Archive of Scientific Articles

Submitted: 15.07.2023

Abstract. The article examines the use of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Writer’s Diary” for 1881 in German culture in the early and second half of the 20th century, focusing on two translations of the work into German by the same translator with over fifty years’ difference: in 1907 and 1963. The research aims to identify significant differences in the translation strategy of Less Kaerrick in conveying the stylistic features of Dostoevsky, as presented in the “Writer’s Diary” for 1881. The paper explains the reasons for the interest in the work’s themes, provides the history of the translations of the “Writer’s Diary” into German, compares the structures of the original text and the two translations, and determines the differences in the translations influenced by the translator’s evolving approach towards the thematic priorities of the work. The scientific novelty of the study lies in making the translations of Dostoevsky’s “Writer’s Diary” for 1881 into German by Kaerrick the subject of literary research for the first time, leading to the introduction of new insights into the reception of Dostoevsky’s work in German-speaking countries. The results indicate that the chosen translation strategy of structural reduction and semantic selection from the original text results in a shift in the meaning accents of the work. However, in the 1963 translation, the translator attempts to overcome language asymmetry and bring the German reader closer to the meanings embedded by Dostoevsky in the pages of the “Writer’s Diary”.

Key words and phrases: Ф. М. Достоевский, Дневник писателя за 1881 г, Лэсс Кэррик, переводческие стратегии, рецепция творчества, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Writer’s Diary for 1881, Less Kaerrick, translation strategies, reception of literary works