Venäläisen modernistisen runouden suomalainen käännöshistoria, 1918–1930
Abstract
The Finland-Swedish and Finnish Translation History of Russian Modernist Poetry, 1918–1930
This article examines the arrival of Russian modernist and avant-garde poetry in Finland in the 1920s by mapping its translation history. The material employed in the article consists of translations into Swedish and Finnish that were published in anthologies or in journals (such as Ultra, Nuori Voima, Quosego, and Tulenkantajat), translation bibliographies, and translators’ personal archives.
The article shows that Finland-Swedish translations are considerably earlier than the Finnish ones, which are also very few. Moreover, some of the Finland-Swedish translations are early also in comparison with translations into other European languages. This concerns the anthology Sånger i rött och svart (1924, “Songs in Red and Black”) in particular, which introduced poets that have never been translated into Finnish or that have been translated only decades later. The anthology also introduces poetry that has not been translated into European languages.
The article further demonstrates the significance and influence of individual translators in mediating Russian literature into Finland and Scandinavia. The controversial translator Rafael Lindqvist’s position is particularly important, since his early translations of radical Russian avant-garde poetry were published also in Sweden. Furthermore, mostly due to Edith Södergran’s efforts, the ego-futurist Igor Severyanin was translated into Swedish earlier than Blok, Mayakovsky and Esenin, i.e. the poets who were usually the first ones to be translated elsewhere in Europe.
