Osip Mandelstam in the Recent Latvian Translations: the Untranslatable

Abstract

The article is devised for the discussion of the most recent Latvian translations of Osip Mandelstam while focusing on the untranslatable. The perception of the writings of the Russian poet-modernist as untranslatable, as embraced by the Latvian cultural space at the beginning of the 20th century, is still relevant today. The article offers reflections on the few translations of Mandelstam and provides a comprehensive overview of modern reception of his writings: musical compositions of Pauls Dambis, publishing of the bilingual edition “Osip Mandelstam. Poems” (2019). The article briefly introduces the biography of the translator Einārs Pelšs, as well as critically reviews the preface to the bilingual edition written by Alexander Zapol and analyses individual translations of Mandelstam's poems. The discussion primarily focuses on such aspects of literary translation as the transfer of repetitions - phonetic, lexical and others, translation of couplings, infinitive structures, rhyme and other formal and semantic elements. The findings allow to conclude that while transferring the poetic meanings encoded in a foreign language, the translator strives for translation-interpretation, trying to convey Mandelstam’s style, as well as the elements of verbal meaning-making of a bygone era.