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Goethe and His Russian Translator-Interpreter V. A. Zhukovski (1783–1852)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

André von Gronicka
André von Gronicka*
Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York 27, N. Y.
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Extract

Studies which have been made in the West of this important topic of international literary relations have been either very general or biased or both. It is indicative of the Stand der Forschung that M. Gorlin's sketchy article, “Goethe in Russland,” remains to this day one of the sources most frequently referred to. The most recent contribution to our topic is Mathew Volm's study W. A. Zhukovskii als Übersetzer (Part ii). It is a most detailed evaluation and analysis of Zhukovski's translations of Goethe. Unfortunately, however, Volm has chosen to make of his work a polemic against Gorlin's views; he maintains that Zhukovski not only was equal to his task as a translator of Goethe but in his renderings actually proved himself a greater poet. It cannot be said that this approach resulted in an acceptable contribution to our topic. Moreover, Volm's work, like Gorlin's, is completely lacking in factual, biographical material and argues its thesis in a historical vacuum.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 70 , Issue 1 , March 1955 , pp. 145 - 165
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1955

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References

1 Zeitschrift für Slavische Philologie, ix (1922), 335–357, and x, 310–334. On Zhukovski, see ix, 343–346.

2 Lithoprinted in U.S.A., 1946.

3 The following sources proved most helpful, although both were in need of some correction for ideological bias: Literaturnoe Nasledstvo (The Literary Heritage), Vols, iv–vi [on Goethe] (Moscow, 1932); V. Zhirmunski, Gete v Russkoi Literature (Goethe in Russian Literature) (Leningrad, 1937), henceforth cited as Zhirmunski.

4 See, e.g., A. Veselovski, V. A. Zhukovski: Poezia Chustva i Serdechnago Voobrazhenia (Poesy of Emotion and Imagination of the Heart) (St. Petersburg, 1904), passim.

5 V. G. Belinski, Polnoe Sobranie Sochineni (Complete Collection of Works), ed. S. A. Vengerov (St. Petersburg, 1901), vii, 469.

6 Sobranie Sochineni i Pisem (Collection of Works and Letters) (1934), ii, 175.

7 Ivan Kireievski (1806–56), the outstanding Slavophile literary critic, stresses Zhukovski's originality but points out that his poetry “was reared on German songs (pesniakh Germanii) and transmitted to us that idealism which represents the distinguishing mark of German life, literature, and philosophy.” Cf. Polnoe Sobranie Sochineni (Complete Collection of Works) (1911), ii, 18.

8 V. A. Zhukovski, Sochinenia v Dvukh Tomakh (Works in Two Volumes), ed. A. D. Alferov (Moscow, 1902), i, 517: Zhukovski's letter (1817?) to his friend D. V. Dashkov.

9 Other poems translated in this period were “Wer nie sein Brot mit Tränen aß,” “Trost in Tränen,” “Neue Liebe, neues Leben,” “Schäfers Klagelied,” and “Der Wanderer.”

10 I. A. Bychkov, Neizdannye Pis'ma Zhukovskogo k A. P. Elaginoi i A. P. Zontag (Unpublished Letters of Zhukovski to A. P. Elagina and A. P. Sontag) (St. Petersburg, 1912), pp. 5–6.

11 S. Durylin, “Russkie Pisateli u Gete v Veimare” (Russian Writers with Goethe at Weimar) in Literaturnoe Nasledstvo, vi, 328, henceforth cited as Durylin.

12 I. F. Struve (1763–1828), Russian chargé d'affaires at Weimar and frequent visitor of Goethe.

13 The inscription before the threshhold, such as Goethe may well have observed in Roman houses, e.g., at Pompeii.

14 A copy of the Aldobrandini painted frieze in the Vatican was made by Johann Heinrich Meyer and presented to Goethe in 1797.

15 Dnevniki V. A. Zhukovskago (The Diaries of V. A. Zhukovski) (St. Petersburg, 1903), p. 166, henceforth cited as Diaries.

16 Zhukovski was the tutor of her son, the crown prince and future Tsar Alexander II.

17 Russkaia Starina (Russian Antiquity) (1902), “Pis'ma V. A. Zhukovskago k Vel. Kn. Aleksandre Fedorovne iz Pervogo ego Zagranichnogo Puteshestvia v 1821 g.” (Letters A. V. Zhukovskago to Grandduchess A. … F. … from his First Trip Abroad in 1821), cx, ii, 357.

18 Zweite unveränderte Auflage (Leipzig: Verlag Duncker und Humblot, 1874), pp. 133–134. (The German original was not available to me; I quote here an English rendering of a Russian trans. of the original by Durylin, pp. 331–332.)

19 To S. Boisserée (Jena, 1 Nov. 1821). Cf. Weimarer Ausgabe, iv/35, 174–175.

20 To V. A. Joukoffsky (Weimar, 16 Nov. 1821). Cf. Weimarer Ausgabe, iv/35, 172–173.

21 Zhukovski's letter seems not to have been preserved among Goethe's papers. A rough draft, however, did survive, was first published in the Russki Archiv (Russian Archive) (1870), pp. 1817–20, and is now in the possession of the Institute of Russian Literature in Leningrad.

22 Zhukovski's attempt to render the German Zwischenspiel into Russian. Dated 1 Sept. 1827. Diaries, p. 202.

23 A. I. Turgeniev, who also met the lady at the time, characterizes her as “clever, kind, learned; she taught the daughters of the Grandduchess Maria Pavlovna, knew Goethe quite well…” Cf. Arkhiv Bratiev Turgenevykh (The Archive of the Brothers Turgeniev), vi, 247.

24 Gerhardt von Reutern: Ein Lebensbild, dargestellt von seinen Kindern (St. Petersburg, 1894), pp. 51–52. (The German original was not available to me; I give here an English rendering of a Russian trans, of the original by Durylin, p. 342.)

25 Weimarer Ausgabe, iii/11, 106.

26 Goethes Unterhaltungen mit dem Kanzler [von] Müller, ed. C. A. Burckhardt (Stuttgart: Cotta, 1870), pp. 119–120, henceforth cited as Müller.

27 Original in the Goethe-Schiller Archive in Weimar.

28 Weimarer Ausgabe, iv/43, 94. Goethe's letter to J. H. Meyer, Weimar, 30 Sept. 1827.

29 From the photostat in Durylin, p. 347.

30 The Russian version has the more conventional title: “K Gëte” (To Goethe).

31 The Russian version has the more precise “chudesno-pyshnyi” (wondrously rich, luxuriant).

32 “Wär' nicht das Auge sonnenhaft…” and “Liegt dir gestern klar und offen …”

33 “Leonore: Die Stätte, die ein guter Mensch betrat …,” Tasso, i.i.

34 A very cordial letter of Chancellor von Müller to Zhukovski, dated 14 Oct. 1837, shows that his memory at Weimar survived the intervening years. Cf. “Briefe…,” Deutsche Rundschau, xi (1904), 284.

35 Diaries, p. 409 (jottings of 9 Sept.; all italics his).

36 Polnoe Sobranie v Odnom Tome (Complete Collection in One Volume), ed. P. B. Smirnovski, 2nd. ed. (Moscow, 1905), p. 61, henceforth cited as Polnoe Sobranie.

37 Polnoe Sobranie; Sec. “Prose,” pp. 156–157.

38 Sochineniia Zhukovskogo (The Works of Zhukovski), ed. Efreimov (1878), v, 341.

39 “Moia Boginia” [Podrazhenie Gëte] in Polnoe Sobranie, p. 23.

40 A prose rendering of the relevant passage: “Imagination is seated upon a steep cliff; her careless locks are fluttering in the wind, her eyes are filled with melancholy sadness, her head is bending low. Lost in thought she looks out upon the deserted sea and harkens to the waves beating against the rocky shore …”

41 Kăkúiŭ bězsmértnŭiŭ / Věnchát' prědp⊖chtítěl'n⊖ / Prěd vsémî b⊖gínîamî / Ôlímpă nădzvézdnăg⊖….

42 “Motylëk,” Polnoe Sobranie, p. 49. Goethe's dragonfly, that sharp, sudden, glittering symbol, has yielded here to the conventional butterfly. Cf. Ch. Passage, “The Influence of Goethe, Schiller, and E. T. A. Hoffmann in Russia, 1800–1840,” Harvard diss., 1942, p. 56.

43 A prose rendering of the relevant passage: Alas, the wings once touched with heavy fingers, all delicate colors are rubbed out. The butterfly does still exist but beauty is all vanished. “That is how joy deceives us!” I said with a deep sigh, “it gleams as long as you don't touch it; a touch and all the gleam is gone!”

44 Published by August Semen, Moscow, 1818. The original purpose of this work was to serve as a text providing Zhukovski's royal pupil, Alexandra Fedorovna (Russian name of Charlotte of Prussia, daughter of Queen Louise) with Russian materials placed opposite well known German texts, thus facilitating her study of Russian. Cf. also Ts. S. Vol'pe, V. A. Zhukovski (1936), p. 43.

45 Cf. “Rybak” and “Zhaloba Pastukha,” Polnoe Sobranie, pp. 224, 53.

46 “Lesnoi Tsar,” Polnoe Sobranie, p. 224.

47 This poem was translated twice by Zhukovski and imitated in his own ballads, “Svetlana” and “Liudmila.” Cf. Polnoe Sobranie, pp. 241 (translation), 203 (Svetlana), 197 (Liudmila).

48 “Uteshenie v Slezakh,” Polnoe Sobranie, p. 51.

49 “Iz Gëte,” ibid., p. 49.

50 “Mina,” ibid., p. 53.

51 “K Mesiatsu,” ibid., p. 51.

52 “Novaia Liubov', Novaia Zhizn',” ibid., p. 53.

53 “Opiat' Ty Zdes', Moi Blagodarnyi Geni,” ibid., p. 261.

54 “Obety,” “Pamiatniki,” “Mysli,” ibid., pp. 66, 74.

55 “Orel i Golubka,” ibid., p. 160.