Flaubert’s “The Legend of St Julian the Hospitable” was
first translated into Russian by I.S. Turgenev, and more recently – in beginning
of the 20th century – by M.A. Voloshin and A.A. Blok. The paper addresses
Voloshin’s “Preface to the translation of Flaubert’s 'The Legend of St Julian
the Hospitable' ", which he wrote in polemics with Turgenev’s translation. The
analysis of the reason of Voloshin’s interest in the text by Flaubert shows that
“The legend of St Julian” attracted the poets of the Silver Age with its unusual
content, peculiar mysticism and particular – Flauberian – style of presentation.
Each of the writers who translated the legend tried to keep the balance between
content and style as much as possible. The paper also raises the question of
romantic tendencies in Flaubert’s novels on religious subjects.
Keywords
G. Flaubert; literary translation; M.A. Voloshin; I.S. Turgenev; A.A. Blok; French literature.