Seeking translators of early Russian women writers

[Sibelan Forrester]

Dear friends and colleagues,

I'm forwarding this message -- please pass along to anyone who might
be interested.  Note that the series will involve Polish women
writers as well as Russian writers listed here.  Please send
questions to <arabil at nc.rr.com>, not to me or to  the list.     --
Sibelan


This letter is intended for specialists in Russian history and
literature who are or might become interested in translating a
Russian woman writer who wrote during the second half of the
eighteenth century for the series "The Other Voice in Early Modern
Europe."

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the series, it is a project
in the translation of writings in any genre by continental European
women in early modern Europe.  The series is aimed at undergraduate
college and university students and so intended primarily for
classroom use.  Each volume includes an introduction (according to a
standard format) to the writer, an editor's bibliography, and a
translation fully annotated (notes are on the same page as the text
to make them more reader friendly) so that they are accessible to a
contemporary reader who is not presumed to know anything about the
person or the period.  Our books are attractively produced and will
remain in print indefinitely, because they are all on disk, and our
press now has the technology to reprint copies from disk on demand
very quickly.

The series is published by the University of Chicago Press and
currently stands at 68 volumes approved for publication translated
from Italian (35), French (19), German (4), Spanish (2), and Latin
(8).  Fourteen volumes have actually been published (all
simultaneously in hardcover and paperback) and more than ten others
are currently in press.

A new list is being prepared that will expand the series to more than
one hundred volumes.  These will include a few additional
translations from French, Italian, and German, a good many from
Spanish, up to seven from Polish, and as many as eight from Russian.
As I write, we have made no comparable progress yet on Scandinavian
or Czech women writers.

The eight Russian women who fit our time line closely enough and
whose writings seem of greatest promise for the series are the
following:

  1.  Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova (1743-1810): memoirs translated
several times into English; also a journalist, leading figure in
introduction of Russian culture to the west.  Include her tract "On
Education."

2.  Catherine II (Ekaterina Alekseevna) (1729-1796): many books, a
number translated; an anthology looks like the way to go here.

3.  Anna Petrovna Bunina (1774-1828): first professional Russian
woman writer, wrote poetry (The Inexperienced Muse); novella (Country
Evenings); letters (published in 3 vols.); mock epic poem (Fall of
Phaethon).  Deals with gender issues in her poetry.

4.  Aleksandra Petrovna Khvostova (1767-1852): Fragments: The
Fireplace and the Rivulet (1796), went through 4 editions up to 1844.
Not translated.

5.  Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Kniazhnina (1746-1797): Busy Bee (all her
poems, appeared in 1759), only work published under her name.  Not
translated.  Perhaps an anthology with #s 7 & 8.

6.  Liubov Iakovlevna Krichevskaia (1810-30s): poet, prose writer,
playwright, raised questions regarding women's role in contemporary
society.  Number of works none apparently translated.  A little late
for the series, but perhaps we can stretch this far.

7. Natalia Alekseevna Neelova: Leinard and Termilia, or the
Ill-Starred Fate of Two Lovers (1784), her one known work and among
the first narrative fiction works by a Russian woman.  Not
translated.  Apparently it is very short.  Perhaps include in an
anthology with #s 5 & 8.

8.  Ekaterina Sergeevna Urusova (b. 1747): poet, wrote for almost
fifty years.  Not translated.  Perhaps in an anthology with #s 5 & 7.

  If you are interested in producing a volume on one or another of
these women writers, please write to arabil at nc.rr.com.   If you know
of other women writers who you think should be added to these lists,
please let me know that as well.  And if you know others in the field
who you think might be interested in participating in this project,
please forward this letter to them (our contacts in this area are
quite limited).

A final note.  The new list will not be presented to the press for
another two years, so we are thinking of a time line of ca. five
years (ca. 2007), longer if necessary, for the completion of these
volumes.

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