Evgeny Solonovich, Mikhail Vizel. A Russian Amarcord. I remember

Abstract

The review analyzes A Russian Amarcord [Russkiy Amarkord], a book of interviews with E. Solonovich (now recently dead) published in celebration of the poet and translator’s ninetieth birthday. The topics brought up in the interviews are considered in a broad context of the Soviet and post-Soviet eras as well as the book publishing and writing projects that appealed to Solonovich in his professional capacity. Among the most important and recurrent themes discussed by Solonovich and his younger colleague, journalist and critic M. Vizel, are the problem of translation, Soviet realia in the context of teaching and practising translation, and the cultural dialogue between Italy and Russia. A significant portion of the book is devoted to Solonovich’s professional beginnings as a translator during the anti-cosmopolitan campaign, Russo-Italian literary connec- tions, typical everyday life in the Soviet era, translation projects initiated by publishers during the Khrushchev thaw and perestroika, Solonovich’s colleagues and friends in Italy, and the continuity of the translation tradition in imperial Russia and the Soviet Union.