«Vi in posek shteyt geshribn»: On the Problem of Translating Quotations from the Sacred Texts in Sholem Aleichem's Tevye the Dairyman into Russian

Abstract

The article focuses on the problem of translation of Biblical Hebrew (and some Aramaic) quotes in Sholem Aleichem’s works into Russian.A review of different translations into English and Hebrew is also included to show a broader context. Sholem Aleichem is one of the most frequently translated Yiddish writers and certainly the most translated into Russian, and translators face many peculiar challenges while working on his texts. One of those challenges is the usage of phrases and quotes from various languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, Russian, Ukrainian, German, etc.). Each language has its own semantic function, and its presence is vital for comprehensive understanding of the work. Thus, quotes from the sacred texts of Judaism in Tevye the Dairyman have several functions: first of all, they create a comic effect, second, they reveal the protagonist’s relationships with God, and finally, they allow the author to show Tevye’s perception of events in the book without direct naming.The article describes different ways in which linguistic polyphony could be preserved, by analyzing the translations starting from the 1910s, when Sholem Aleichem himself advised the translators regarding the issue, to the Soviet translations that are still in print today. Inseparable from translation matters is the question of interpretation of Tevye as a character: thus,for instance, in the USSR his constant quoting from the Bible was interpreted as anti-clericalism and rebellion against religion.The article explains how different translation strategies influence the characters and the work in general, often simplifying or distorting the original intention.