how best to deal with "deiatel'"?

[E Wayles Browne]

Hi! There's no one perfect way, but if you distinguish between
two ways the word is used, it might become easier. One way
is to say someone is a kul'turnyj dejatel' (or an obshchestvennyj
dejatel'), and for that you might say "an important cultural
figure" or "takes an active role in cultural life (or: in society)".
The other way is with an adjective: saying that someone is a 
vidnyj kul'turnyj deiatel' or a vazhnyj gosudarstvennyj dejatel'
or an izvestnyj obshchestvennyj dejatel'. Then your task is
easier: translate the adjective, and the noun is less vital.
"was well-known in cultural life" or "was an outstanding
person in government" or "was important in social movements".



-----Original Message-----

> Date: Mon Jul 28 13:08:12 EDT 2008
> From: "Margarita Nafpaktitis" <nafpaktitism at VIRGINIA.EDU>
> Subject: [SEELANGS] how best to deal with "deiatel'"?
> To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
>
> Dear colleagues,
> Has anyone come up with an effective way to render "deiatel'" -- I'm
> particularly plagued by the phrases  "kul'turnyi deiatel'" and "Deiateli
> Khudozhestvennogo Slova" (vis-a-vis Russian cultural life in the 1920s) --
> into English? ...

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