Dissertation

The role of I. S. Turgenev in introducing Russian literature to France

Petot Wicks, Cynthia Suzanne

1997

Overview

In this dissertation, I will examine Ivan Turgenev's translations of N. V. Gogol's and A. S. Pushkin's works from Russian into French and discuss what makes these translations distinctive relative to existing publications. In this context, I will demonstrate Turgenev's role in introducing Russian literature to the French through these translations. Although much has been written about Turgenev the writer, his work as a translator of Russian works into French has not been studied. There were few Russian works available in French before Turgenev began his collaborative work in translation, and those that were available were not considered credible. Ivan Turgenev first met the French impresario, Louis Viardot, and his wife, the opera singer, Pauline Garcia-Viardot, in St. Petersburg during the 1843 opera season. At that time in France, little was known about Russia or Russian literature, and Turgenev and Louis Viardot began their lifelong collaboration translating Russian literature for publication in France. During this time also, Turgenev's relationship to Pauline Garcia-Viardot became close. Eventually, because of his enduring love for her, Turgenev chose to live most of his life abroad to be near her, mainly in France. He thus became a well known Russian writer and critic in French literary circles. Turgenev was a stern critic of French translations of Russian works and worked tirelessly himself in collaboration with Louis Viardot and Prosper Merimee to render both his own, and those works of Gogol, Pushkin, and others into translations that were credible and faithful. In this context, I will discuss Ivan Turgenev's role in introducing a literary tradition established for a generation in Russia into French literary circles, where Gustave Flaubert and other younger writers such as Emile Zola and Guy de Maupassant were inspired by Turgenev. It was through him that they learned about trends in Russian literature, and about Russian writers. It was through Turgenev's translations that credible Russian works became available in France, and characteristics of Russian realism were inherited by new generations of young writers. It was through the many articles and translations that he and Louis Viardot, Prosper Merimee, and other collaborators published in France that later writers, such as the Naturalists, and early 20th century writers such as Andre Gide developed an appreciation for Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky.

• Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Subject: Balzac, Honore de (1799-1850) / Biographies / Comparative literature / Dostoevsky, Fyodor Mikhailovich (1821-1881) / Flaubert, Gustave (1821-1880) / Gide, Andre-Paul-Guillaume (1869-1951) / Gogol, Nikolai Vasilyevich (1809-1852) / Hemingway, Ernest (1899-1961) / Hugo, Victor (1802-1885) / Lamartine, Alphonse de (1790-1869) / Lermontov, Mikhail IUrevich (1814-1841) / Maupassant, Guy de (Henri-Rene-Albert Guy de Maupassant) (1850-1893) / Romance literature / Sand, George (Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin) (1804-1876) / Slavic literature / Tolstoy, Leo (1828-1910) / Zola, Emile (1840-1902)
• ISBN: 0591708612, 9780591708615