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Puškin in Early English Criticism (1821-1838)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 August 2018
Extract
In the Introduction to his valuable bibliography of Puškin in English, published on the occasion of the centenary of Puškin's death, Mr. A. Yarmolinsky says: “…the extent to which the name [of Puškin] was known in England, let alone in other English-speaking countries, must have been exceedingly limited. It is doubtful if Wordsworth, whose name figures in a famous sonnet of Pushkin's, or Coleridge, of whom Pushkin was an assiduous and appreciative reader, had ever heard of their great contemporary, and it is safe to assume that Byron … did not suspect the existence of his Northern admirer and imitator.” On the whole, Mr. Yarmolinsky is, of course, right, and there is nothing surprising in the fact that Byron, who died in 1824, had not suspected the existence of “the Byron of Russia,” as Puškin was to be dubbed in England before the decade was out. But even during Puskin's lifetime, Russian literature had begun to attract attention outside Russia, and Puškin himself was spoken of as its outstanding representative.
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- Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1949
References
1 Pushkin in English: A List of Works by and about Pushkin. Compiled by the Slavonic Division of the New York Public Library. Edited, with an Introduction, by Avrahm Yarmolinsky (New York, 1937). This is, so far, the most complete list of English Puškiniana, but there are gaps in it, some of which are indicated below. Osborne's, E. A. “Early Translations from the Russian” (The Bookman [London, 1932], LXXXII, 216-19, 264-68, 306-08)Google Scholar is written from a book-collector's point of view and mentions magazine articles only incidentally. Mežov's pioneering Puschkiniana(1886) contains practically no early English items.
2 For Turgenev's account of his visit to Scott see Pis'ma k bratu (Leipzig, 1872). Cp. my article “A Russian Traveller in Scotland in 1828: Alexander Turgenev” in Blackwood's Magazine, November, 1945.
3 I have prepared a paper based on Denis and Vladimir Davydov's unpublished letters to Scott. The whole correspondence between-them was to appear in the Anglo-Russian volume of Literaturnoe Nasledstvo,which was in preparation in 1944.
4 I owe this information to Mr. I. Zilberštejn, editor of Literaturnoe Nasledstvo (Moscow). This fact was mentioned by Vladimir Davydov in one of his letters home, written from Scotland.
5 The visits of Olenin, Ermolov and MeyendorfF are recorded by Scott in his diary. Meyendorff's, letter to Scott was printed by me in Novoe Russkoe Slovo (New York), Oct. 26, 1947.Google Scholar For the inclusion of the names of Poletika and Severin (both of them members of the Arzamas Society) I have the authority of Mr. W. M. Parker, a wellknown Scott student, who assisted Sir Herbert Grierson in the centenary edition of Scott's letters and is preparing a study of Scott's foreign visitors.
6 On learning of Puškin's death, Borrow wrote to his Russian-Danish friend Hasfeldt: “I was grieved to hear of the death of Pushkin. Truly he was not only a loss to Russia but to the entire world” (letter dated Nov. 20, 1838). Three years later, writing to the same Hasfeldt, Borrow said: “… have you found any one to replace poor Pushkin? I suppose not; such men do not arise every year…” These two quotations from Borrow's unpublished letters to Hasfeldt, discovered in the Public Library in Leningrad, are given by Alekseev, M. P., “Puskin na Zapade,” in Puškin. Vremennik Puškinskoj Komissii (Moscow-Leningrad, 1937), III, 124 Google Scholar.
7 Foreign Quarterly Review, London, 1832, IX, No. XVIII (erroneously given on the title page as “XXII”), 398, “Art. VI. Poltava: Poema Aleksandra Pushkina. St.Petersburg 1829.”.
8 Alekseev, , op. cit., p. 151 Google Scholar.
9 III, 621. This magazine was edited by Thomas Campbell.
10 Yarmolinsky, , op. cit., p. 3 Google Scholar.
11 Alekseev, , loc. cit., p. 107 Google Scholar.
12 XII, 545-46. No. 315 in Yarmolinsky.
13 See Alekseev, , loc. cit., p. 110 Google Scholar.
14 I, No. II, 595-631: “Art. XIII. Anthologie Russe, suivie de Poésies Originales. Dédiée à S. M. l'Empereur de toutes les Russies. Par P. J. Emile Dupré de Saint Maur, Chevalier de l'Ordre Royal de la Leégion d'Honneur, &c. Paris, 1823. 4to.” No. 258 in Yarmolinsky. The latter also mentions (No. 421a), on the authority of the Literaturnyj kritik of Moscow, a review of a German anthology of Russian verse, published in Riga, in the Universal Review or Chronicle of the Literature of all Nations (1825, II, 692). I have not been able to verify this reference.
15 He was probably the son of the Rev. Jakov Smirnov, Chaplain of the Russian Embassy in London. Living in England, where he was brought up, he could have been misled into thinking that Puškin had translated King Lear.
16 Cp. Reneé Wellek, “The Concept of ‘Romanticism’ in Literary History. I. The Term ‘Romantic’ and Its Derivatives,” in Comparative Literature, I, No. i (Winter, 1949), 14-15. Dr. Augustus Bozzi Granville, a well-known London physician and Italian patriot, who went to Russia in 1827 as Count M. Voroncov's private doctor, called Puškin “the Byron of Russia” and wrote: “The romantic school which has endeavoured to spread its dominions in all the most civilized parts of Europe within the last twenty years, boasts of a few distinguished writers even in Russia” (St. Petersburgh: A Journal of Tiavels to and from that Capital … [London, 1828], II, 244-46. No. 328 in Yarmolinsky.) Like the Foreign Quarterly Review, Granville ascribes to Puškin a translation of King Lear.
17 Opyt kratkoj istorii Russkoj literatury … (St. Petersburg, 1822).
18 The Foreign Review and Continental Miscellany, II, (1828), No. IV, 279-309, “Art. I. Opŭit Kratkoi Istorii Ruskoi Literaturŭi, &c. A Sketch of Russian Literature. By Nicholas Ivanovich Grech. 8vo. St. Petersburg, 1822.” No. 396 in Yarmolinsky.
19 Both the style of this article and some of its ideas closely resemble a later article on Poltava in the Foreign Quarterly Review (see below, p. 308); it is quite likely that the two came from the same pen.
20 The statement in Alexander Pushkin: His Life and Literary Heritage, by Samuel H., Cross and Ernest J. Simmons, (New York, 1937), p.74 Google Scholar, to the effect that “the first extensive mention of Pushkin in English was in 1828 when an article, ‘Russian Literature and Poetry,’ appeared in the National Re-view (pp. 279-309, 398-418). This account was largely borrowed from the original of N. I. Grech's Short History of Russian Literature (1822). During the poet's lifetime a second aricle … appeared in the Foreign Quarterly Review (1832, IX, 398-418),” is somewhat erroneous and misleading: the National Review did not exist in 1828 (it published an article on Puškin in 1858, see Yarmolinsky No. 430); “Russian Literature and Poetry” is the running title of the Foreign Review 1828 article on Greč it was not the first extensive mention of Puškin (see above); only pp. 279-309 cover it, the second lot refers to the 1832 Foreign Quarterly article, mentioned later.
21 II, No. IV, 548. Not in Yarmolinsky.
22 I, No. II , 662-64. No. 295 in Yarmolinsky.
23 III, No. V, 340 and 341. Not in Yarmolinsky.
24 IV, No. VII, 256. Not in Yarmolinsky.
25 London: printed for the proprietors, by J. Moyes, Took's Court; and published at the Office, No. 7, Wellington Street, Strand: sold also by all booksellers, Newsmen, &c. No. 5, Wednesday, February 3, 1830, pp. 68-69. Not in Yarmolinsky. There is a copy of this poorly printed magazine, on wretched paper, in the Library of the British Museum. I have never seen it mentioned in any Puškiniana.
26 In the first two lines the translator resorted to a curious “Futurist” rhyme:
And he was hight Wladomir Len-
Ski, Philistine of Gottingen.
27 XXIX, 73-81. (No. 256 in Yarmolinsky.) An earlier instalment under the lame title appeared in the preceding issue.
28 According to Yarmolinsky, , op. cit., p. 19,Google Scholar it was later reprinted in Grahame, F. R., Progress of Science, Art and Literature in Russia (London, 1865)Google Scholar.
29 Coleman, Arthur Prudden and Coleman, Marion Moore, Adam Mickiewicz in English (Schenectady, N. Y., 1940), pp. 9–10 Google Scholar and 25 (note 18). Strangely enough, Mr. and Mrs. Coleman apply to Mickiewicz what Chamier says of Puškin.
30 The Young Muscovite; or. The Poles in Russia. Edited by Captain Frederic Chamier, R.N., Author of “ The Life of a Sailor,” &c. (London, 1834). Cp. also about this translation Simmons, E. J., English Literature and Culture in Russia (1553-1840), Harvard Studies in Comparative Literature (Cambridge, Mass., 1935), XII, 253,Google Scholar and Osborne, E. A., op. cit., p. 266 Google Scholar. Mr. Osborne states that a note on the title page of the British Museum copy of this translation runs: “and written by Colin Mackenzie, Esq., author of ‘ The Clubs of London,’etc.” He adds that he was unable to trace Colin Mackenzie. This must have been the friend and correspondent of Scott, a Scottish lawyer (see Florence MacCunn, Sir Walter Scott's Friends [New York, 1910], pp. 271-72, and Grierson's edition of Scott's letters, index). The work called The Clubs of London; with Anecdotes of their Members, Sketches of Characters and Conversations, 2 vols. (London, 1828; another edition, 1832), here ascribed to Colin Mackenzie, is variously attributed: according to DNB its “reputed author” was Charles Marsh (under his name it is listed in the catalogue of the Harvard library); according to Allibone's Dictionary, it was written by W. H. Leeds (of whom more below). Whether Colin Mackenzie had anything to do with it, I do not know, but it is most unlikely that he had any part in Chamier's editing of Zagoskin. Could Leeds be the translator?
30a My article was already set up when, in Vjazemskij's correspondence with Alexander Turgenev, I came across the following passage dated November 14, 1828: “Recently I wrote you with your Englishman; now I am writing with my Chamier, a naval captain; he has lived with us several weeks and will tell you about Moscow” (Ostafjcvskij arkhiv knjazej Vjazemskikh [St. Petersburg, 1899], III, 181). This seems to me to Ie a fairly conclusive pointer to Chamier as the author of the article in question. It also points to Vjazemskij as one of the possible sources of Chamier's information about Puškin. Chamier does not mention having met Pušskin in person.
31 “The Poniard,” mentioned here, is Puškin's well-known poem “Kinžal” (The Dagger). For a retelling of the Puškin-Ancelot episode, see Alekseev, , loc.cit., 112-13.Google Scholar
32 Cp., e.g., in Sir Walter Scott's diary his account of a conversation with Vladimir Davydov on July 5, 1826. See The Journal of Sir Walter Scott: 1825-26. The text revised from a photostat in the National Library of Scotland, ed. by J. G. Tait (Edinburgh & London, 1939), p. 196.
33 VIII, No. XV, 256. Not in Yarmolinsky.
34 Ibid., No. XVI, p. 519. Not in Yarmolinsky.
35 IX, No. XVIII, 398-418, “Art. VI. Poltava: Poema Aleksandra Pushkina. St. Petersburg 1829.” No. 407 in Yarmolinsky. See also above, note 7. Poltava was earlier mentioned by the same magazine in 1830 (VI, 543. No. 425 in Yarmolinsky).
36 Ibid., No. XVII, pp. 218-22. The article contains a quotation from “Dying Tasso.”
37 VIII, No. XV (1831), 117-39. It was also reviewed in the Foreign Review.
38 XI, No. XXII (1833), 382-403. This review preceded Chamier's English version. I discovered W. H. Leeds's name in the list of contributors in the British Museum copy of the magazine when, in 1936, I examined its contents and first came across the article on Poltava. In 1937 Mr. Alekseev, mentioning this article in his “Puškin na Zapade” (see note 6), promised to devote a special study to what he called “this curious article.” Whether that promise was carried out I do not know. The authorship of Leeds was not known to Alekseev.
39 X, No. XIX, 274. Not in Yarmolinsky.
40 Frankland, C. Colville, Narrative of a Visit to the Courts of Russia and Sweden, 2 vols. (London, 1832). No. 317 in Yarmolinsky.Google Scholar
41 “Razgovor s angličaninom,” in Puškin. Vremennik Puškinskoj Komissii (Moscow, 1936), II, 302-14.
42 XII, No. XXIV, 527. Not in Yarmolinsky.
43 Nos. 391 and 392 in Yarmolinsky.
44 XX, No. XL, 328-39. No. 344 in Yarmolinsky.
45 XXI, No. XLI, 74. Not in Yarmolinsky.
46 LVII, 657-78, and LVIII, 28-43, 140-56: “Pushkin, the Russian Poet.” No. 439 in Yarmolinsky. See also ibid., p. 4.