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‘Russia has so far given humanity nothing but samovars’: On the Reception of Russian Literature in Hungary from the Beginning to Nabokov and Beyond

Chapter of: Translating Russian Literature in the Global Context(pp. 147–170)

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Title‘Russia has so far given humanity nothing but samovars’
SubtitleOn the Reception of Russian Literature in Hungary from the Beginning to Nabokov and Beyond
ContributorZsuzsa Hetényi(author)
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0340.09
Landing pagehttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0340/chapters/10.11647/obp.0340.09
Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
CopyrightZsuzsa Hetényi
PublisherOpen Book Publishers
Published on2024-04-03
Long abstractThis essay aims to describe the main trends in the Hungarian reception of translated Russian literature from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the twentieth, when I will discuss the problems relevant to the Socialist era. I will trace the translation journey through four periods, starting in the 1820s with indirect translations from German or French, and ending with direct versions from Russian. I list translations of both major and obscure nineteenth- and twentieth-century authors, paying special attention to the early Socialist movement and later, after the Second World War, to state ideology, when the “Muscovites”, Hungarians returning from Soviet emigration, played a leading role. The historical cataclysms of both wars and of the 1956 Hungarian uprising were followed by renewed totalitarian sanctions until a cultural thaw under János Kádár (in power 1956-88). This essay concludes with three brief case studies on the translation of censored Russian authors and samizdat, from my own direct experience as a translator. The first case study concerns Evtushenko’s poem ‘Babii Iar’; the second studies how various novels by Nabokov were accepted or rejected for Hungarian translation, drawing upon internal reports (now kept in closed archives of the Literary Museum) commissioned by Hungary’s only foreign-language publisher, Európa. The last case study describes my involvement in the Hungarian translation of Bulgakov’s The Heart of a Dog in 1986.
Page rangepp. 147–170
Print length24 pages
LanguageEnglish (Original)
Contributors

Zsuzsa Hetényi

(author)
Professor of Literature at Eötvös Loránd University
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2144-9002

Zsuzsa Hetényi is a Professor of Literature at ELTE, Budapest and a literary translator. She has received the Belletrist Prize (2020). She researches identity problems, emigration, and bilingualism in literature. Besides publishing over 600 academic works (including fifty edited volumes) she translates Russian and Russian-Jewish prose into Hungarian.

References
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  2. 1985 (1910) Aleksei Remizov, Sisters of the Cross (Krestovye sestry) (Testvérek a keresztben), trans. by Péter Kántor (Budapest: Európa, 1985).
  3. 1992 (1985) Tat‘iana Tolstaia, Hunting the Woolly Mammoth (Okhota na mamonta) (Mamutvadászat), trans. by Zsuzsa Rab (Budapest: Európa, 1992).
  4. 1969 (1966–67) Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita (Master i Margarita) (A Mester és Margarita), trans. by Klára Szőllősy (Budapest: Európa, 1969).
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  9. 1988 (1987) Anatolii Rybakov, Children of the Arbat (Deti Arbata) (Az Arbat gyermekei), trans. by Elli Nikodémusz (Budapest: Magvető, 1988).
  10. 1988 (1988) Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago (Doktor Zhivago) (Zsivago doktor), trans. by Judit Pór (Budapest: Európa, 1988).
  11. 1989 (1987) Andrei Platonov, The Foundation Pit (Kotlovan) (Munkagödör), trans. by Zsuzsa Király, Erzsébet Vári (Budapest: Európa, 1989).
  12. 1989 (1988) Andrei Platonov, Chevengur (Chevengur) (Csevengur), trans. by Mária Szabó (Budapest–Uzsgorod: Magvető–Kárpátia, 1989).
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  16. 1990 (1987) Nikolai Erdman, Plays (Piesy) (Drámák), trans. by Éva Harsányi, Rimma Dalos (Budapest: Európa, 1990).
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  20. 1993 (1989) Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago (Arkhipelag GULAG) (A GULAG szigetvilág), trans. by András Soproni (Budapest: Európa, 1993).
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  22. 1994 (1989) Konstantin Vaginov, Goat Song, Harpagoniada, Works and Days (Kozlinaia pesn’, Garpagoniana, Trudy i dni) (Harpagoniáda), trans. by László Bratka (Budapest: Osiris–Századvég, 1994).
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  24. 1994 (1992) Andrei Siniavskii, Strolls with Pushkin (Progulki s Pushkinym) (Séták Puskinnal), trans. by Katalin Szőke (Budapest: Európa, 1994).
  25. 1999 (1992) Viktor Pelevin, Omon Ra (Omon Ra) (A rovarok élete), trans. by Zsuzsa Király (Budapest: Park, 1999).
  26. 2001 (1990) Sergei Dovlatov, Pushkin Hills (Zapovednik) (Puskinland) / Ours (Nashi) (Ezek vagyunk mi), trans. by Miklós M. Nagy—Erna Páll (Budapest: Európa, 2001).
  27. 2002 (1994) Vasilii Aksionov, Generations of Winter (Moskovskaia Saga) (Moszkvai történet), trans. by András Soproni (Budapest: Európa, 2002).
  28. 2002 (1998) Boris Akunin, The Winter Queen (Azazel) (Azazel), trans. by Ibolya Bagi (Budapest: Európa, 2002).
  29. 2003 (2000) Liudmila Ulitskaia, The Kukotsy Enigma (Kazus Kukotskogo) (Kukockij esetei), trans. by Edit V. Gilbert, József Goretity (Budapest: Európa, 2003).
  30. 2004 (2000) Tat‘iana Tolstaia, Kys (Kys) (Kssz!), trans. by Miklós M. Nagy (Budapest: Ulpius-ház, 2004).
  31. 2005 (1988–89) Vladimir Voinovich, The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin (Zhizn i neobychaynyie prikliucheniia soldata Ivana Chonkina) (Ivan Csonkin közlegény élete és különös kalandjai), trans. by Zsuzsa Hetényi (Budapest: Gabo, 2005).
  32. 2009 (1999) Sasha Sokolov, A School for Fools (Shkola dlia durakov) (Bolondok iskolája), trans. by Rita Haffner (Budapest: Napkút, 2009).
  33. 2010 (2005) Dmitrii Glukhovskii, Metro 2033 (Metro 2033) (Metró 2033), trans. by Márton Bazsó (Budapest: Európa, 2010).
  34. 2012 (1989) Vasilii Grossman, Life and Fate (Zhizn’i sud’ba) (Élet és sors), trans. by András Soproni (Budapest: Európa, 2012).