Russian Interpretations Research Articles

The image of Romeo as interpreted by Ivan Roskovshenko. <i>From the history of Russian Petrarchism<i>

This study of the translation strategies for Romeo and Juliet heavily relies on two aspects concerning the play’s genre complexity: the lyrical plot (drawing on the poetic fashions of the 1590s), and the comical carnival element, imbued with a Shakespearean London idiom. The process of the Russian adaptation of Shakespearian imagery was lengthy and fraught with difficulties, not only due to the play’s linguistic complexity, but because of differences in treatment of higher matters (here, poetry) and social and everyday realities. The paper discusses the first Russian translation of Romeo and Juliet, penned by Ivan Roskovshenko. The study focuses on discovering the ways in which the play’s Petrarchian stylistics transforms in the Russian interpretation. A detailed comparative analysis of the translation and its original suggests that I. Roskovshenko consistently replaced the rhetorical conventions of the 16th century with the patterns of contemporary Russian poetry, domesticating the Shakespearian text. The approach only paid off when the images of English Petrarchism, interspersing Romeo and Juliet, resonated with the Russian poetry of the early 1800s.

Russian Active Measures in Psychological Warfare

The aim of the article is to analyse Russian active measures in the context of psychological warfare. Active measures are defined as the actions of political warfare conducted by Russian secret service. In case of Russian Federation they are the core of psychological operations that are tools of realising international and domestic policy priorities. Active measures include disinformation campaigns and supporting insurgency in opponent states. Regarding the context of psychological operations active measures are designed to model the mental sphere of opponent society. Active measures are aimed at weakening the unity of the European Union as well as common trust in NATO. Creating favourable atmosphere for Russian activity is the main goal of implementing active measures. Therefore active measures are considered as a great part of Russian interpretation of psychological warfare. Although active measures can support the military activity they are designed to influence the mental sphere of opponent society and are used to create opinions and interpretations that match Russian interests. Those measures are difficult to identify and therefore are threats that are not easy to counteract.

Trudne rozliczenie z radziecką przeszłością (na przykładzie opisu zbrodni katyńskiej w rosyjskich podręcznikach do historii)

Difficult Settlement with the Soviet Past (on the Example of the Description of the Katyn Massacre in Russian History Textbooks)The aim of the article is to show how in contemporary Russian history textbooks the Katyn Massacre (1940) is presented and compare its interpretation with different approaches to this tragedy that are actively discussed in scientific circles and among ordinary Russians. This approach should answer the question of the place occupied by this sensitive issue in Russian politics of memory and show how the process of forming historical memory related to the Katyn Massacre, based on historical education in schools, and public policy, looks like. Civic education in Russia is based on patriotic values and shapes the pride of power of the motherland. By emphasizing the importance of war victories, strong leaders, the formation of the students’ sense of belonging to the Russian nation and loyalty to the state takes place. The Katyn case continues to be a painful theme in Russian interpretation of the past, which explains why attempts are made to justify the crimes of the Stalinist regime. It is also not useful for patriotic education, as evidenced by the lack of mention of it in some history textbooks, or attempts to justify it partially.

Legal Aspects of the Russian–Norwegian Model for Cross-Border Unitization in the Barents Sea and Arctic Ocean

This article examines the provisions in the 2010 Russian–Norwegian Treaty on Maritime Delimitation and Cooperation in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean dealing with the management of transboundary hydrocarbon resources. How compatible is the unitization mechanism in the Treaty with Russian and Norwegian legislation? Will there be tension between Russian and Norwegian interpretations? How does Russian and Norwegian legislation support or challenge the concept of a “unit operator” in a cross-border unitization? What are the possible concerns and pitfalls related to mechanisms for consultations and procedures for dispute resolution?

НЕКОТОРЫЕ СПОСОБЫ ПЕРЕДАЧИ РЕАЛИЙ АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА НА РУССКИЙ (ПО РАССКАЗАМ О. ГЕНРИ)

The article considers the use and possible ways of translating realias into Russian in O. Henry’s stories. The authors analyze and give comments on the techniques of translating texts by Soviet and Russian interpreters. The focus is on such translation techniques as calquing, transliteration, transcription, approximate translation and replacement. The paper gives examples from the following stories by O. Henry: “The Complete Life of John Hopkins” and “The Trimmed Lamp”.

ЛИНГВОСТИЛИСТИЧЕСКИЙ АНАЛИЗ РУССКИХ ИНТЕРПРЕТАЦИЙ «ОХОТЫ НА СНАРКА» Л. КЭРРОЛЛА

The article analyzes the Russian interpretations of the poem “The Hunting of the Snark” by L. Carroll from the position of linguo-stylistics. Particular attention is paid to the translation of the system of poem characters’ names, which is based on the principle of anaphora. Conclusions are made that decompression, which most interpreters use, is directly related to the phenomena of fictionality and discomfort of a metatext. This, in turn, can lead to the violation of its stylistic integrity with respect to Carroll’s primary source.

Creative Intuition

Abstract Among the artists of the Russian avant-garde, there was general agreement that the new art forms they were seeking were not to be found in the visible world but rather the artist’s own creative intuition. The true artist created freely and independently, without regard for the appearance of the objective world or conventional approaches to its depiction. In their explorations of the artistic process and the creative endeavor, the artists found inspiration in Henri Bergson’s concept of intuition as a philosophical method, which the French philosopher had formulated in his 1903 essay “Introduction à la métaphysique” (An Introduction to Metaphysics). Bergson’s ideas were further developed and integrated into the larger discussion about organic perception and creative intuition within the Russian cultural tradition by the Russian philosopher Nikolai Lossky. Lossky’s own concept, which he called intuitivism, was developed as an alternative to Bergson’s philosophy; it was an attempt to unite pre-Kantian rationalism, particularly Leibniz’s monadology, with the strong tradition of mystical rationalism in Russian philosophy. Kazimir Malevich related non-objectivity in art to creative intuition and promoted suprematism as a theory of unbounded creativity that could overcome the narrow notion of art and encompass all spheres of life. In suprematism, “art advances toward creation as an end in itself and toward domination over the forms of nature.” Malevich’s suprematist elements can be compared to Lossky’s substantival agents—they are a creation of the absolute, i.e., intuitive reason, and serve as fundamental building blocks of the world. The essay discusses the Russian interpretation of Henri Bergson’s L’Evolution créatice (Creative Evolution) by Nikolai Lossky and the role Lossky’s concept of intuitivism played in the art and art theory of the Russian avant-garde, specifically Malevich’s suprematism.

КОНТРОЛЬНО-ОЦЕНОЧНЫЙ КОМПОНЕНТ В УСЛОВИЯХ РЕФОРМИРОВАНИЯ ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННОГО ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ: ПРОБЛЕМЫ И ПЕРСПЕКТИВЫ РАЗВИТИЯ

The paper analyzes modern trends related to reforming of education systems in different countries, including Russia, focusing on monitoring and evaluation processes. The author describes functional models of vocational education and conditions that affect the structure and contents of the monitoring and evaluation activities. The concept of “evaluation” in education is introduced and considered as an integrative category of evaluation-analytical activity in the context of improving the quality of education. This paper analyzes the use of the concept both in foreign educational systems and in Russia, defines its role in the process of creation and development of the Russian system of the education quality assessment which is considered to be a combination of organizational and functional structures, norms and rules that provide the assessment of student performance. While forming the Russian system of education quality assessment, the improvement of the quality of monitoring and evaluation of educational results is very important and is implemented in Russian modern education through a number of activities. In this regard, particular attention is paid to the introduction of mandatory state final certification for a certain category of citizens in the form of a unified state examination (USE). The author considers this exam as the Russian interpretation of foreign experience in the part of the final assessment of educational results in connection “school – university” and shows the positive and negative features of this process in the Russian educational practice. The problems indicated in the paper suggest the necessity for further study of the reforming the monitoring and evaluation activities in the national education system in relation to the methodology and tools of this process.

Rockets and Revolution: A Cultural History of Early Spaceflight by Michael G. Smith

Reviewed by: Rockets and Revolution: A Cultural History of Early Spaceflight by Michael G. Smith Guillaume de Syon (bio) Rockets and Revolution: A Cultural History of Early Spaceflight. By Michael G. Smith. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2014. Pp. 448. $34.95. In his intriguing prehistory of the space age, Michael Smith invites us to view rocket science as an infusion of cultural influences. In so doing, he suggests that rocketry can serve as an allegory of the human understanding of science, and also illustrate how a transnational flow of ideas can shape human knowledge. Smith’s emphasis centers on the Russian experience, but uses the metaphor of the parabola that brings ideas back to Russia or the Soviet Union. Purists may argue that a more accurate description would involve an ellipsis, but the parabola idea works if one accepts the linearity of history, a concept popular in the science fiction that also influenced early rocketry. [End Page 276] Starting in the nineteenth century, Smith surveys the popularizers of science and how their message helped popularize not only relativism, but also such concepts as cosmism as well as a notion of plurality of worlds. A notable quality of his study involves the drawing on writings not usually associated with flight. (Henri) Bergsonian philosophy’s argument that human intellect is bound up with space, for example, helps frame the diversity of thoughts that characterized the start of the twentieth century. Moving on to rocketry pioneers, notably Konstantin Tsiolkovskii’s and Robert Esnault-Pelterie’s works, Smith ably demonstrates how fantasy played an important role in clearing the way for rational explorations of rocket propulsion. This canvassing of a seamless web of knowledge, though successful, is done to show how the arc heads to Russia, whether through private correspondence (including Robert Goddard’s dealings with Russian rocket enthusiasts), through popular media, or through the writings of Tsiolkoskii (who freely incorporated foreign ideas into his own work.) Many elements of Smith’s canvas will be familiar to readers of Asif Siddiqi’s and Scott Palmer’s works on Russian aerospace, but Smith’s own combination of these sources provides a remarkable image of the fascination with space travel. Rocketry also served as a fulcrum to push the USSR toward a positive vision of technology, in stark contrast to the Western pessimism of Oswald Spengler and others. True, the Bauhaus and the likes of Joan Miró echoed technological fascination, but the Russian interpretation thereof emphasized ideology and revolutionary optimism reaching a form of escapism that carried interesting connotations of religiosity. This Russian, later Soviet, fascination with space extended beyond the obvious fascination with the “red planet.” Echoing cosmism, it emphasized the notion of immortality and thus served as a metaphor for ideological permanence. One could speak of worlds, rather than workers uniting. Any cultural history, even one as rich as Smith’s, overlooks certain chronological elements. Very little is discussed in relation to the technological pessimism following World War I, for example, and Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity was devised in 1915, not 1916. Also, some interpretations may surprise readers. When Smith compares Tsiolkovskii to Charles Lindbergh, for example, he does not do so on the basis of their achievements but their inspirational effects on others. (Tsiolkovskii after all kept his eye on the future, whereas Lindbergh became obsessed with the past.) On the other hand, the author offers an attractive interpretation of the stratonauts, an often overlooked realm of aeronautics at the intersection of ballooning, scientific inquiry, and treading on the edge of space. Western nations engaged in such “pre-space” races, but the place of stratonautics as an example of dialectical materialism fits nicely into the Soviet context: the balloon was revolutionary, the airplane matched Russian culture, and the rocket would be Soviet, with stratonauts acting as intermediate portents of [End Page 277] revolution. This element of Communist ideology paradoxically relied, through Friedrich Engels, on Newton’s third law of motion. As such, it confirms further the Soviet obsession with space flight, a fascination Stalin was only too happy to capitalize on even as his own actions sent the likes of rocket scientist Sergei Korolev to the Gulag during World...

Searching for a New Way of Thinking about Society

The currently accepted global wisdom holds that the most important and decisive challenge for humankind is to reach sustainable circumstances; societal, geophysical, and biophysical. However, there is little readiness to go beyond the inherited fundamental assumptions of a “modern industrial capitalist market society.” This is oriented on the commodification and marketization of natural and cultural resources for making profit. Seen from a Russian perspective, this article argues that this approach causes a destruction of sustainable living conditions. The social quality approach, the Russian interpretation of quality of life approach, and the noosphere paradigm of global societal development offer space for considerations that questions the dominant socioeconomic and financial societal practices not only on the phenomenological level. Instead, the authors name gnoseological, ontological, and axiological prerequisites of sustainable global societal development. This will contribute to the wider and diverse debates on what can be called people’s humanistic socialism.

On expressionistic mysterium: Michael Chekhov’s tragic character on page and on stage

The 1924 Moscow Art Theatre II’s production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, featuring Michael Chekhov in the leading part, became the artistic and conceptual touchstone for many Russians in understanding the inner dilemma of the protagonist. It revealed Chekhov’s spiritual battles as a follower of Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophy, and as this article sets to argue, it became an example of modern mysterium (Fuchs, The Death of Character), confirming in its themes and aesthetics to the style of expressionism emerging on European stages. In Chekhov’s Hamlet, critics saw an “expressionistic tragedy,” a reading of Shakespeare’s play that “represented a complete break with the traditional Russian interpretations of Hamlet as a spineless, superfluous man. Chekhov’s Hamlet was restless; a man of action led to examination of the fundamental question of good and evil.” (Law, “Chekhov’s Russian Hamlet”) This vision demanded new expressive means; so Hamlet also became the testing ground for Chekhov’s own method of acting training, reflecting the subjectivity of the twentieth-century actor. In this article, I demonstrate that Chekhov`s work on Hamlet was his homage to the theatre of modern mysterium in the style of expressionism. First, I outline the stylistic parameters of the genre; then, I identify the formal elements that made up Russian theatrical expressionism, as seen in Eugeny Vakhtangov and Michael Chekhov’s collaborative work. The third part is dedicated to the detailed analysis of the 1924 staging of Hamlet and concludes with my reading of Chekhov’s work as an ultimate example of Fuch’s theory.

A Study on Function and Meaning of {를} in the Korean Language for the Russian Interpretation and Translation

A Study on Function and Meaning of {를} in the Korean Language for the Russian Interpretation and Translation

International law is different in different places: Russian interpretations and outlooks

Following the end of the Cold War, it became a widely held belief that, after more than 70 years in exile, Russia would finally “return” to Europe—a sphere to which it had belonged since the time of Peter the Great—politically as well as normatively. Quite early on, however, it became clear that the country was choosing its own way, in ideological terms but also, by extension, in its understanding of international law—what the law of nations is for and what it is about. Lauri Mälksoo’s, Russian Approaches, is, particularly considering its heuristic value, the most informative, interesting and innovative book written to date regarding (i) what the philosophy of international law in Russia is and how it has evolved over time, and (ii) how international law has been reflected in post-Soviet Russian state practice. The essay presents some of the weaknesses in Mälksoo’s answers to these questions, including the disproportionate weight given to some explanatory factors and, by extension, the omission of others. It also argues, inspired by Martti Koskenniemi, for the importance of acknowledging “international law as a political project” in order to enable it to function both as an instrument for advancing various claims and as a relatively autonomous formal technique.

(Nie) Chcieć być wszystkim. Stawrogin i najgłębsza otchłań Dostojewskiego

This paper proposes a new interpretation of Niyevsky’s novel The Devils. This reading opposes the very influential line of interpretation employed in wkolai Vsevolodowich Stavrogin – a relentlessly intriguing character in Fyodor Dostoorks of thinkers working within the current of Russian symbolism and “cultural renaissance” from the beginning of the 20th century. The author argues that this “religious” interpretive tradition contributes to one of the greatest misunderstand-ings concerning Dostoyevsky’s work in that it oversimplifies its ambivalence and obscures one of Dostoyevsky’s darkest insights into the human soul, initially revealed in Notes From the Under-ground and from that time on recurring in each of his major novels. In the first part of the article, several classic Russian interpretations of Stavrogin are examined in order to show their common tendency to morally judge Stavrogin from the Orthodox point of view, recognize his greatest sin in the lack of faith in God and for that reason see before him only the perspective of self-disintegration and inevitable death. The author argues that “religious” interpretations do not explain the mystery of Stavrogin. What is more, they homogenize the complexity of his character and offer an all-to-easy solution to the vital philosophical problem which reiterates in Dostoyevsky’s entire mature fiction and which finds its greatest artistic representation in Stavrogin himself.

ПАНСЛАВИЗМ И КОНСТРУИРОВАНИЕ НАЦИОНАЛЬНОЙ ИДЕНТИЧНОСТИ В РУССКОЙ И ПОЛЬСКОЙ СЛОВЕСНОСТИ XIX в.

The article describes how the ideas of Slavic unity were used in the practice of nation-building of the XIX century. Distinctive features enable Pan-Slavic motifs in the designing of the national identity of Russians and Poles. The Russian version of Pan-Slavism expanded the understanding of the “Russian” to the universal element that incorporates all the essential features of the Slavic culture and is able to serve as a model for other nations. This interpretation was connected with the imperial vision in which the dominating people was the unifying centre and patron of subordinate national communities. The article traces the evolution of intentions of Russian Pan-Slavism from I.I. Sreznevsky’s romantic Slavic studies to F.M. Dostoevsky’s conception of “vseotzyvchivost’” (world responsiveness). The intention changes reflect the features of national identity formation, firmly fused with the imperial complex. The “centrifugal” Russian interpretation of Pan-Slavism opposed the “centripetal” Polish. Its primary aim was the selection of national identity as a key to cultural autonomy and, ideally, political independence (Polish messianism). For the Poles, after the partition of Poland the preservation of national identity was the only way to resist assimilation. The elements of this ideology were used to confirm the special place of Poland in the circle of the Slavic peoples, allowing, even in the absence of their own statehood, to be a source of cultural and political gravity, an alternative centre of Slavic unity.

Language attitudes and ‘folk linguistics’ of Russian-speaking migrants in the UK

This article discusses language attitudes towards Russian and metalinguistic interpretations of its place, functions and image as expressed by post-Soviet Russian-speaking migrants residing in the north-east of England. By adopting a larger perspective of folk linguistics to tackle the diverse accounts of speakers, it examines the way Russian-speaking migrants perceive and explain main areas of their sociolinguistic experiences as a minority group. General reflections on control, power and standardisation in language maintenance become indicative of overpowering language ideologies embedded in schooling practices and consequently reproduced in personal narratives. Transforming patterns of individual language behaviour demonstrate the developments of new migrant identities, both belonging to wider ‘Russians abroad’ categories and excluded from the ‘mainland’ speech community. More generalised assumptions about language taxonomy and portrayal re-shape their mind-mapping schemata and self-understanding as a distinctive migrant group within the British environment.

Проблемы проведения экологической реформы в России

Some problems of BAT-based reforming of industrial impact on environment state regulation have been considered. Currant gaps and drawbacks of the federal nature/protective legislation, as well as a number of misleading and myths associated with the Russian interpretation of the best available techniques.

Архитектурная типология бесстолпных храмов домонгольской Руси

Pillarless churches were not typical for the Old Russian architecture of the pre-Mongolian period. The Church of Elijah the Prophet in Chernigov is the only one with surviving ancient vaults that represents Byzantine atrophied Greek cross type. The structure of other pillarless churches has traditionally been classified as pre-Mongolian version of the 15–16 centuries. “Pskov stair-step” type vaults that carried a dome narrower than a naos. However, such a design was still unknown in the 11–12 centuries. This article is an attempt to include Russian pre-Mongolian pillarless churches into Byzantine architectural typology. It invites us to look afresh at the churches and their possible reconstructions, taking into consideration all the peculiarities of their layouts and the results of most recent studies. At closer look number of churches turned out to be too large to have either «Pskov vaults» or any kind of vaulted structure without pillars. Two churches in Pereiaslavl’ and Vladimir-Volynskii (with parts of east wall protruding into the apse) are more likely to have had two-pillar structures. The article suggests that the church in Novii Olgov gorodok is a compact octagon in combination with cruciform layout. Along with St. Andrew church in Pereiaslavl’ (and perhaps “Staraia kafedra” in Vladimir-Volynskii) where galleries were added to the octagon type, these three examples represent Old Russian interpretation of the Byzantine architectural type. Old Russian single-nave churches on the whole were seldom as tiny as those in Byzantiium. This leads us to the assumption that their pilarless structure was determined not only by the scale of the building, but rather by the choice of specific type (e.g. compact octagon).

‘Iron Cross of the Wrangel’s Army’: Russian Emigrants as Interpreters in the Wehrmacht

This article is based on little-known sources and unpublished documents and traces the fates of some White Army veterans, who during WWII served in the German Army, holding a rank of sonderführer. Some of them were evacuated to Gallipoli from Crimea in November 1920 (gallipoliytsy). The topic of Nazi administration attitude toward the use of Russian emigrants on the front is also touched upon. Special attention is given to the biographies of Russian emigrant interpreters in the 9th Army of the Wehrmacht. It is concluded that the final aims and motivation of Nazis and White émigrés were different. Realization of that contradiction helps the researcher to understand why a part of Russian military emigration had chosen collaboration and joined Hitler’s ‘crusade against Bolshevism’.

The Memoirs of Interpreters as a Historical Source: Reports of Russian and German Interpreters Concerning 22 June 1941

There exist incompatible depictions of the Second World War, and specifically of the year 1941. Numerous documents from the archives now available in Moscow and Washington invite comparison with the memoirs of contemporary witnesses. The present article first describes the situation in German–Soviet relations before 22 June 1941. Then it contrasts the memoirs of the interpreters involved (in the German Embassy in Moscow, in the Soviet Embassy in Berlin, and at the delivery of the memorandum by Ribbentrop to Dekanozov) with newly available archive material and with the official records of the Nuremberg trial. The goal of this comparison is to form an assessment of these memoirs as subjective historical sources and to arrive at a new evaluation of their reliability.