Translations of Innokenty Annensky in context of his collection ''Quiet Songs''

The connection of the first Innokenty Fyodorovich Annensky's book of poems "Quiet Songs" (1904) and its appendix, collected translations "Parnassians and Poetes Maudits", is a new unit in the study of Innokenty Annensky's works. The purpose of this article is to consider the book of his poems, "Quiet Songs", and its appendix as a single whole. Exploring the architecture of "Quiet Songs", we face a number of issues which have not been answered. Would Annensky put such a number of translations in the book published for his own money if they were not somehow important? In our view, the analysed appendix is an equal part of the collection "Quiet Songs". It is connected to the original works with ties-forming components: first of all, the space of one book and the common epigraph. The epigraph in combination with the pseudonym Nik. T-o impels us to voice the idea of the motif of search as the sense-line of "Quiet Songs". Annensky creates a dialogue between the original lyrics and translations, he distributes the basic senses of "Quiet Songs" between two sides. The main theme of the collection and its appendix is the search for the dialogue between the earthly and the heavenly, as well as movement of the poet to the poetic perfection. Appendix "Parnassians and Poetes Maudits" is opened by the poem "Ideal". The title work, the translation of S. Prudhomme, represents Annensky's fundamental opposition of "high - low" or "ideal - earthly", where the earth is a "pale field". The named translation is interesting in another aspect. In the original collection we find a poem which is entitled the same as the translation of S. Prudhomme - "Ideal". In this poem Annensky allows the reader to think about the other side of search, about the way to knowledge which takes place in the library room when reading books. Translations in the context of the collection "Quiet Songs" help to extend and to complement the author's ideas, to show possible large-scale branching of poetic thoughts concerning a range of issues, problems and ideas. The creativity concept in An-nensky's poetry tells that life and the world in the art and, in particular, in the poetry is a universal space where the poet takes an issue already existent or specified by someone. The reason is that images, ideas, important poetic questions were once created, announced, developed, because "creations of poetry are projected into the endlessness". The above-mentioned conception allows us to suggest the connection between "Quiet Songs" and the collection "Parnassians and Poetes Maudits" in the context of the idea of universal connectivity and complementarity of poetic images exists. Raising a number of questions in the original poems, in the translations Annensky shows the reader other aspects of the poetic problem he raised, which, as pieces of glass in a kaleidoscope, form an overall picture of the endlessness poetic investigation. In the genre range of the two collections sonnet and ballad forms have special importance.

Keywords

Authors

References