Artistic-philological translation in the 1920s–1930s

Abstract

The review is devoted to a new monograph about the problems of the Russian translation method in the period between the 1900s and the late 1930s. Particularly detailed is the analysis of the book’s main idea that faithfully equirhythmic translation was gradually abandoned in favour of a method more appealing to mass readership. The reviewer highlights the activities of the principal translation institutions of the period and explains their role in the shaping of the new translation method. In addition, the review comments on the book’s structure and praises the decision to publish archival materials, such as M. Alekseev’s article on translation. The reviewer challenges the thesis offered by the book’s compiler M. Baskina, who claims that, although originally executed to high standards of philological accuracy, collections of translated works after WWII were produced with an increasing degree of ‘compromise.’ For an example to disprove this statement, the reviewer points to the Complete Works of Shakespeare published in 1958–1969 under A. Smirnov’s editorship.