Edgar Allan Poe's journey to Russia: fiction and reality

Abstract

This study highlights the history of E.A. Poe's work on the Russian literary scene, shedding light on the cultural, historical and editorial factors that determined its existence in Russia in the nineteenth century. In analysing the translations, we have resorted to the study of existing studies on the subject, archival materials of the Russian press, literary criticism etc. The aim of the study was to reconstruct the specific context and the specific conditions under which the work of Poe penetrated into Russia, which would also allow us to illustrate the key role of translators in the presentation of Poe on the Russian, French, and world literary scene. The subject of our study was the special conditions that determined the penetration of Poe's work in Russia. The object of the study was the biographies written by different people in different eras, as well as documents that influenced his image. The main method of the study was a comparative analysis of texts that tell about Poe's life and personality. The main result of the research is the reconstruction of the ‘route’, following which Poe's work came to Russia, as well as the identification of all the key persons, without whom Poe's work would have to wait for its time. The article also contributes to our understanding of the historical and cultural context that determined the appearance of Poe on the Russian literary scene, as well as names the most important writers, researchers and translators who paved the way for Poe to come to Russia. Scientific novelty is provided by creating a synthesis of existing studies on this topic in Russian, French and English, which allows to make the most complete three-dimensional picture and chronology of the existence of Poe's work which also provides theoretical significance of the study.