“I see it in my motion, have it not in my tongue”: The Slavic Sounds of Shakespeare Translations

The paper sets to explore the specificity of the Slavic translations of Shakespeare with some special emphasis on the prosodic features of Slavic languages. Preceded by a general discussion of the sounds and rhythms of Slavic languages, the paper presents the historical overview of the translations strategies used by translators to deal with the challenges of Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter. Here some of the most important shaping factors are discussed such as the pressure of the Neoclassical and Romantic models or the influence of Schlegel’s doctrine of organic poetry. Secondly, the paper accounts for the establishment of the national canons of Shakespeare’s translations and their impact on the subsequent attempts at translation.