The first Russian translation of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont's fairy tale Beauty and the Beast

The study of Khioniya Demidova's translation of the fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast” (Saratov, Shlyapkin Collection, No. 456) gives an idea of the Russian-French lexicon of the mid-18th century, of the practice of teaching foreign languages in Russian noble families in the mid-18th century, and complements our notions of relations in the Demidov family. The translation of the tale was made by young Demidova in 1758, two years after the publication of Leprince de Beaumont's Magasin des enfants (Vols 1-4, Londres, 1756). The French-language textbook by Leprince de Beaumont Magasin des enfants contained instructive conversations, initial information on geography, history, extracts from the Holy Scripture and moralizing tales; among the latter was a fairy tale about a beauty and a beast, whose fame surpassed its direct source, the novel Histoire de la Belle et de la Bete (1740) by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve. Apparently, Demidova received this book among other new books that her older brothers sent regularly from their educational tour of Europe in 1750-1761. The brothers could learn the news about the publication of the original textbook intended for the upbringing and education of noble young ladies in their “Russian” foreign circle. During the trip, the Demidovs regularly communicated with representatives of the Russian aristocracy and diplomats close to the court, including A.M. Golitsyn, M. Posse, A.S. Stroganov, K.E. Sivers. All these persons were among the Russian subscribers of the London edition of Leprince de Beaumont. The hand-written book created by Demidova looks like a gift and is dedicated to her brother, Pyotr Grigorievich Demidov. Demidova's translation as a whole accurately follows the original, including syntactic calques. Errors in declension and unstable spelling suggest that Khioniya was learning the Russian written language simultaneously with French, and that her Russian writing was phonetic rather than conventional, reinforced by the knowledge of the Russian grammar. A striking feature of the translation is the use of colloquial expressions and a regular use of Russian realities. This gave the fairy tale traits of “Russianness”, which is especially noticeable against the background of the neutral stylistics of the printed translation (by Pyotr Svistunov) of Ma-gasin des enfants published in 1761. Some researchers mistakenly believe that Demidova's handwritten translation was distributed in the form of numerous manuscripts. On the contrary, it must be admitted that it was the printed edition that was distributed in a handwritten form. Nevertheless, Khioniya Demidova's translation deserves attention as the first translation into Russian of the popular fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast” in the “Russian” style (S.T. Aksakov's version continued this direction). “Povest' o Labelle i zvere” [A Tale of Beauty and the Beast] (Saratov University Library, No. 456) is published for the first time.

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