“Liao Zhai zhiyi” in Russia
Alexander G Storozhuk
Abstract
The paper covers the issue of Pu Song-ling’s “Liao Zhai zhiyi” translations into Russian and their influence on the modern Russian literary process. Having analyzed the most significant translations of “Liao Zhai” we come to the following conclusions: 1. At the end of 19-th — beginning of the 20-th centuries the works by Pu Song-ling started to be translated into Russian, though influence of these translations was not that substantial. 2. By 1920-s about a dozen of “Liao Zhai” stories have been translated into Russian, though all of them lacked both: a special pattern of this kind of translations and a special literary style to match. 3.In 1920-1930-s academician V. Alekseev worked out the pattern to follow and a special literary style, suiting the peculiarities of “Liao Zhai zhiyi” and very appropriate for translation. 4. While translating “Liao Zhai” V. Alekseev did not preserve the original structure of the collection, but translated tales according to their plots and characters. 5. Later there have been several other attempts to translate the very stories in a different style, but none led to a real success with the readers. 6. A great many issues of the traditional Chinese culture have been absorbed by Russian readers primarily from “Liao Zhai” translations made by V. Alekseev. 7. V. Alekseevs translations of “Liao Zhai” have produced a significant influence on Russian literature of late 20-th - early 21-st centuries.