September 30, 2015

Translator's Note: Bulat Okudzhava


Translator's Note: Bulat Okudzhava

Today, September 30, is the International Day of the Translator. To honor translators and the various ways they give us access to other cultures, we present the beginning of and editor’s foreword to a 2002 volume on translating Bulat Okudzhava, a beloved songwriter of the Soviet period.

Okudzhava is mostly remembered for his simple, melodic songs – his own poetry set to music – but he thought of himself primarily as a poet and writer. His poetry was consistently apolitical and spoke to general human themes, which was construed as an implicit challenge to the aggressive politicization of life under Soviet rule. However, in the view of this editor, Okudzhava’s penchant for writing on themes that were common to all people, regardless of their politics, guaranteed him a place of esteem in world literature.

 

Bulat Okudzhava and the World

 

The fate of works by Russian writers, once published abroad, has been varied. While Dostoyevsky’s novels have become guides to the mysteries of the human soul for readers around the world, Pushkin’s poetry was and is translated primarily as a result of his status as national classic. A writer’s standing in national and translated literature does not always match. This fact does not negatively reflect on any given author in the literature of their people. It merely characterizes the uniqueness of their talent, in one way or another, and bears witness to a greater or lesser orientation of the works toward national or international, human themes. Translations into other languages are a litmus test to establish the author’s place not so much in national literature, as much as in world literature.

 

In Russian literature, Bulat Okudzhava’s place has already been defined. His poetry is a classic of the second half of the twentieth century. His novels and short stories are examples of excellent prose, worthy of carrying on the rich traditions of classic Russian literature.

 

Bulat Okudzhava’s fame in world literature has also been established. The translated literature of the world is incomplete without the prose and poetry of Okudzhava. His poems and works of prose have been translated into dozens of languages, and are known and loved all over the world. Researchers and translators of Okuzhava’s poetry and prose have gathered twice for international scientific conferences in Peredelkino (1999 and 2001), during which speakers particularly stressed the demand for Okudzhava’s works abroad. As pointed out by Marburg professor Barbara Karhoff at the conference in 1999, “Russians could not have wished for a better intermediary between Russian and other cultures than Bulat Okudzhava.” An emphatic affirmation of the worldwide spread of Bulat Okudzhava’s poetry was the First International Festival “Everyone Sings Bulat’s Verses…” held in Moscow in 2001, where his songs were performed in more than ten languages.

Want to dig into some Okudzhava? Check out issue 31 of Chtenia, Okudzhava Bilingual, presenting some of the poet's finest prose and verse, side by side in English and Russian.

Read also: last year’s post in honor of the International Day of the Translator, featuring Boris Pasternak’s reflections on translation! Also, read about St. Jerome, the patron saint of translators.


Source: Чайковский, Р.Р. «Булат Окуджава и мир: предисловие редактора» Булат Окуджава. Перевод и переводчики. Вып. 3. Магадан: «Кордис», 2002. 3-4.

Translation by Eugenia Sokolskaya

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Russian Rules
November 16, 2011

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.

At the Circus
January 01, 2013

At the Circus

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

Life Stories
September 01, 2009

Life Stories

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

Fish
February 01, 2010

Fish

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

Murder and the Muse
December 12, 2016

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955