ENGLISH RECEPTION OF N. V. GOGOL’S COMEDY “THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR” IN THE ADAPTED TRANSLATION BY MAX SOLOMON MANDELL
DOI: 10.23951/1609-624X-2021-4-150-159
Introduction. Interest in the phenomenon of N. V. Gogol is now manifested both by the scientific community, as well as by playwrights and readers in Russia and abroad. In this regard, it is relevant to study the translations of Gogol’s works (and, in particular, the translations of the comedy “The Government Inspector”) into English, and especially to study such aspects of it as translation interpretation, which affects the reception of the work meaning by readers/spectators in a foreign cultural environment. Aim. The aim of this work is to identify the possible interpretation which N. V. Gogol’s play “The Government Inspector” received in the first English adapted translation carried out in America. Material and methods. The material of the study is N. V. Gogol’s comedy “The Government Inspector” and its adapted English translation made by Yale University professor Max Solomon Mandell in the early XX century. Translation is considered within the framework of the philological approach, which is mainly concerned with the study of reader’s reception. The possibility of studying from such a perspective is determined by the “double aesthetic code (literary and theatrical), which determines the ontological intermediality of the dramatic text”. In addition, the work uses a comparative method, contextual analysis, as well as content analysis of N. V. Gogol’s comedy “The Government Inspector”. Results and discussion. The translation undergoes formal and semantic transformations that reflect the cultural and social characteristics of America at the beginning of the XX century: the struggle between the “genteel tradition” and realism in the field of literature, the emerging critical attitude to the bourgeois way of life, and the partially preserved reliance on Puritan ideology. The message of the comedy is partially modified in accordance with United States inhabitants’ worldview, as well as due to the creators’ of the adaptation insufficient level of proficiency in the Russian language. The author’s narrative style is not preserved either. Conclusion. Thus, in the American context, N. V. Gogol’s comedy “The Government Inspector” acts as a mirror that reflects the situation in American society at the beginning of the XX century. For this reason, the translation can be considered as preserving the ambivalent understanding of the play implied by Gogol, which is connected both with the satirical and the spiritual meaning. However, this meaning is modified in accordance with the religious beliefs of United States inhabitants, as well as due to the insufficient level of the Russian language knowledge by the creators of the adaptation and their lack of full awareness of Gogol’s work specificity; this, in turn, affected the fact that some of the hidden meanings inherent in the text were not conveyed to the American reader/spectator. In general, the adapted translation is unable to convey the original author’s intention. However, despite this, it could undoubtedly have a chance for a positive reader and audience response: the transformations made did not deprive the play of the universal meanings implied by Gogol, which are relevant in almost any culture.
Keywords: N. V. Gogol, M. Mandell, “The Government Inspector”, translation interpretation, reception
References:
1. Olitskaya D. A. Perevod dramy: spetsifika, problemy, podkhody [Drama Translation: specificity, problems, approaches]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta – Tomsk State University Journal, 2012, no. 357, pp. 19–24 (in Russian).
2. Gogol N. V. (1910) Revizór; a comedy, translated for the Yale University Dramatic Association by Max S. Mandell, with an introd. by William Lyon Phelps. New Haven: The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Company.
3. Turgenev I. S. The plays of Ivan S. Turgenev. New York, Macmillan Publ., 1924. XIII, 583 p.
4. Dr. Max Mandell, Yale Instructor, Stricken as He Talks to Daughter. The New York Times, 1924. September 14. P. 11.
5. Phelps W. Essays on Russian novelists. New York, Macmillan Publ., 1911. 322 p.
6. Russian Comedy Was Produced Last Winter by Yale Dramatic Club. The New York Times, 1908. September 27. P. 11.
7. William Lyon Phelps. Encyclopædia Britannica. URL: https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Lyon-Phelps (accessed 15 November 2020).
8. Gogol’ N. V. Polnoye sobraniye sochineniy i pisem: v 23 tomakh. Tom 4 [Complete works and letters: in 23 volumes. Vol. 4]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2003. 910 p. (in Russian).
9. Pisarchik L. Yu. R. Dekart i klassitsizm [Descartes and classicism]. Vestnik Orenburgskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta – Vestnik of the Orenburg State University, 2005, no. 1, pp. 41–57 (in Russian).
10. Stetsenko E. A. Amerikanskaya literatura nachala XX v. [American literature of the early twentieth century]. Istoriya literatury SSHA. Literatura nachala XX veka. Tom V [Literary history of the United States. Literature of the beginning of the XX century. Vol. V]. Moscow, IMLI RAN Publ., 2009. Pp. 10–29 (in Russian).
11. Filosofiya: Ehntsiklopedicheskiy slovar’. Pod redaktsiyey A. A. Ivina [Philosophy: An encyclopedic dictionary. Ed. A. A. Ivin]. Moscow, Gardariki Publ., 2004 (in Russian). URL: http://philosophy.niv.ru/doc/dictionary/encyclopedic/articles/790/modernizmreligioznyj.htm (accessed 15 November 2020).
12. Bogdantsev I. A. Angliyskaya eksperimental’naya filosofiya kak adaptatsiya ehksperimental’nogo metoda k sotsial’no-kul’turnomu klimatu angliiskoy revolyutsii. Dis. kand. filol. nauk [English experimental philosophy as an adaptation of the Eexperimental method to the socio-cultural climate of the English revolution. Diss. ... cand. philol. sci.]. Moscow, 2012. 139 p. (in Russian).
13. Stetsenko E. A. Pozdniy amerikanskiy romantizm [Late American Romanticism]. Istoriya literatury SSHA. Literatura serediny XIX veka (pozdniy romantizm). Tom III [Literary History of the United States Literature of the mid-19th century (late Romanticism). Vol. III]. Moscow, IMLI RAN Publ., Naslediye Publ., 2000. Pp. 10–25 (in Russian).
14. Pokrovskiy N. E. Rannyaya amerikanskaya filosofiya. Puritanizm: uchebnoye posobiye dlya gumanitarnykh fakul’tetov universitetov [Early American philosophy. Puritanism: a study guide for Liberal Arts departments of universities]. Moscow, Vysshaya shkola Publ., 1989. 246 p. (in Russian).
15. Novyy zavet [New Testament]. Minsk, Svyato-Elisavetinskii zhenskii monastyr’ Publ., 2011. 1198 p. (in Russian).
16. Osipova E. F. Russkaya literatura i literaturnaya zhizn’ SSHA [Russian literature and literary life in the United States]. Istoriya literatury SSHA. Literatura nachala XX veka. Tom V [Literary history of the United States. Literature of the beginning of the XX century. Vol. V]. Moscow, IMLI RAN Publ., 2009. Pp. 905–931 (in Russian).
17. Grigor’ev A. A. Letopis’ moskovskogo teatra. Obozreniye zimney pory (sezona) [Chronicle of the Moscow Theater. Review of the winter period (season)]. Moskvityanin, 1852, no. 8, pp. 141–158 (in Russian).
18. Mann Yu. V. Poetika Gogolya. Variatsii k teme [Gogol’s Poetics. Variations on the theme]. Moscow, Coda Publ., 1996. 474 p. (in Russian).
19. Tlostanova M. V. «Razgrebateli gryazi» [“The Muckrakers”]. Istoriya literatury SSHA. Literatura nachala XX veka. Tom V [Literary history of the United States. Literature of the beginning of the XX century. Vol. V]. Moscow, IMLI RAN Publ., 2009. Pp. 451–481 (in Russian).
20. Mann Yu. V. Gogol’. Trudy i dni: 1809–1845 [Gogol. Works and days: 1809–1845]. Moscow, Aspekt Press Publ., 2004. 813 p. (in Russian).
21. Slavyanskiye drevnosti: Etnolingvisticheskiy slovar’ v 5 tomakh. Tom 3. Pod redaktsiyey N. I. Tolstogo [Slavic antiquities: An ethnolinguistic dictionary in 5 vol. Vol. 3. Ed. by N. I. Tolstoy]. Moscow, Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya Publ., 2004. 697 p. (in Russian).
( 413.69 kB ) 
( 403 kB )
Issue: 4, 2021
Series of issue: Issue 4
Rubric: LITERARY STUDIES
Pages: 150 — 159
Downloads: 638