The Challenges of Translating Ḥāfiẓ into Russian

Abstract

Despite the geographical proximity, the cultural and linguistic gaps between the Russian and the Persian languages are too many to enumerate. The Russian translator’s grasp of Islam and Middle Eastern culture at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century was limited—and frequently Orientalist. While the “exotic nature” of Persian poetry and Ḥāfiẓ’s ghazals in particular evoked great interest among translators and readers, it was presented to the Russian literary circles mostly in the tradition of secular lyrical poetry and was not placed in its mystical or allegorical context. Below, by citing four ghazals and their translation nuances by four Russian poets, this article will examine the means by which Russian translators introduced a nuanced Persian lyrical poetry to their Russian audience.