4 Russian classic writers who wrote in FOREIGN languages

Ivan Turgenev

Being a nobleman from a wealthy family, Turgenev had an excellent command of French, German and English from childhood. Varvara Turgeneva, the mother of the future classic writer, was often spoken of as a woman with a difficult, despotic character. However, it’s worth mentioning her positive qualities: She was well educated, traveled a lot, followed modern literature and hired the best teachers for her children.

After graduating from St. Petersburg University, the future novelist attended lectures at the University of Berlin and lived in Europe for many years, essentially serving as a conduit between Russian and European cultures.

He was friends with the greatest writers of Germany, France and England (among them Charles Dickens, Henry James, George Sand, Victor Hugo, Prosper Mérimée, Emile Zola, Anatole France, Guy de Maupassant and Gustave Flaubert). His knowledge of French and German was so perfect that he consulted foreign translators of Russian writers, translated Russian works himself, wrote prefaces and notes to their translations into European languages, as well as essays and critical articles. On June 18, 1879, he was awarded the title of ‘Honorary Doctor’ at Oxford University.

Fyodor Tyutchev

The life of one of the most lyrical Russian poets developed in such a way that, from the age of 18 to 41, he spent abroad – in diplomatic service. After graduating from Moscow University, the then 18-year-old graduate joined the Russian diplomatic mission in Munich. In Bavaria, he interacted with philosopher Friedrich Schelling and poet Heinrich Heine. In 1837, he moved to Turin as the senior secretary of the Russian mission. His perfect French was the language of his work. He not only communicated and wrote letters in it, but also published socio-political articles in newspapers and magazines. German became the language of his family – both of Tyutchev's wives were German and he lived in Bavaria for a long time, communicating with philosophers and writers there. Living in Italy, the poet brought his Italian to a very high level. Russian remained the language of his hobby and passion – writing poetry – for more than 20 years.

Vladimir Nabokov

The future classic writer was born into a wealthy, noble family, in which fluency in European languages was considered the absolute norm. Therefore, from infancy, in addition to Russian, the children were taught to speak English and French. Nabokov recalled that he learned to read in English before he learned to read and write in Russian. Since then, English became his second native language. Therefore, it’s not surprising that the Cambridge graduate, living outside of Russia, at some point decided to write in English.

‘The Real Life of Sebastian Knight’ was his first English-language novel. From that moment on, Nabokov  would no longer write prose in Russian. He also translated into English Alexander Pushkin's ‘Eugene Onegin’, Mikhail Lermontov's ‘A Hero of Our Time’ and ‘The Tale of Igor's Campaign’.

Joseph Brodsky

In terms of education, Joseph Brodsky is the complete opposite of Nabokov. He barely finished eight grades, received his high school diploma with even greater difficulty, worked as a simple labor worker for some time, but, at the same time, read a lot, educated himself and began to learn English. After leaving the USSR, all this knowledge came in handy – he became a teacher at the University of Michigan. True, it was quite unusual. Brodsky did what he loved and did best – he shared the experience of slow reading and poetry analysis with his students. During his life in the U.S., his English became so good that, from the early 1970s, he increasingly wrote poems and essays in English.