A.N. Ostrovsky's translation of I. Franchi's The Great Banker, or Payment of a Million Upon Presentation in the context of the playwright's work

The article considers prerequisites and reasons why Ostrovsky referred to translating the play by Italian playwright Italo Franchi L'origine di un gran banchiere o un milione pagabile a vista (1864): travel abroad, artistic understanding of the new European bourgeoisie psychology, the playwrights interest to the issues of Russian and European history. Ostrovsky translated The Great Banker (1867) and published it twice, apart from Notes of the Fatherland: in S.V. Zvonarev's volume (1872) and in N.G. Martynov's volume (1886). The second publication attests to the significance he gave to the translated play. Interconnection of A.N. Ostrovsky and I. Franchi experiences in writing memorials and learning new methods of psychological analysis is investigated. In 1860s Ostrovsky creates a series of memorials, marked by deep epicism, which was also typical for I. Franchi's play: the events take place during the French Revolution (1792) and at the end of Napoleonic Wars (1814), and are set in Germany and England. Reference to translating the play "about the great banker" was connected with studying the Shakespearian tradition: some situations of the plot and characters of the Italian play go up to Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. Ostrovsky's interest to I. Franchi's play was also conditioned by the two playwrights' rapprochement in their attitude to picturing an ordinary man on different stages of their spiritual development. In mid-1860s, the genre of memorial became universal for Ostrovsky's creativity. The playwright referred to the genre of memorial to picture the life of a hero in its development. Two years before translating The Great Banker Ostrovsky had completed his play Depth, where he depicts the inner drama of a modern hero. One of the aspects in Ostrovsky's genre strategy was the question of the ways of creating precise psychological image of an ordinary person's spiritual life. In this context, European melodrama experience appeared to be very important. Ostrovsky's attitude to melodrama and ways of psychological analysis development can be traced in peculiarities of the translation. The playwright saves the emotionalism of the heroes' speech, but reduces pseudoromantic utterances, thus, removing the melodramatic colour. Ostrovsky's translating activity is inextricably tied with his own creativity. Work on translations enriched the writer with new ideas, the experience of European theatre, and contributed to the prosperity of Russian national dramaturgy.

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