Varlam Shalamov - a translator of Boris Murtazov

The article presents a lexical and semantic analysis of translations of Boris Murtazov’s lyric works made by the famous Russian writer Varlam Shalamov. This study is the first experience of understanding Shalamov’s translations from the Ossetian language, of analyzing the main translation solutions in overcoming the difficulties associated with the transition of the text to another linguistic culture. The main research method is comparative analysis, which involves comparison of texts at the form and content levels. Comparing the original and translated (Ossetian and Russian, respectively) texts, the author of the article identifies the main problems that Shalamov encounters when translating poetic texts, gives the main methods and techniques Shalamov used when transferring the artistic reality captured by Murtazov in his lyric works. The author of the article particularly emphasizes Shalamov’s achieving the aesthetic adequacy of the original text in translation and traces the transfer of images presented in the original language at the level of denotation and connotation. The author of the article gives examples of Shalamov’s use of additional means of imagery. Metaphorization is a frequent translation technique Shalamov used for translating Murtazov’s artistic world into Russian. Quite often the text in translation is Shalamov’s own interpretation of the original lines whose meaning can be unraveled by resorting to Shalamov’s original poetry. The author of the article “deciphers” the symbolic subtext inherent in the system of images in the Russian-language text and on the basis of Shalamov’s biography. Differences in the features of national languages do not always make it possible to reproduce figurative means and objects of poetization in the translated text. The comparative analysis of the poem demonstrates Shalamov’s desire to give additional meaning to his translations, while sometimes rejecting the original meaning. Shalamov’s translations from the Ossetian language also show an opposite process. Some translations sound more preferable, since Shalamov saturates them with means of literary expression and uses additional means with national and cultural semantics. As a result, there is no feeling that the textual world presented in the recipient language belongs to another culture. When transmitting the formal organization of the verse, Shalamov seeks to reflect the poetic structure of the original in the Russian-language version, yet he changes its artistic structure by simplifying the lexical-semantic structure of the original language. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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