G. Sands story La Mare au Diable and its reception in 19th century in Russia

The article is devoted to the reception of G. Sands story La Mare au Diable (1846) in Russia in the 19th century.The story is a part of the series of works that include Francois le Champi (1847) and La Petite Fadette (1849). The series also includetwo novels Jeanne (1844) and Les Maitres Sonneurs (1853). Many of Sands innovative means of poetics and characterology wereimplemented in La Mare au Diable. As a basis of her artistic concept Sand uses the idealization principle of a peasant and his habitualliving space including the most marginal loci such as forest, swamp and field. The writer also resorts to the help of new poetic means ofexpressiveness which had never been used before in literature: berrichon dialect, regional peasant expressions, etc. Known as the beststory of the trilogy, it went through numerous editions and permanently received appreciation of critics. A controversy between theZapadniks and the Slavophiles as well as A. Grigoryevs reception play an important role among critical reviews of the series of Sandsrural works, and La Mare au Diable in particular. A. Grigoryev invented a term relative to this Sands rural story that he (as well asthe other two ones) will call peasant stories (fr. paysan means peasant). Out of all articles by late Grigoryev dedicated to peasantworks it can be concluded that it is Sand who set an impulse to a peasants portrayal in Russian literature. According to the criticsopinion, La Mare au Diable was the first model of this tendency. In the 19th century this story was published eight times in Russia. Thenames of translators who created the versions of 1846, 1852, 1892, 1894 and 1897 remain unknown. In 1892 E.D. Ilyina translated it.There appeared two various translations completed by M.A. Shishmareva and Y.V. Doppelmeier during 1895. Although Russian translationsof the story in the 19th century were not perfect, still they revealed Sands main inventions and features of her poetics to thereading audience. The most successful ones that follow the authors intention are the translations performed by Y.V. Doppelmeier andM.A. Shishmareva. They managed to implement the task of reproducing the poetics and individual style of Sand. The analysis of creativeinterpretation of Sands inventions in Russia must be examined as a separate topic. At the same time, it should be mentioned that I.Turgenev and D. Grigorovich were the authors who turned to people and embodied the appearance of a new humane attitude toward apeasant in their works. But while Turgenev in his Zapiski Okhotnika is akin to Sand as the author of La Mare au Diable in the writersattention to a peasants inner world, lyrical intonation of narrative, Grigorovich and the French writer have the feeling of sympathy tothe lower class that reaches idealization in common, and a desire to protect a female personality. Thus, Russian reception of the story inthe 19th century displays a successful intercultural transfer.

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