Vyacheslav Ivanov and C.M. Bowra: a ... - UCL Discovery

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the opening poem of the cycle ‘Solntse Emmausa’ (The Sun of Emmaus). It is written from the point of view of the two apostles who encountered the resurrected Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion but did not at first recognize him (Luke 24). The biblical narrative is used as a springboard for a meditation on the central role of faith in bringing about the transition from darkness to light, from death to eternal life. The poem culminates in the image of the burning heart, symbolising the transforming power of faith, derived from the biblical verse that serves as one of the sources of the title Cor Ardens (Luke 24.32). 30 Although Ivanov expressed his enthusiasm for all three translations in his letter to Bowra, he did not single out this poem for special mention, possibly because of a number of distortions in the translation. The most significant error is the translation of ‘nad mrakom zol’ (over the gloom of evils) as ‘gold on the gloom’, evidently based on the confusion of the genitive plural of ‘zlo’ (evil) with the root of ‘zoloto’ (gold). One could also quibble over various other points. The replacement of ‘vopros’ (question) by ‘dismay’ at the end of the first stanza somewhat obscures the allusion to the leading question posed in the biblical narrative (‘Why seek ye the living among the dead?’ Luke 24.5). In the second stanza, the line ‘And though the warming sun is bright’ lacks the darker connotations of ‘A Solntse tonet luchezarno’ (And the Sun sinks radiantly). The addition of ‘death’ before ‘the inexorable’ narrows the open-ended dimension of the opening line of the third stanza. Lines 15-16, ‘From crushing and denying fears / The lulling mist lets nothing out’ sound poetic but are unclear and too far removed from the allusion in the original poem to the apostles’ dismissal of the women’s words as idle tales and refusal to believe their report of the resurrection (Luke 24.9-11). Despite these differences of emphasis, however, Bowra’s translation has much to commend it and 30 On the image of the burning heart see Pamela Davidson, The Poetic Imagination of Vyacheslav Ivanov: 56
succeeds in conveying the power and mystery of the orginal, while preserving its iambic metre and alternate rhyming scheme. One final point should be noted. In his anthology Bowra chose to highlight the importance of this poem by placing it last; he reversed the order in which the last two poems appear in Cor Ardens, thereby creating the effect of a triptych, moving from amoral aestheticism (‘Beauty’s Nomads’) through existential doubt and spiritual searching (‘Complaint’) to a final Christian resolution (‘The Road to Emmaus’). It is significant that Bowra gave particular prominence to the final stage of this progression through his arrangement of the poems, culminating in a strong expression of Christian belief, particularly since the role of faith and the relationship of art to religion were precisely the areas in which his views differed most substantially from Ivanov’s. His translations of Ivanov opened up a dialogue between two different minds, formed by the legacy of a common cultural tradition rooted in classical antiquity. As we shall see in the next chapters, this dialogue then developed into a full-scale correspondence, in which the relationship of this tradition to Christian values became a key issue for debate. A Russian Symbolist’s Perception of Dante (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 198. 57
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BIRMINGHAM SLAVONIC MONOGRAPHS No.
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Дорогой друг мой, м
Page 5 and 6: Illustrations Photograph of V.I. Iv
Page 7 and 8: Transcription and Transliteration I
Page 9 and 10: INTRODUCTION Vyacheslav Ivanov (186
Page 11 and 12: classical tradition of humanism to
Page 13 and 14: tradition’. 1 Although Ivanov beg
Page 15 and 16: he overlooked them because of his h
Page 17 and 18: ‘zhiznetvorchestvo’ (creation o
Page 19 and 20: (Transparency, 1904), Eros (1907),
Page 21 and 22: humanism; as we shall see below, th
Page 23 and 24: his transformation of the Russian l
Page 25 and 26: The publication of these letters in
Page 27 and 28: edition then formed the basis of th
Page 29 and 30: Жил Диониса новый с
Page 31 and 32: CHAPTER TWO Bowra as a Classical Sc
Page 33 and 34: company of a Russian friend's siste
Page 35 and 36: who initiated him into the art of t
Page 37 and 38: made possible his election to the O
Page 39 and 40: the United States, that he discusse
Page 41 and 42: intuitions, was able to recognize i
Page 43 and 44: Moscow during the war years. 2 The
Page 45 and 46: (tiny little corner): 'это то
Page 47 and 48: of the existing anthologies of Russ
Page 49 and 50: (unchanged) in 1947 and then follow
Page 51 and 52: Pindar or Alcaeus.’ 21 In his bri
Page 53 and 54: Уединенная душа. 26 A
Page 55: К закатным пристан
Page 59 and 60: Dimitrii, who also omit all referen
Page 61 and 62: all a great personality in contact
Page 63 and 64: ight now it’s impossible to deter
Page 65 and 66: covering several pages; 16 distichs
Page 67 and 68: to the task of translation. A key t
Page 69 and 70: connection advanced by Ivanov and p
Page 71 and 72: you, poet, so much sympathy, compre
Page 73 and 74: mutans carmina in aes raucum’) in
Page 75 and 76: conventional morality. These aspect
Page 77 and 78: Bowra's interpretation and admired
Page 79 and 80: members of a common humanist tradit
Page 81 and 82: details of his meetings with Akhmat
Page 83 and 84: of Svet Vechernii back to Oxford, t
Page 85 and 86: he was clearly anxious to define in
Page 87 and 88: the way in which his generation of
Page 89 and 90: έστίν. 79 This Christian versi
Page 91 and 92: These are not just empty truisms. I
Page 93 and 94: Bowra were discovered in Wadham Col
Page 95 and 96: [To C. M. Bowra, Oxford high-priest
Page 97 and 98: prospere vigeant! 12 Iam ante quinq
Page 99 and 100: Dear Sir, 3 Ivanov - Bowra 1 Octobe
Page 101 and 102: Praestantissime poeta, 28 4 Bowra -
Page 103 and 104: 5 Ivanov - Bowra 9 December 1946 33
Page 105 and 106: survival. 38 I am glad that you hav
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implies. 47 How hard it is, for ins
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Dear Professor Ivanov, 7 Bowra - Iv
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With all good wishes to your family
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compatriotes non-initiés. 64 Vos t
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Dear Professor Ivanov, 10 Bowra - I
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your book. 81 I have also written t
Page 119 and 120:
His subsequent support for the publ
Page 121 and 122:
Works by V.I. Ivanov 1 SELECT BIBLI
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Ivanov, Vyacheslav, Dionis i pradio
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Berlin and Frankfurt: Suhrkamp Verl
Page 127 and 128:
Bowra, C.M., Early Greek Elegists,
Page 129 and 130:
London: Duckworth, 1974, 48-85. Aub
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Vena 1998, ed. Sergei Averintsev an
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Konovalov, S., ed., Vyacheslav I. I
Page 135 and 136:
Swinburne, Algernon Charles, Atalan
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INDEX OF NAMES AND WORKS 137
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