For the first time I came into his works at home library.
There was a book by R.Rait-Kovaleva from a series "Life of the remarkable
people". I was deeply impressed by the poem about the girl that made a bed,
written by Burns in his last year. Later Robert Burns' name appeared before
him among the long list of works offered for research to the students of the
foreign languages department. From that time on Robert Burns and his translator
were always together. Some poems were translated, among these were:
"John Barleycorn", "My Heart's in the Highlands" and "Tam O'Shenter".
The scientific supervisor Ljudmila Vasiljevna Sevrjugina has played
a great part in their further acquaintance. She is an expert of the English
literature and she is fond of Robert Burns' poetry. She hands down her
love and knowledge to new generations of students. Following to her advice,
letters have been sent to the greatest Russian burnsian Serafim Andreevich Orlov
(1910-1980), and to Immanuel Samoilovich Marshak - the son of the great
Russian writer.
In April, 1972 to the ancient town of Vladimir there came a tour group
of teachers from Great Britain. The young translator of Burns' poems got
acquainted with Donald Matthew, professor of history from small town Durham,
which is very near to Scotland and was indeed the strongest English centre
near the frontier.
In his letter Donald wrote: "I am sorry that you have been anxious at not
hearing from me. The main reason for this is that I have had a little
trouble in getting the edition of Burns' poems that seemed best.
The editions sold in Durham are not complete and so I had to write to
Oxford for me". Soon the book, which later became a desktop book, was received.
By that time an invitation to visit a museum of literary heritage
of Marshak was received. In November 1972 the young student visited a flat -
museum of Marshak, where everything was kept as it was at his lifetime.
Immanuel Samoilovich warmly and kindly met the student and answered all the
questions, concerning his father's translations of Burns. The first translation
by Marshak from Burns was made in 1924. He began translating when he was
a student. He started publishing the translations at the end of the thirtieth
and went on till the last years of his life.
Another letter was received from the professor of Gorkiy University
Serafim Andreevich Orlov, who reserched the heritage of Robert Burns
in pre-war years. In 1933, 1942 and 1943 his following works "Peasant problem
in poetry of Burns", "Burns and folklore","Burns in Russian translations"
were published. In his letter Serafim Andreevich informed, that "a group of
scientists of Gorkiy State University has started creating the book "Russian Burns"
- an encyclopedia, giving an outlook of life and works of the poet, his literary
heritage, translations of Burns' poetry into Russian and national languages
of the USSR (Ukrainian, Byelorussian etc.),role and value of the Soviet literary
criticism in study of creative work of the great poet of Scotland, reflection of
Burns' poetry in music, painting etc. We would like to mark your personal
participation in Burns' poetry promotion in our country, to find out Burns'
role in your own creative activity ...
I ask your permission to bring down your name into the encyclopedia, which
I prepare for publishing ... ".
Then for some time the translator and Burns parted, but in 1979 he
again wrote to professor Orlov and sent him two notebooks of translations
from Burns. Serafim Andreevich wrote concerning these translations: "Frankly
speaking I liked the translation of "Tam O'Shenter", some epigrams are perfectly
translated, "Sandy and Jocky", "The Trogger", "The Jolly Gauger" and some others are
interesting. Satirical essence of Burns' works is expressed not bad.
"John Barleycorn","Grace before meal" is less successful.
The verses about Maggie "are made" perfectly. I ask you for permission
to take one or two of your translation - as a sample, I shall try to include
them into the encyclopedia, which, it seems to me, I am finishing".
Twenty years passed, and the translator again returned to Burns.
Some 150 verses have been translated by now, and you may evaluate these translations at
the site - http://zhurnal.lib.ru/k/knjazew_j/burns.shtml
Last year Grigory Belonuchkin created a new site - http://robertburns.narod.ru
the main aim of which - to unite more or less complete collection of Russian translations
in a parallel with the original texts. As James Bark, one of Burns' biographers wrote,
let each new work devoted to Burns be a small stone in the burial mound of his Glory.
Let the translations of Burns' works into other languages lay a wide road of friendship,
along which people of different countries pay visits to each other.