University of Kent at Canterbury

Classical allusion - a Russian Modernism?
(Mandelstam′s use of Classical allusion)

by 

Rebecca Steltner

Classical allusion - a Russian Modernism? 3

Translating Mandelstam 3

General remarks on the use of Classical allusion 4

Mandelstam′s Poetics and Classical allusion 5

Classical allusion as a means of overcoming speechlessness 13

On Silentium 14

Primary sources 16

Classical allusion - a Russian Modernism?

Before we look at individual poems and the many allusions to Greek Mythology, it is necessary - as always it seems - to make a few remarks on translation. Afterwards, it might be helpful to ask ourselves a few general questions as to why and to what effect authors have used or are still using myth in their writing; so that we can then try to establish which of these approaches is closest to Mandelstam′s use of Greek Mythology.

Fortunately, Mandelstam has commented widely on general questions of poetics, in his essays, which often take the form of reviews of other authors and their shortcomings. By then applying these criteria to Mandelstam′s own work and thus knowing his poetic aspirations, his poetry should appear less enigmatic. Especially, as Greek Myth lies at the centre of Mandelstam′s poetic thought, an analysis of these statements is a valid and useful approach in order to gain access to his demanding poetry.

Using a variety of examples of Mandelstam′s use of Greek Myth, I will quote from various poems from his two earlier collections Kamen (The Stone) and Tristia and then finally take a closer look at his poem Silentium. Unfortunately, I will not be able to individually interpret all the poems which I have searched for Greek allusions, nor can I print them here in full. Yet, I will attempt to give a full picture of the context that these quotes come from.

Translating Mandelstam

As I do not speak Russian, I can only be astonished at how greatly translations of Mandelstam′s poetry vary. I can only wonder why this may be so and I must rely on the various prefaces by the editors and translators and their judgements on how Mandelstam is to be translated, as well as other critics′ opinions on who has achieved the most truthful rendering of these poems.

Some critics name Paul Celan′s translations into German as particularly convincing and close to the original Russian idiom. Unfortunately, he has not translated all the poems that we need to look at for our purpose. And, to avoid quoting this Russian poet both in English and German in this essay, I have had to omit Celan′s translations altogether.

Otherwise I can only ′blindly′ choose the version which I like best. This may even be the only option - even for someone knowing Russian - as with the help of two Russian-speaking friends, we could establish, that all translations are too remote from the literal translation of a particular poem as to be able to retranslate them. This is surely for the sake of preserving the impression of a great Russian poem, not by making it sound like a translation, but rather like an equally worthy poem in the target language. Yet it results in having to choose which translation is the best poem in itself without giving much concern to its unknown original, which is of course also a bizarre and quite likely flawed attempt, as, ironically, it is impossible for us to know, how far the poems we are working with here, are really still Mandelstam′s poems.

General remarks on the use of Classical allusion

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