Complete collected works of Pushkin in English: On the eve of the poet's bicentenary (with an accompanying bibliography of English translations of Pushkin's works)

The present article addresses issues which must be taken into account when the complete collected works of Pushkin are to be translated into English. In this context evaluations of translations are most useful when questions of text and reader are conjoined. Some discuss translation as communication in linguistic terms, others as a problem of cultural transference, still others as conveyance of distinctive national character. We agree with George Steiner, sharing his belief that translation must be either “a vertical or horizontal transfer of significances “. No doubt, a work by Pushkin must also be communicated intact through space, that is, both text and spatial context and national culture must be faithfully conveyed. In relation to text, context and reader, the translator must decide whether to make the unfamiliar familiar, the remote close or reveal to the new reader the richness of an unfamiliar and remote culture. Choosing the proper strategy for A Complete Collected Works of Pushkin, the compilers will immediately come across the problem of stylistic and formal coherence, because the existing translations are done by many different people. No specific recommendations can be offered, but there are some ways of making the selection process consistent. A work by Pushkin must be communicable to its new reader, yet, it must remain contemporaneous to its time and the time of its translation. Still the reader ought to be obliged to accommodate himself or herself to the source text. In considering publication of a complete collected works of the poet, an effort should be made to select or commission the work of translators who agree, at least in principle, on how Pushkin should ‘sound’ in English. In this discussion the views of Russian scholars should be necessarily taken into consideration. © 1997, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.