Early Russian Poet and Translator

Tue Dec 21 15:06:49 UTC 2010

Vasily Trediakovsky 1703-1769

(Full name Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky; also Trediakovskyi, 
Trediakovskii, Trediakovski, Tred'jakovsij) Russian linguist, critic, 
translator, poet, and essayist.
INTRODUCTION

Trediakovsky was responsible for several important developments in 
Russian literature. He was among the first to propose that Russian 
poetry break from its reliance on French and German verse structures and 
follow its own system of versification. Although Trediakovsky's 
syllabo-tonic system—proposed in his treatise Novyi i kratkii sposob k 
slozheniiu rossiiskikh stikhov (1735; A New and Brief Method for 
Composing Russian Verse) and revised in Sposob k slozheniiu rossiiskikh 
stikhov (1752; Method for Composing Russian Verse)—was overshadowed by 
the views of his contemporaries, such as Mixailo Lomonosov and Alexander 
Sumarokov, it marked a significant change in the development of Russian 
poetry. As a result of the debates between Trediakovsky and his 
contemporaries, Russian poetry largely abandoned European forms of 
versification and embraced a tonic system better suited to the Russian 
language. Trediakovsky's other achievements include his Ezda v ostrov 
liubvi (1730), a translation of Paul Tallemant's allegorical novel 
Voyage de L'isle d'amour, which marked one of the first works of secular 
fiction in Russian. In addition, his Tilemakhida (1766), a verse 
translation of a novel by François Fénelon, was the first work to use 
the hexameter form in Russian.
Biographical Information

Although there is a lack of certainty regarding Trediakovsky's birth 
date, most scholars agree that he was likely born on March 5, 1703, in 
Astrakhan, Russia, the son of Kirilla Iakovlevich, an Orthodox 
clergyman. Although his father had originally intended him for a career 
in the clergy, Trediakovsky's European education prepared him well for 
the academic community. He began his education learning Greek, Latin, 
and Italian, as well as rhetoric, geography, and philosophy from 
Capuchin monks. In 1723 Trediakovsky went to Moscow to study at the 
Slavo-Greek-Latin Academy. He left behind his first wife, Fedosii'ia 
Fadeeva (the marriage had been arranged by his father). He spent two 
years at the Academy, studying poetics in Russian and Latin as well as 
rhetoric. In 1725 Trediakovsky traveled to Europe where he spent the 
next five years absorbing European culture and literature as well as 
further pursuing his education. He spent time at The Hague, Paris, and 
Hamburg. Some scholars believe that during this period Trediakovsky may 
have become aligned with the Jansenists, a Catholic reform movement, and 
possibly took part in their efforts to unify the Russian Orthodox and 
Catholic churches. In 1728 Trediakovsky's wife, father, sister, and 
brother all died in a plague that struck Astrakhan.

Trediakovsky's education in such subjects as linguistics and philosophy, 
together with his composition of poetry, led him to begin forming his 
syllabo-tonic system of versification, and to consider other methods of 
modernizing Russian literature. When Trediakovsky returned to Russia in 
1730, he began working as a translator at the St. Petersburg Imperial 
Academy of Sciences. In the same year, he published Ezda v ostrov 
liubvi. He was soon promoted to secretary, and his growing 
responsibilities included writing odes and orations for ceremonies, 
supervising translations from French and German, and many other 
linguistics-related activities. Trediakovsky also began to move in court 
circles. The Duchess of Mecklenburg, the sister of the empress, became 
his patroness. He used his growing influence to attempt to transplant 
European cultural life to Russia, primarily via translations. In 1735 
Trediakovsky established the Russian Assembly, a group of linguists 
whose goal was the use of Russian instead of traditional Church Slavonic 
in works of secular literature. Trediakovsky's efforts in this area 
reached an early pinnacle with his theoretical treatise A New and Brief 
Method for Composing Russian Verse, which received initial praise, but 
was soon eclipsed by the work of other Russian theoreticians. 
Trediakovsky continued to translate texts and compose his own works, but 
several fires in his home destroyed many of his writings. Although he 
tried to rewrite and re-translate his projects, the losses were devastating.

By the 1740s Trediakovsky was involved in heated literary debates over 
Russian versification with his chief rivals, Lomonosov and Sumarokov. 
Because of his theories, he began losing the respect of others in the 
Academy. An incident in 1740, in which cabinet minister Artemii 
Volynskii had Trediakovsky beaten because he refused to write a poem for 
a wedding of court jesters—part of an entertainment for the 
empress—provided further matter for ridicule. Trediakovsky was still 
respected enough to maintain his position as a professor, but by late 
the 1740s the debate with Lomonosov and Sumarokov had turned bitter. As 
a result of his ongoing problems with the Academy—which began to refuse 
to publish him—and the other theorists, Trediakovsky was dismissed from 
the Academy in 1759. He continued to work and completed his Tilemakhida; 
although destitute, he managed to self-publish the work. He died in 
poverty on August 17, 1769.
Major Works

Trediakovsky's most important works are related to his proposals on 
Russian syllabo-tonic versification, which were influenced by German and 
other European models. In A New and Brief Method he argued that the 
syllabo-tonic system was ideally suited for the Russian language, with 
its regularly alternating system of stressed and unstressed syllables. 
He proposed a number of rules which would organize word placement in 
this system, believing that verse should be based on word stress over 
length of syllables. There were a number of limitations to 
Trediakovsky's proposals, however. Only poems with long lines would fit 
the syllabo-tonic system, and its many rules limited the practical 
impact of the theories. Two decades later Trediakovsky revised his 
theories in Method for Composing Russian Verse. In this work, he refined 
his ideas, changing some of his proposals dramatically. Although these 
two treatises are Trediakovsky's most notable works, he engaged in other 
forms of literary activity as well. He composed Razgovor mezhdu 
chuzhestrannym chelovekom i rossiiskiiim ob ortografi starinnoi i novoi 
i o vsem chto prinadlezhit i sei materii (1748; Conversation Between a 
Foreigner and a Russian about Old and New Orthography), an important 
linguistic work that commented on the reform of Church Slavonic 
orthography. Trediakovsky believed previous reforms had not gone far 
enough. He later altered his position on the subject, favoring efforts 
to bring Russian and Slavonic into the same literary language. In 1755 
Trediakovsky published the essay “O drevnem, srednem i novom 
stikhotvorenii rossiyskom” (“On the Ancient, Middle, and New Russian 
Versification”), which describes Russian literary development in three 
stages.

Another significant area of Trediakovsky's literary career involves his 
translations of both fiction and nonfiction texts. Ostensibly 
translations, Trediakovsky's versions often adapt the original work and 
include much original material. His translation of Tallemant's Voyage de 
L'Isle d'Amour entitled Ezda v ostrov liubvi contains original verse and 
an introduction discussing his theories of translation. In 1753 
Trediakovsky translated the biblical Book of Psalms, employing some of 
the theories he outlined in Conversation Between a Foreigner and a 
Russian about Old and New Orthography. With Tilemakhida, his verse 
adaptation of Fénelon's novel Les Aventures de Télémaque, Trediakovsky 
intended to create a Russian epic by putting into practice his poetic 
theories and imitating Greek epics. To that end, Trediakovsky used novel 
compound-epithets, orotund sound-orchestration, and hexameter. 
Trediakovsky also wrote original verse, much of it conventional lyric 
poetry, including occasional pieces and love poetry. Many of 
Trediakovsky's early poems were influenced by his experiences in Europe, 
but he also wrote an early example of patriotic poetry in Russian 
entitled “Stikhi pokhval'nye Rossii” (1728; “Laudatory Verses to Russia”).
Critical Reception

When Trediakovsky initially published A New and Brief Method, critics 
were very receptive to his ideas, despite the many restrictions he 
proposed. Soon, however, the debate with his rivals Lomonosov and 
Sumarokov diminished Trediakovsky's reputation and his ideas were 
increasingly ridiculed. Many of Trediakovsky's translations, which were 
intended to demonstrate the practicability of his theories, were also 
critically censured. Tilemakhida, with its numerous innovations, was 
particularly denigrated. Modern critics have attempted to recuperate 
Trediakovsky's reputation, stressing his skills as a linguist and 
theoretician. In studies of the origins and development of Russian 
syllabo-tonic verse, his contributions have been increasingly 
acknowledged. Critics have also explored the sources of his ideas, 
emphasizing the importance of his European experience. Trediakovsky's 
work as a translator has elicited a much more mixed response from modern 
commentators, however. Some critics continue to find Tilemakhida 
idiosyncratic and awkward, while others praise its experiments in style 
and meter. While acknowledging its flaws, commentators maintain that 
Ezda v ostrov liubvi represents a significant step in the development of 
the novel in Russia. Simon Karlinsky has characterized it as “the first 
attempt to create modern Russian prose.” Despite the damage to his 
reputation caused by his debates with Lomonosov and Sumarokov, 
Trediakovsky's works remain important to a full understanding of the 
development of Russian verse. S. M. Bondi has called Trediakovsky “the 
most brilliant theoretician in the history of Russian poetry,” and 
Alexander Pushkin, one of Trediakovsky's few supporters in the 
nineteenth century, wrote: “In general, the study of Trediakovsky is 
more profitable than the study of all our other old writers.”

Lewis B. Sckolnick
The Ledge House
130 Rattlesnake Gutter Road, Suite 1000
Leverett, MA 01054-9726
U.S.A.

Telephone 1. 413. 367. 0303
Facsimile 1. 413. 367. 2853
info at runanywhere.com

On 12/21/2010 9:36 AM, John Dunn wrote:
> While looking up something else, I came across a vivid (not to say gory) account of administering the knout in an 18th-century biography of Peter the Great.*  Perhaps I might quote the relevant passages:
>
> This Punishment is executed by the common Hangman, who is likewise called the Knoutavoit† Master. ... The Executioner seldom hits twice in the same Place ...   (p. 22)
>
> Though I can understand Robert's reluctance to use (public) executioner, it looks as if this might be the appropriate term.
>
> John Dunn.
>
> * The History of the Life and Reign of the Czar Peter the Great, London, 1740.
>
> † This word is written in italics.
> ________________________________________
> From: SEELANGS: Slavic&  East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Robert Chandler [kcf19 at DIAL.PIPEX.COM]
> Sent: 20 December 2010 16:36
> To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
> Subject: [SEELANGS] Bazhov - palach
>
> Dear Inna, Olga, Lewis, Simon and others who have replied off list.
>
> Thanks for all your suggestions. In reply: 'Torturer' is a bit too strong - it implies refined brutality, rather than just plain whipping.  'Scourger' is a good suggestion, but I think I prefer a subsequent offlist suggestion of 'scourge'.
>
> Inna, this is for my anthology of skazki (both narodnye and avtorskie).  We're including four of Bazhov's skazy, in translations by a younger colleague of mine, Anna Gunin.
>
> Thanks to everyone!
>
> Robert
>
>
> On 20 Dec 2010, at 15:10, Lewis B. Sckolnick wrote:
>
>> Palach is an executioner or hangman and someone who most likely has a certain amount of judicial discretion. The word is from the Turkish. Palach is taken as a Jewish name in the Turkish world, thus Palache, Palaggi, Falaji, Palyaj related to Hazzan and there is of course Jan Palach from Prague. In this instant case context must be allowed to play a large role even if the resulting translation might not be as genteel as some might want it to be.
>>
>> Lewis B. Sckolnick
>> The Ledge House
>> 130 Rattlesnake Gutter Road, Suite 1000
>> Leverett, MA 01054-9726
>> U.S.A.
>>
>> Telephone 1. 413. 367. 0303
>> Facsimile 1. 413. 367. 2853
>> info at runanywhere.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> Dear all,
>>>
>>> Does anyone have any ideas as to how to translate 'palach', when his role is not to execute someone but to whip them?  Tis is a Bazhov skazka, and two miscreants are being punished for letting some cows stray off and be eaten by wolves. To call the man with the whip an executioner could seriously confuse the reader.
>>>
>>> The Oxford English Dictionary does have the word 'whipster', which may well be the best solution.  But it certainly isn't a word I am familiar with.
>>>
>>> Robert Chandler, 42 Milson Road, London, W14 OLD
>>>
>>> tel. +44 207 603 3862
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Lewis B. Sckolnick
>> The Ledge House
>> 130 Rattlesnake Gutter Road, Suite 1000
>> Leverett, MA 01054-9726
>> U.S.A.
>>
>> Telephone 1. 413. 367. 0303
>> Facsimile 1. 413. 367. 2853
>> info at runanywhere.com
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>> options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>>                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
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>
>
>
> Robert Chandler, 42 Milson Road, London, W14 OLD
>
> tel. +44 207 603 3862
>
>
>
>
>
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>   Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>    options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>                      http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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>   Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>    options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>                      http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
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>
>
>

-- 

Lewis B. Sckolnick
The Ledge House
130 Rattlesnake Gutter Road, Suite 1000
Leverett, MA 01054-9726
U.S.A.

Telephone 1. 413. 367. 0303
Facsimile 1. 413. 367. 2853
info at runanywhere.com

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