Bilingual Books: Russian Literature with Parallel English Translation  

Bilingual editions of high literature are culturally desirable and educationally necessary, that’s clear enough. But it is safe to say we would be seeing a lot more bilingual literary editions printed if they were popular and making their publishers scads of money, right? Is Tiptop Street being precarious in positioning itself as a publisher of bilingual books of Russian literary masterpieces with parallel English translations?

 

We have decided to take a hard long look at these questions and to consider them from various angles. To boot, we have created a blog, Bilingual Books: Russian Literature in English Translation, for in-depth discussions of bilingual editing and of the theory and practice of literary translation (and self-translation). We hope that this resource will be of interest to readers and scholars of Russian literature, bilingual issues, and literary translation.

 

Arguably, bilingual literature facilitates a more meaningful engagement with texts, and more generally with culture. The bilingual mind is better equipped to handle the rhetorical and political complexities of literary works and political declarations alike. Bilingual editions are also required for cultural and aesthetic reasons, given that there are numerous academic scholars, bilingual Russian literature lovers, and Russian language learners whose needs and interests are served by Russian bilingual publishing.

 

Dr. Susan M. Holloway of the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada, reflects on the fact that that monolingual college students studying toward the degree of Bachelor of Education were challenged in their ability “to effectively identify and analyze” tone of as well as cultural pores and perspectives behind literary works, where ELL (English Language Learner)students in similar academic standing were typically better equipped to do so. (See Halloway’s paper “Literature Circles: Encouraging Critical Literacy, Dual Language Reading, and Multi-modal Approaches” in English Quarterly Canada, Fall 2011, Volume 42, Issue 3/4.)If, as Holloway rightly argues, the reader fails to pick up on the culture-specific aspects of a literary work, including its tone, then his or her analysis “will be inaccurate.” In a word, a multicultural and multilingual approach to reading helps illuminate the writing. Although Halloway does not refer to Russian language or literature, it is obvious that her findings apply translingually.

 

Furthermore, literary books published bilingually are likely to help stir the reader out of his or her habitual comfort zones. Michael Pronko, Professor of American Literature at Meiji Gakuin University (Tokyo, Kapan), in his article “Reader Response Theory and Cross-Cultural Explorations” (published in Lit Matters: The Liberlit Journal of Teaching Literature, Issue 2, 2016) looks at the value of bilingual literature broadly and identifies in it “the opportunity to address non-linguistic/non-creative issues of culture and identity in the global community, a promising aspect of language education for students at the tertiary level.” To be sure, a sustained engagement with bilingual literature fosters a more cosmopolitan way of thinking about and comprehending the world. Moreover, bilinguality has proven cognitive advantages for children(improved meta-cognitive skills, superior thinking ability).

 

Still, it is legitimate to ask: is Russian and other bilingual literary publishing unpopular and a dead end? And if so, why; and if not, why not?

 

Comparativist literary critics Jan Walsh Hokenson and Marcella Munson, authors of The Bilingual Text (Routledge, 2006) understand the apparent neglect of bilingual literary publications in the West as a direct result of the “strenuous insistence” by nationalists and canon-mongers on “linguistic purity” (nationalist regimes often strive to purge language of foreign inclusions).Indeed, linguistic uniformity is a basic requirement of the nation-state. Monolingualism is efficient in many practical ways: you don’t need to translate important documentation and announcements into other languages, there is less needs for translators and interpreters, etc. Monolingualism also minimizes the influence of “foreign” ideas upon a nation and increases a political regime’s ability to control the population. For these and other reasons, nationalism and the nation-state tend to discourage multilingualism, while often fostering a cult of the one national language.