Anthropocentricity as a Principle of Translation: Faust by K. A. Ivanov

Abstract

The tragedy’s translation is studied as a result of more than 38 years of work by the last gymnasium headmaster in Tsarskoye Selo, the man of “Faust’s culture”. The relevance of the research is determined by the fact that each translation of a tragedy allows one to grasp into new cultural meanings and influences poetic practices and translator’s representation, as well as understanding of Christianity. The problem of the research is to identify the multifunctional concept of “anthropocentricity” on specifics of Ivanov’s translation in cultural-historical, confessional and linguistic aspects. The translation was published in 2006, but there isn’t any research on it in the academic field yet. The essence of the scientific hypothesis is that the principle of Ivanov’s translation is anthropocentricity. Ivanov avoided dogmatic dependence on the terminological system and believed that the term was losing its metaphorical energy. He gave no nomination for the concept, explaining it in an empirical sense. According to Ivanov, it is real events that are the basis for interpretations and conclusions. Comprehension of one’s own experience is an unconditional characteristic of anthropocentrism. The translator also offered a kind of retrospective exhibition, recalled like-minded people, amateurs and connoisseurs of Goethe. They encoded values that are connected in the mind of the translator with the name of Goethe and his characters. The unity of anthroponyms acquiring cultural meanings forms Ivanov’s anthropocentric code. In this article, an integrative interdisciplinary method is used, which has an epistemological capacity. The author of the article came to the following conclusions. Ivanov did not raise the issue of expedience of establishing several translations for one poetical work. A good translation is possible only in the context of a great literary tradition, the predecessors’ experience. Poetic “inner men” complement each other by the rules of palimpsest. The fold participates in the poetic events, such as: the image’s creation, the selection of intonations, that determined the uniqueness and autobiographical subtext of the translation. The translation of the Ivanov’s tragedy is perceived as a manifestation of educational intentions. Ivanov assumed that there is a natural pedagogy of the classical example in Goethe’s work and included this in his project of public education. The translation carries obvious time features: the prewar and revolutionary eras. External chaotic life events were contrasted with internal regeneration of the previous cultural discipline. Ivanov was looking for analogues of the work, such as style, themes in Russian literature.