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Prose for inquisitive minds. On Sir Thomas Browne of Norwich, his works and their translation
https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2020-4-139-153
Abstract
The paper deals with Sir Thomas Browne, a doctor of medicine, philosopher, and writer of the English Baroque. His legacy holds an enduring appeal for scholars and, more importantly, survives in English language and its literature. It is demonstrated that Browne’s prose played an important role in the shaping of English literature and language, and that his philosophical and scientific views were eclectic. As a separate topic, the article considers problems of translating his prose into other languages. Translations can be spot-on, as shown in the article, when a coincidence of the ‘time of culture’ (Popovich, Borges) between the original and the culture of the translation occurs. For translations into Russian, a problem arises due to the inconsistency (polyglossia) of the 17th-c. Russian language. The author provides a comparative analysis of Browne’s original essays and their Russian translation. She finds that V. Grigoriev’s translations of Browne’s diptych discourses rely on a complex historical stylization, use 18th-c. Russian language, and have proved themselves as a factor of cross-literary communication.
About the Author
O. G. Sidorova
B. N. Eltsin Ural Federal University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Olga G. Sidorova Doctor of Philology
19 Mira St., Ekaterinburg, 620002
References
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Review
For citations:
Sidorova O.G. Prose for inquisitive minds. On Sir Thomas Browne of Norwich, his works and their translation. Voprosy literatury. 2020;(4):139-153. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2020-4-139-153
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