Eugen V. Witkowsky
Encyclopedia
Eugen V. Witkowsky is a Russia
n fiction
and fantasy
writer
, literary scholar, poet
, and translator.
. He spent his childhood in Siberia
, Central Asia
, and Western Ukraine
. From 1967–1971, he was a student of literary studies at Moscow State University
, then took a leave of absence and never returned, becoming engaged in literature and dissident
activities. Until censorship was lifted in USSR, Witkowsky could only publish poetic translations; he translated and published numerous poems by John Milton
, Christopher Smart
, Robert Southey
, John Keats
, Oscar Wilde
, Rudyard Kipling
; by Scottish
gaelic
poets John Roy Stewart
, Duncan Ban MacIntyre
, Rob Donn
, John MacLean (Bard MacLean), and by Luís Vaz de Camões, Fernando Pessoa
, Rainer Maria Rilke
, Joost van den Vondel
, Arthur Rimbaud
, Paul Valéry
and others.
In the 1990s, he was mostly engaged in literary studies, compiling and editing a four-volume anthology
of Russian poetry abroad "We lived on a different planet those days", a three-volume collected works of Georgy Ivanov
, works of Ivan Yelagin, Arseny Nesmelov and others. His three-volume historical fantasy "Paul II" was published in 2000, its two sequels, "Saint Vitus Land" and "Chertovar" in 2001 and 2007 resp. The latter two novels were selected for the short list of the most prestigious Russian F&SF prize, "The ABS Prize" ("Arkady and Boris Strugatsky Prize").
In 2003, Witkowsky founded website "Vek Perevoda
" ("The Age of Translation", www.vekperevoda.com) with a web forum functioning as a school of poetic translation. In 2005 and 2006, Vodolei Publishers issued two anthologies of Russian poetic translation, based on the site's collections and edited by Witkowsky; this edition will be continued.
In 2007, the same publisher printed an anthology "Seven Centuries of English Poetry" in three volumes (about 3000 pages), compiled by Witkowsky and presenting for the first time in a single edition works by almost 500 English-language poets from 1300 to 2000 recreated by 134 translators since the 1800s. This anthology exceeds twentyfold any other previous Russian edition devoted to the poets of England
, Scotland
and Ireland
.
Witkowsky is a laureate of several international awards, an Expert of the Translators' Union of Russia
, member of the Writers' Union of USSR
and Russia since 1983. His mentors in poetry were Arcadiy Shteinberg and Sergei Petrov.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
and fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, literary scholar, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, and translator.
Biography
Witkowsky comes from a family of Russified Germans who owned a small cardboard factory in MoscowMoscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. He spent his childhood in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
, and Western Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. From 1967–1971, he was a student of literary studies at Moscow State University
Moscow State University
Lomonosov Moscow State University , previously known as Lomonosov University or MSU , is the largest university in Russia. Founded in 1755, it also claims to be one of the oldest university in Russia and to have the tallest educational building in the world. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy...
, then took a leave of absence and never returned, becoming engaged in literature and dissident
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
activities. Until censorship was lifted in USSR, Witkowsky could only publish poetic translations; he translated and published numerous poems by John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
, Christopher Smart
Christopher Smart
Christopher Smart , also known as "Kit Smart", "Kitty Smart", and "Jack Smart", was an English poet. He was a major contributor to two popular magazines and a friend to influential cultural icons like Samuel Johnson and Henry Fielding. Smart, a high church Anglican, was widely known throughout...
, Robert Southey
Robert Southey
Robert Southey was an English poet of the Romantic school, one of the so-called "Lake Poets", and Poet Laureate for 30 years from 1813 to his death in 1843...
, John Keats
John Keats
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...
, Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
, Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
; by Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
gaelic
Gaels
The Gaels or Goidels are speakers of one of the Goidelic Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. Goidelic speech originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to western and northern Scotland and the Isle of Man....
poets John Roy Stewart
John Roy Stewart
John Roy Stewart or Stuart or Stiuart was a distinguished officer in the Jacobite army of 1745 and a poet in both Gaelic and in English....
, Duncan Ban MacIntyre
Duncan Bàn MacIntyre
Donnchadh Bàn Mac an t-Saoir is one of the most renowned of Scottish Gaelic poets and formed an integral part of one of the golden ages of Gaelic poetry in Scotland during the 18th century...
, Rob Donn
Rob Donn
Rob Donn was a Scottish Gaelic poet from Sutherland. It is generally assumed that his surname was MacKay , but this has been disputed, so he is sometimes referred to as "Rob Donn MacAoidh".-Biography:...
, John MacLean (Bard MacLean), and by Luís Vaz de Camões, Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa, born Fernando António Nogueira de Seabra Pessoa , was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic and translator described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese language.-Early years in Durban:On 13 July...
, Rainer Maria Rilke
Rainer Maria Rilke
René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke , better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian–Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language...
, Joost van den Vondel
Joost van den Vondel
Joost van den Vondel was a Dutch writer and playwright. He is considered the most prominent Dutch poet and playwright of the 17th century. His plays are the ones from that period that are still most frequently performed, and his epic Joannes de Boetgezant , on the life of John the Baptist, has...
, Arthur Rimbaud
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
, Paul Valéry
Paul Valéry
Ambroise-Paul-Toussaint-Jules Valéry was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. His interests were sufficiently broad that he can be classified as a polymath...
and others.
In the 1990s, he was mostly engaged in literary studies, compiling and editing a four-volume anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
of Russian poetry abroad "We lived on a different planet those days", a three-volume collected works of Georgy Ivanov
Georgy Ivanov
Georgii Vladimirovich Ivanov was a leading poet and essayist of the Russian emigration between the 1930s and 1950s.As a banker's son, Ivanov spent his young manhood in the elite circle of Russian golden youth. He started writing pretentious verses, imitative of Baudelaire and the French...
, works of Ivan Yelagin, Arseny Nesmelov and others. His three-volume historical fantasy "Paul II" was published in 2000, its two sequels, "Saint Vitus Land" and "Chertovar" in 2001 and 2007 resp. The latter two novels were selected for the short list of the most prestigious Russian F&SF prize, "The ABS Prize" ("Arkady and Boris Strugatsky Prize").
In 2003, Witkowsky founded website "Vek Perevoda
Vek Perevoda
Vek Perevoda is a website devoted to history and practice of the Russian poetical translation from the end of the 19th century up to the present time. The website was founded in 2003 by the famous Russian writer and translator Eugen V. Witkowsky...
" ("The Age of Translation", www.vekperevoda.com) with a web forum functioning as a school of poetic translation. In 2005 and 2006, Vodolei Publishers issued two anthologies of Russian poetic translation, based on the site's collections and edited by Witkowsky; this edition will be continued.
In 2007, the same publisher printed an anthology "Seven Centuries of English Poetry" in three volumes (about 3000 pages), compiled by Witkowsky and presenting for the first time in a single edition works by almost 500 English-language poets from 1300 to 2000 recreated by 134 translators since the 1800s. This anthology exceeds twentyfold any other previous Russian edition devoted to the poets of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
.
Witkowsky is a laureate of several international awards, an Expert of the Translators' Union of Russia
Union of Translators of Russia
Union of Translators of Russia is a professional union of the translators, interpreters, teachers of translation and specialists in different genres and spheres of translation and interpreting....
, member of the Writers' Union of USSR
USSR Union of Writers
The USSR Union of Writers, or Union of Soviet Writers was a creative union of professional writers in the USSR. It was founded in 1932 on the initiative of the Central Committee of the Communist Party after disbanding a number of other writers' organizations: RAPP, Proletkult, and VOAPP.The aim of...
and Russia since 1983. His mentors in poetry were Arcadiy Shteinberg and Sergei Petrov.
Prose (novels)
- «Paul II». Vol. I: «God Forbid!». Vol. 2: «The Day of Piranha». Vol. 3: «A Handful of Power». М., AST; Kharkov, Folio. 2000.
- «Saint Vitus Land». М., AST; Kharkov, Folio. 2001. Second edition: М. Vodolei Publishers, 2007
- «Chertovar» . М. Vodolei Publishers, 2007
Literary studies
- From the Contemporary Poetry of NetherlandsNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. E. Witkowsky, Ed. М., 1977 - From the 17th Century Poetry of NetherlandsNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. E. Witkowsky, Ed. Leningrad, 1983. - Georgy IvanovGeorgy IvanovGeorgii Vladimirovich Ivanov was a leading poet and essayist of the Russian emigration between the 1930s and 1950s.As a banker's son, Ivanov spent his young manhood in the elite circle of Russian golden youth. He started writing pretentious verses, imitative of Baudelaire and the French...
. Collected works (three volumes). E. Witkowsky, V. Kreid, Eds. М., 1994 - Ivan Yelagin. Colelcted works (two volumes). E. Witkowsky, Ed. М., 1998.
- Stanzas of the Century — 2. An anthology of the 20th century Russian poetic translation. E. Witkowsky, Ed. М., 1998.
- Seven Centuries of French Poetry. 1300—1999. E. Witkowsky, Ed. SPb, 1999.
- Phonetic Noise (together with L. Latynin ). М., 2002.
- Robert SoutheyRobert SoutheyRobert Southey was an English poet of the Romantic school, one of the so-called "Lake Poets", and Poet Laureate for 30 years from 1813 to his death in 1843...
. BalladBalladA ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
s. E. Witkowsky, Ed. М., 2006 (bilingual edition) - Charles BaudelaireCharles BaudelaireCharles Baudelaire was a French poet who produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the nineteenth century...
. Le Fleurs du Mal. E. Witkowsky and V. Rezvy, Eds.. М., 2006.(bilingual edition). - Arseny Nesmelov. Collected works (two volumes). E. Witkowsky, A. Kolesov, Li Men, V. Rezvy, Eds. Vladivostok, 2006
- Alexander Montgomery. The Cherrie and the Slae. Sonnets. E. Witkowsky, Ed. and annotations. М., 2007
- Paul ValéryPaul ValéryAmbroise-Paul-Toussaint-Jules Valéry was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. His interests were sufficiently broad that he can be classified as a polymath...
. Complete works. E. Witkowsky, Ed. and introduction. М., 2007 - Seven Centuries of English Poetry. In three volumes / E. Witkowsky, compilation. V. Rezvy, Ed.. Introduction by E. Witkowsky. Reference notes by E. Witkowsky, V. Votrin, A. Prokopiev, V. Rezvy, A. Serebrennikov. Design and typesetting by Marina and Leonid Orlushin. — М.: Vodolei Publishers , 2007. Bk.1: 1032 pp. Bk. 2: 992 pp. Bk. 3.: 1008 pp. ISBN 978-5-902312-33-8
Poetic translations
- Uys Krige. A Ballad of a Great Courage. Transl. from AfrikaansAfrikaansAfrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
by E. Witkowsky. М., 1977. - Stanzas on Immortality. From Western GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
poetry. Transl. from German. М., 1987 - Joost van den VondelJoost van den VondelJoost van den Vondel was a Dutch writer and playwright. He is considered the most prominent Dutch poet and playwright of the 17th century. His plays are the ones from that period that are still most frequently performed, and his epic Joannes de Boetgezant , on the life of John the Baptist, has...
. Tragedies. Transl. from DutchDutch languageDutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
. М., LP., 1988. - Constantijn HuygensConstantijn HuygensConstantijn Huygens , was a Dutch Golden Age poet and composer. He was secretary to two Princes of Orange: Frederick Henry and William II, and the father of the scientist Christiaan Huygens.-Biography:...
. Didactic Pictures. Transl. from DutchDutch languageDutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
. М, 2002.