The Rumanian Ivan the Terrible and Some Problems of Communist Historiography

Abstract

in Kishinev (Chipindu) publisl-hed a Russian translationl of the historical monograph IonI oda Cel Cutmplit (Prince John tlhe Terrible) writteen by the well-kn-owvn nineteenth-century Rumanian historian Bogdan Petriceicu-Ha?deu.1 The Russian title is IonVoevodla Lizttyi, even thiough Russian writers have in the past, whieni translating the title of this book, rencLered cttuiplit by groZ-nyi.2 Since botlh groznyi and lihttyi are only approximate renditions of the word cUftif)lit, it is difficult to judge whether the substitution of the first by the second is purely a matter of tthe translator's personal preference or whether it is dictatect from above by certain policy considerations. The book is a popular edition illustrated with dramatic pictures that are examples of expressionism rather than of social realism. The extensive bibliographical footnotes as well as the appendixes iave been left out as being of little interest to nonscholars, but the translation itself is, on the whole, faithful and there are almost no omissions from the text. Not to wound the Russian national pride, three dots replace