“Shagi / Steps” the Journal of the SASH

SHAGI/STEPS 5(3)

Keywords: W. Shakespeare, K. D. Balmont, A. A. Grigoriev, A. Ia. Tairov, V. G. Shershenevich, Romeo and Juliet, translation

Abstract: Although К. Balmont’s translations have frequently been the focus of research, including advanced theses, English plays translated by him as yet haven’t been studied. The aim of this article is to trace the transformation of Balmont’s method of translation — from the early attempts of the 1890s to the mature period of 1910s — by analyzing his draft translation of Romeo and Juliet. Reconstruction of the method as well as scrutiny of the theatrical sources make it possible to argue that A. Tairov’s refusal to cooperate with Balmont in staging Romeo and Juliet and Balmont’s translation fiasco may be explained by the change in his method of translation (from free — to word by word translation). Analysis of Balmont’s draft shows its close connection to a translation of Romeo and Juliet by Apollon Grigoriev. Practically, in some cases Balmont left unchanged A. Grigoriev’s phrases that seemed neutral or stylistically unimpor-tant, while in other cases he changed them a little bit to make the result seem closer to the English text. These borrowings made Balmont’s translation sound archaic and led to a distortion of the original. The author of the article concludes that Grigoriev’s influence and Balmont’s abandonment of the method of free translation that he had employed for years prevented him from finding his own intrinsic intonation in putting Shakespeare’s tragedy into Russian.

To cite this article: Lutsenko, E. M. (2019). Konstantin Balmont’s fatal mistake: The draft translation of Romeo and Juliet by W. Shakespeare. Shagi/Steps, 5(3), 84–103. (In Russian). DOI: 10.22394/2412-9410-2019-5-3-84-103.