about translators and translation and child reading

[Alina Israeli]

At a peril of mixing threads, I'd like to point out that some of  
Russian children classics are totally unreadable in the 21st century,  
particularly to a child with non-soviet mentality.

On the other hand, not only "Volshebnik Izumrudnogo goroda" is a  
translation (as was mentioned on this listserv before) together with  
"Zolotoj kljuchik, but Russians view Vinni-Pux (in Zaxoder  
translation) as practically their own, and especially Astrid  
Lindgren's "Karlson, kotoryj zhivet na kryshe" in Liliana Lungina's  
translation. Russians view Karlson as their own and many Lindgren- 
Lungina lines became proverbial. They also cannot forgive the Nobel  
committee for not awarding Lindgren the prize.

Lungina, on the other hand, has had significant posthumous  
recognition in particular due to the film "Podstrochnik" which is a  
15 part story of her rather unusual life. It is on the internet and I  
highly recommend it.

There were some other translated books that were a much better read  
than the Russian originals.



Alina Israeli
Associate Professor of Russian
LFS, American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave.
Washington DC 20016
(202) 885-2387 	fax (202) 885-1076
aisrael at american.edu





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