This work is an attempt to answer one simple question: What is Hamlet? Based on the material of Hamlet translations into Russian, the dissertation scrutinizes the problems of literary canon formation, translation and textuality proceeding in two parallel directions: the historical analysis of canon formation in translation and the conceptualization of Hamlet’s textuality. The methodological framework is defined in the context of Jurij Lotman’s semiotics of culture, which is invaluable for an understanding of the mechanisms of literary evolution, the theory of translation and literary canon formation.
The study examines the history of Hamlet in Russia from 1748 until the present with special attention to analysis of the canonical translations, theater productions of the Shakespearean classic and the phenomenon of Hamletism. The case study of the 1964 film by Grigorij Kozincev focuses on the problem of the cinematographic canon of Hamlet. Further, the work scrutinizes various types of representation of Hamlet in such semiotic systems as the theater, the cinema, and the pictorial arts, and also examines how Hamlet functions as a specific type of sign.
The final section returns to the question of canon formation and textuality. The results of the research show that 1) the literary canon appears to be closely associated with the concepts of genre and myth, 2) in order to become canonical it is imperative for a literary text to function on the level of microcanon and to be represented in modes other than the written.
The semiosphere is arguably the most influential concept developed by Juri Lotman, which has been reinterpreted in a variety of ways. This paper returns to Lotman’s original “anthropocentric” understanding of semiosphere as a collective intellect/consciousness and revisits the main arguments of Lotman’s discussion of human vs. nonhuman semiosis in order to position it in the modern context of cognitive semiotics and the question of human uniqueness in particular. In contrast to the majority of works that focus on symbolic consciousness and multimodal communication as specifically human traits, Lotman accentuates polyglottism and dialogicity as the unique features of human culture. Formulated in this manner, the concept of semiosphere is used as a conceptual framework for the study of human cognition as well as human cognitive evolution.
The first Russian translation of J. D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951) was produced in 1960 by Rita Rait-Kovaleva, a renowned translator of contemporary Western literature (English, French, German) in the Soviet Union. This essay examines Rait's translation of The Catcher in the Rye in the context of the problem of censorship and translation, focusing on several instances of Rait's translation of profanities and sex-related passages of The Catcher in the Rye. It demonstrates how the creative strategies of the translator not only helped her overcome censorship barriers but also transformed a foreign text into a new cultural model.
The essay focuses on one of Boris Pasternak's lesser-known translations his rendition of Calderon de la Barca's The Steadfast Prince (El PrncipeConstante) (1629), on which he was working during the last year of his life.The paper shows how in this translation Pasternak actualizes the motifs thatare important for his poetics and his neo-Christian philosophy in general, andhow Calderon's Catholic martyr acquires some of the Prince of Denmark'sfeatures.