A. N. Ostrovsky — translator of Shakespeare: “Usmirenie svoenravnoi” (The Taming of the Shrew) (Its history, genre and literary parallels in the original works)

Abstract

The fate of A. N. Ostrovsky's prosimetric translation of The Taming of the Shrew, which appeared in the mid-1860s under the title “Usmireniie svoenravnoi”, was contradictory. Regularly republished up to the end of the 19th century, it deservedly attracted the attention of Shakespeare and Ostrovsky scholars during the subsequent decades. In spite of this, the translation has not been staged, and the high regard in which it is held by historians of literature did not prevented its displacement by later Russian-language versions. In surveying the history of the study of “Usmireniie svoenravnoi”, the author of the article emphasises the significance of studies by М. M. Morozov, who deeply analysed the creative principles of Ostrovsky the translator; at the same time, she notes the necessity of supplementing and clarifying some of Morozov's propositions. She also argues that the fairy-tale element is as important for the genre structure of the translation as the “realistic” one and notes that the characters are slightly transformed. The author compares the translation with Ostrovsky's creative use of Shakespearean motifs in his comedy Money to Burn, stresses the importance of the two “taming” plots in the Russian writer's works, and outlines the prospects for further study of the translation.