywhere; always ready, always cheerful” (V.A. Sollogub. Neokonchennyye povesti (1843)) [NKRYA].

Due to the discrepancy between cultural codes, translators could not find the exact equivalents of “razgul'ye” and “toska”. However, they were able to reflect in their texts various aspects of these concepts. Thus, the majority of translators associate the “razgul'ye” with revels (carousal - a wild, drunken party or celebration [Merriam-Webster]), and epithets indicate the degree of relaxedness of those present: drunk - having drunk so much alcohol [Hornby] (Drunk carousal [Pushkin Curnow 1999: 47]); bold - not afraid to say what you feel [Hornby] (carousals bold [Pushkin May 1999:106]), debonair - light-hearted (debonair carousal [Pushkin Foreman 2009]). Another kind of entertainment, revelry (noisy fun, usually involving a lot of eating and drinking [Hornby]), is characterized by abundance of both food and drinks: reckless revelry [Pushkin Elton 1948: 20], wild revelry [Pushkin Clarke 2016: 103]. Some translators concentrate on the phonetic side of “razgul'ye”: a foulmouthed drinking-song [Pushkin TypBHu 2014]; a rowdy ode [Pushkin Anonym 2016]. There are words that are abstract in character: light-hearted carelessness [Pushkin Panin 1888: 104]; reckless gaiety [Pushkin Zheleznova 1984: 21], high spirits [Pushkin Boland 1999: 22], unified by meanings `gladness', `high spirits'.

To convey the word combination “serdechnaya toska” the translators choose one of two ways. They write either about the emotion: low-spirited sadness [Pushkin Panin 1888: 104]; heart-felt sadness [Pushkin May 1999: 106]; a heart in agony [Pushkin Clarke 2016: 103]; mournful passion [Pushkin TypBHu 2014], or about the means of expressing this emotion with the help of a sorrowful song: a plaint, my spirit rending [Pushkin Zheleznova 1984: 21], yearning dirge [Pushkin Anonym 2016].

As it can be seen from the analysis of translations, the “keywords” of Russian culture turned out to be difficult to translate, and the notion of “razgul'ye”, associated with positive emotions and having more external features, is easier to translate than the more complex notion of “toska”. As it seems, the choice of words and phrases used by the translators to convey the “keywords” was dictated by their level of understanding of Russian culture and their personal experience.

The realia of the material world.

The image of the Russian road cannot be created without introducing the Russian realia into the text. In the “Winter Road” there are details of the material world that link the poet's journey not only with the Russian realia, but also with a certain epoch. The word combination “chernaya khata” posed a problem for the first translator of the poem, Wilson [Pushkin Wilson 1887: 91]. It was a kind of a traditional Russian countryside dwelling, izba, in which there was no modern chimney, and the smoke was channeled into a special window through a wooden pipe. This kind of izba remained a Russian realia until the middle of the XXth century. The transfer of such a reality was beyond the power of even Russian translators could not convey this realia into English, not to mention English speakers. Thus, Panin turned to a literal translation: a dark hut... [Pushkin Panin 1888: 104], where dark - with no or very little light, especially because it is night [Hornby]; a lonely / Dusky cabin... [Pushkin TypBHu 2014] (dusky - dark or soft in colour [Hornby]). Irina Zheleznova altogether omitted the given realia: nothing, / Not a light to cheer the eye [Pushkin Zheleznova 1984:

The rest of the translators followed I. Panin's example, that is, they translated the phrase “chernaya khata” literally, for example: blackened hut [Pushkin Elton 1948: 20], no darkened cabin [Pushkin Curnow 1999: 47], no black hut [Pushkin Lowenfeld 2009: 363].

The situation is somewhat simpler with mileposts, since distance posts along the roads were a common European tradition. The very etymology of the word shows that the mile columns were made of stone. However, in Russia from 1817 to 1918 the mileposts were made of wood, for better visibility they were painted black and white. Most translators emphasized this feature: the milestones striped [Pushkin Lowenfeld 2009: 363], striped milestones [Pushkin Boland 1999: 22]. The translators chose a word reflecting the common European reality, but the literal meaning of the phrase contradicts the truth: the stone posts were not painted in stripes. Other translators have chosen the word milepost: Striped mileposts [Pushkin Panin 1888: 104], banded posts to mark those miles [Pushkin Clarke 2016: 103].

The name Nina.

The name of the heroine, “Nina”, is a part of the poem's love theme. It is included in the Orthodox calendar, but at the same time it also belongs to the romantic literary tradition: according to T.M. Nikolayeva, it is a “mask” [Nikolaeva 2007: 192], it functions in literary texts more like a symbol than a name of a person. However, the name “Nina” has a feature that characterizes its existence outside the field of literature. It “implies some kind of intimacy, ... but it is not too familiar” [Verzhbitskaya 1996: 112]. The name “Nina” helps to create an image of a woman, who is not only the object of one's adoration, she is trusted as a friend, her company is highly valued. To emphasize this idea the translators create phrases that emphasize the warmth of the relationship and the tenderness of the lyrical hero towards the heroine: “Skuchno, grustno... Zavtra, Nina...” - But tomorrow, / Darling Nina... [Pushkin Foreman 2009]; But, my Nina, on the morrow... [Pushkin Zheleznova 1984: 23].

Sounds in the poem.

If we exclude the “dolgiye pesni yamshchika”, there are two kinds of sounds in the poem - the real and imaginary ones. In reality, the lyrical hero hears the monotonous tinkling of a bell under the shaftbow of the troika, in his imagination he counts the strikes of a striking clock.

Pushkin does not specify what the bell sounds are like. He introduces into the text the epithet “monotonous”, that is, emphasizes the monotony of sound, while the verb „gremit“ conveys the volume of the sound, but not its quality. In these circumstances the translators could not help using concretization. As a result, we have a palette of sounds. As a result in the translations the bell tolls [Pushkin Anonym, i. e. `is rung slowly many times, especially as a sign that somebody has died' [Hornby], jangles on [Pushkin Curnow 1999: 47], that is `makes an unpleasant sound, like two pieces of metal hitting each othef [Hornby], is tinkling [Pushkin Panin 1888: 104] - `makes a series of light high ringing sounds' [Hornby], tings [Pushkin May 1999: 106] - `makes a high-pitched sound like by a light stroke on a crystal goblet [Hornby], dings [Pushkin Clarke 2016: 103] - `makes a sharp ringing sound' [Hornby], clinks [Pushkin Lowenfeld 2009: 363] - `makes a sharp ringing sound, like that of glasses being hit against each other1 [Hornby]. Thus, reading the translations of the “Winter Road,” we hear the boom of the church bell, and the sound arising from the collision of two metal objects, and the clinking of glass, different from that of crystal.

The imaginary clocks produce three kinds of sounds, although the poet does not indicate at all what their quality is. The information concerning the sounds is limited to the adverb “zvuchno”. Therefore, translating the sixth stanza, the translators again turned to their own experience. Most often clocks tick [Pushkin Anonym 2016; Pushkin Elton 1948: 20] - `make short, light, regular repeated sounds to mark time passing' [Hornby]. However, in the sixth stanza there is the reference to the clock's striking at midnight, since “...strelka chasovaya/ Mernyy krug svoy sovershit”, and “pol- noch'” comes with the last stroke of the clock. Therefore, the sounds of a striking clock appear in the translations: they strike [Pushkin Zheleznova 1984: 23; Pushkin Foreman 2009] - `show the time by making a ringing noise' [Hornby] - or, if the translator resorts to concretization, chime [Pushkin May 1999: 107; Pushkin Clarke 2016: 103] - `show the time by making a musical and especially a harmonious sound' [Hornby]. Thus, it turns out that the laconicism of Pushkin's “Winter Road” gives impetus to the imagination of translators, and they sate their texts with sounds of different quality and volume.

Conclusion

Close reading of the twelve translations of Pushkin's poem available to me helped to highlight several types of difficulties that translators face while working at Pushkin's lyrics. At the elementary level, the main difficulty is an insufficient knowledge of the source language, when, for example, the translator does not take into account a possible change in the meaning of a word or its stylistic nuances. A more difficult problem for translators is the translation of culture-specific vocabulary, and both Russian specialists and native English speakers find themselves in a predicament, since some of the realia that were part of Russian everyday life in Pushkin's time have now totally disappeared. Since translators deal with poetic text, they are usually limited in the choice of means for conveying realia. Thus, the need to reproduce the form of Pushkin's stanza and the poem's meter in English does not allow translators to resort to descriptive translation, because any lengthy interpolations would destroy the original's structure. The laconicism of Pushkin's vocabulary allows translators to be the poet's collaborators.

The method in question also makes it possible to notice more subtle changes in the texts of the translations in comparison with the original and see how the process of their adaptation in the culture of the target language is reflected in the translations. Thus, a change in the landscape in translations as compared to the original demonstrates the translator's notions concerning Russia inherent in English-speaking culture. The “key words” of Russian culture are practically impossible to translate due to the difference in the cultural codes of Russia and the English-speaking world. A comparison of the original, written in the era of Romanticism, with the entire range of translations, the earliest of which dates back to late Victorian time, shows the development of the European's worldview as a result of profound changes in culture that occurred during the 19th century. Thanks to these changes, the emotional overtone of the poem also becomes different.

Due to the abundance and variety of texts slow reading of Pushkin's translations can serve as an excellent training for translators.

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