Which of the American classics has been translated into Russian most often?
Its translators include not only classic writers like Valery Bryusov, Konstantin Balmont and Dmitry Merezhkovsky, but also little-known authors.
Edgar Allan Poe's ‘The Raven’ is being translated more and more each year. Both renowned poets and aspiring writers are trying their hand at conveying the dark imagery and hypnotic soundscapes of this text. So, what makes ‘The Raven’ so appealing?
Firstly, its dramatic plot. The poem is a dialogue between the lyrical hero, mourning his deceased beloved and a raven that has flown into his house. The text was written after Poe's wife had been diagnosed with tuberculosis. Secondly, its magical refrain, ‘Nevermore’. The hero asks the bird questions and the bird, sometimes accurately, sometimes out of context, invariably answers with one word: "Nevermore!" In the original, ‘Nevermore’ mimics a crow's caw with its rolling ‘R’ sound. It’s extremely difficult to convey this effect in Russian. Poets who prioritized meaning over sound used the phrases "Never!", "Never again!" or "No return!"
However, some, like Vladimir Zhabotinsky or Mikhail Zenkevich, opted for sound-based translation and abandoned the raven's line altogether, retaining the English word ‘Nevermore’ in the Russian text, believing it best conveyed absolute hopelessness.
