The First Russian Translation of Marcel Proust’s Novel “Swann’s Way”: (Based on the Materials of the Publishing House “World Literature”)

Abstract

It follows from the materials of the publishing house “World Literature” that it was this publishing house that for the first time in Russia paid attention to the work of Proust and carried out the first translation of several passages from his novel Du côté de chez Swann, thereby laying the tradition of Proust’s translation, which found its continuation in subsequent translations, first of all, in the translations of A.A. Frankovsky. Thus, the first translators of Proust in Russia were not B.A. Griftsov and Frankovsky, as is commonly believed, but an employee of the publishing house “World Literature” Maria N. Ryzhkina, the student of the Literary Studio under the guidance of the founder of the Russian translation school M.L. Lozinsky, who developed the theoretical and practical principles of translation in post-revolutionary Petrograd. What is curious, the publishing house “World Literature” was not mentioned in the well-regarded book “Marcel Proust in Russian Literature” (2000), although A.D. Mikhailov quoted there an article by V.V. Veidle in “The Modern West” magazine which had accompanied the first publication of Proust in Russian, translated by M.N. Ryzhkina. The materials of “The Modern West” magazine and the minutes of the meetings of the Editorial Board of the publishing house “World Literature” make it possible to trace how the collective opinion of the publishing house employees developed about the need to present Proust’s work to the Russian reader, what requirements were put forward for the work of a translator. The introduction of editorial protocols including the discussion of the work of M. Proust and the prospects for its publication in Russia by the “World Literature” publishing house into academic circulation significantly complements the picture of perception of the work of the great French innovative writer in Russia.