East of Shota Rustaveli and Oriental Flavor Russian-language Translations of the Poem

Abstract

“Alienation of the plot”, including the transfer to the East, is a fairly common artistic device in the history of world literature. A prerequisite for this is the creation of a special oriental atmosphere of the artistic space of the work. The East of Shota Rustaveli’s poem (XII century) covers a huge cultural area and is created with the help of various artistic techniques. To what extent between the artistic reality of the poem and the cultural and historical situation of its epoch preserved when it is transfer in the Russian culture? We have analyzed the markers of Rustaveli’s East (intertextual references, cultural concepts, realities) in the main Russian-language translations of the poem. A comparative analysis showed that the Russian-language translations adequately conveyed the “oriental flavor” of the poem, but in the process of domestication the connection with the real East of the Rustaveli era is lost. In our opinion this fact, along with the loss of the philosophical and theological depth and rhythmics of the original, this factor also played a role in the fact that up to the present day the poem is perceived by the Russian-speaking reader more as an “oriental tale”, “epic” than the Christian literature work.