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Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary: Modern Russian authors are poorly represented
Leading Lev Roitman

Lev Roitman:

On the eve of this program, I looked at the well -computerized book information of the Czech Republic. The computer confirmed a long -established impression. In the Czech Republic, modern Russian authors are practically not published and, accordingly, do not know. Perhaps, on the contrary, they do not know, and therefore they do not publish. But, be that as it may, the fact remains: in the list of book novelties for this year there is not a single translation now, today the fiction of Russians. There are Nabokov, Dostoevsky, Dovlatov, Brodsky, Harms, there are authors of the Silver Age, there are Afanasyev tales - last century, Bulgakov is reprinted and that’s about all. The last two years, Russian writers have not been invited to Prague writers have not been invited for the past two years. Sad. Well, what about Poland, in Hungary? Our conversation today. Participate: in Prague - Dmitry Beloshevsky; from Budapest - Agnesh Gereben; From Warsaw - hedgehogs Redlich.

Agnesh, I will now present you in more detail: you are a literary critic, translator, cultural historian, author of books in the Hungarian language about the work of Babel, about Chekhov, teacher of Budapest University, senior researcher. I just briefly introduced a picture of modern Russian fiction in the Czech Republic. What about Hungary?

Agnesh Gereben:

Do not be sad, Mr. Roitman, our situation is much better with us than in Prague. One of the most popular Hungarian writers, for example, Victor Erofeev. The fact is that we also have what you saw in Prague stores. Publishers are trying to somehow catch up, missed for decades not through their fault, nevertheless absent in consciousness, in the reader consciousness, the reader's audience of this country. That is, I want to say that we also publish, say, you mentioned Harms, Nadezhda Mandelstam, last year her memoirs again came out. Then Bulgakov is published. All the time Solzhenitsyn is published, Babel is also published, the plays and stories of Chekhov, Gogol's Overcoat, have just been published. I am now reading the list of European Publishing House for this year. Berdyaev, Shestov is published, “milestones” are published. So the past, of course, is now provided, as if in the palm of your hand is presented to the Hungarian reader. But there are young, more or less young and modern authors. This largely, it seems to me, depends on random circumstances. The same Erofeev is insanely popular, of course in a certain circle of the Hungarian intelligentsia, in particular because here exactly 10 years ago the first of modern Russian writers appeared. Writers, that is, not a commissar from the Union of Soviet Writers. He arose here the day after the reburial of Imre Nadia, when the Nobel Prize laureates from around the world came here. And with the color of the intelligentsia of the whole world, he said: he buried Soviet literature. You may still remember this incident. This is one accidental circumstance. The second, in the Hungarian fate of the same Erofeev, the fact that he found a fan in the person of the leading editor of one of the most prestigious publishers who understands and invites him, and he found himself and the translator. The translator, to whom I bow all the time, because translating Erofeev is insanely difficult.

Lev Roitman:

Thank you, Agnesh Gereben. You asked me not to be sad, however, I continue to be sad, because I am saying that there are practically no current Russian authors in the Czech Republic on the book market. And you from Budapest confirm, in essence, the same, Erofeev is a brilliant exception to think. However, I note that I do not see, for example, neither in the Czech Republic, nor in what you said, Agnes, I see and do not hear those names, for example, who are constantly spinning at the Bukkerovsky lists, in short-lists, that is, writers who have to some extent own minds. I do not see Pelevin, for example, which is published in Russia with a 300,000th circulation, and so on. But you can continue. And now, hedgehogs Redlich, I ask you, from Warsaw, your assessment of the presence or absence of today's Russian authors in the Polish market. However, I will present you in somewhat more detailed: you are the deputy chief editor of the new Russian -speaking magazine “New Poland”.

Hedgehog Redlich:

I will tell you such a curious fact. At the beginning of this year, the prestigious and popular Polish newspaper “Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth” conducted a wide survey among readers and proposed to name the 25 greatest, in their opinion, writers of the 20th century. And the first place on this list was not the Polish author, not the Nobel laureate and not some fashionable beam of fate, the palm of the championship went to Mikhail Bulgakov, his novel “Master and Margarita”. Well, this novel is constantly reprinted, the general circulation goes on tens and even hundreds of thousands. Over the past 5 years, it has been published by four various publishers, and in different translations. The largest oldest publishing house “Chetelnik” re -released “Masters and Margarita” 4 times. In addition to Bulgakov, in this list of the 25 most popular authors of the 20th century, Solzhenitsyn, Babel and Sholokhov are also mentioned by the survey participants. Well, such a survey result for outsiders may seem unexpected, but he did not particularly surprise the Poles. This is evidence of the spiritual kinship of the Polish and Russian intelligentsia. We love and, more importantly, we understand the same writers. The magazine “New Poland” published memories of the anti -Soviet prisoner of Kulera, which, in theory, had to hate everything that Russian, in prison learned the Russian language in order to read the classics of Russians in the original, including Paustovsky. This is evidence that the Poles are able to distinguish Russia from the empire that oppressed them. There are plenty of translations of Russian literature in bookstores. Naturally, a classic novel prevails. Dostoevsky’s popularity does not fade away, “Crime and Punishment” was reprinted 4 times, “The Karamazov brothers”, Chekhov’s stories, Gogol “Dead Souls”. Willingly bought and quickly sold out “Tales of Love” by Ivan Bunin.

Lev Roitman:

Thank you, hedgehog Redlich, Warsaw. You mentioned the “masters and Margarita” by Bulgakov. Indeed, the “Master and Margarita” is also present in the list of novelties of this year and here in the Czech Republic. This is a curious story that you told about the anti -Soviet, as you called it, the prisoner who learned Russian in the camp and became Russophile. I had to meet in Germany, and I had the happiness of being his pretty close friend, with Horst Bineck, a magnificent German author, who was arrested in Eastern Berlin and ended up in Kolyma, where he learned the Russian language and was in love with Russia. Be that as it may, I now transfer the line to my interlocutor in the Prague studio Dmitry Beloshevsky, asking for to talk about the Czech Republic, about the presence or, unfortunately, as I established, about the absence of Russian book innovations of today, today's names in the Czech market. But first I will present you more details: you are a sociologist, translator, editor of a respected Czech newspaper, Economic newspaper “Greek Novina”, here in Prague.

Dmitry Beloshevsky:

Yes, indeed, in the Czech Republic there are few enough, few Russian literature translated Russian literature, I mean. But not everything is as catastrophically as you described, Leo. Here is the last book, which appeared in a large edition, in an excellent edition, is the book of Edward Radzinsky Stalin. This book, of course, created a big noise in Russia, interest in it manifested itself here. In addition, of course, in order to confirm colleagues, I think that Mikhail Bulgakov remains again, a classic, although it is not published, but it is still present, it exists. There were translations, of course, the great Venochka Erofeev. At one time there were Limonov translations. But now, of course, the situation is changing, demand is changing. But something is somewhat strange on the other hand. Interest in Russian problems does not change, it exists, it is present. And in our publishing market, Western books describing Russia appear very often. But from this quite big problems arise, regarding primarily ignorance of realities. For example, the book of Frederick Forsyte “Icon” is not the worst, it really is written with knowledge. But very often a situation happens when people simply receive information about Russia, and the older generation Czech knows and sees completely clear mistakes. Here is a small example: at one time, the notorious Juna Davitashvili was published here. Now, when the information in the agents appeared about her, and in the magazines, she was already written through “yot”, like Yuna. That is, there was a clear translation of cripples, in fact, from a western source, without knowledge that this author was translated already. I personally think that the situation a few years ago was worse, because they did not appear, with the exception of Izvestia and so on, even newspapers and magazines did not appear, they did not exist. Now they at least to some extent appear and it begins to improve the situation.

Lev Roitman:

Thank you, Dmitry Beloshevsky, Prague.

Agnesh Gereben:

I return to the beginning of our conversation, because my impulse, Mr. Roitman, strongly touched me about modern literature. The fact is that modern Russian writers are published in Hungary and besides Erofeev. True, these are not the authors who concern the minds, as you said, in Moscow. But still, the book of Svetlana Aleksievich has just published about the Afghan war. The book of the notorious Peter Weil and Genis, and Radzinsky, too, then Viktor Dotsenko came out. This process goes in a normal way. I would call you with the words of the Babel of my beloved “give the course of time”. The fact is that catching up in decades, it also takes time. I am sure that after 5-10, if there is a normal life in our countries, I am sure that there will be, then the distance between the newest Russian literature and translated literature is narrowed. This time has not yet come. When the book of Boris Zbarsky about the Mausoleum only published 5 days ago, “Lenin’s embalming”, when “milestones” came out a year ago in Venger, then it is impossible to simultaneously demand the most fresh and sharpest authors. But this time will come.

Lev Roitman:

Thank you, Agnesh Gereben, Budapest. You, well, since we are talking in such a vein of feelings, somewhat reassured and comforted. I believe that the book of Svetlana Aleksievich, which you meant, is “zinc boys”. I note that, by the way, she went out in the Czech Republic, but quite a long time ago, even in the Soviet period when this book was still written.

Hedgehog Redlich:

I still want to tell that modern Russian authors are published quite often and rather large circulations. The most popular Alexander Solzhenitsyn, his “cancer corps” was reprinted three times. Two editions of the Gulag Archipelago in the translation of Jerzy Primmyanovsky, by the way, of the editor -in -chief editor of our magazine Novy Poland, were also published in large editions. The same Smmyanovsky translated “in the first circle”, which also enjoyed reader success. It should be noted that Solzhenitsyn’s works were banned in Poland until the 89th year, and they penetrated into Poland, translations of these books, publications of the emigration Parisian publishing house “Culture”. It is very deserved in the popularization of Russian emigrant writers and dissidents. In the most recent years, Viktor Suvorov has become popular in Poland. According to his novel, “Aquarium” was even placed in Poland, which was quite successful. Suvorov visits the Warsaw Book Fair, where he signs, represents and signs translations of his books. At the last fair, the translation of his documentary books was represented by Vladimir Bukovsky and famous human rights activist Sergei Kovalev. By the way, his book was translated from German, since in Germany, in my opinion, it was published earlier than in Russia. So, from among modern writers, the Poles are mainly reading documentary literature.

Lev Roitman:

Thank you, hedgehog Redlich, Warsaw.

Dmitry Beloshevsky:

I will still allow myself to return to Victor Suvorov, he is also Rezun: I am somewhere involved in the translation of his first book, the story “Icebreaker”, in the Czech language. At first I thought that the best thing was only to translate this first book that was really interesting. But then the situation happened that other publishers have already translated the rest of his books. Of course, this is the literature of facts, without a doubt. But what, unfortunately, is present in the Czech Republic, this is the key to publishing a book, so to speak, not even artistic, not journalistic value, but, say, some sensation. I am afraid that it was Viktor Rezun, who, so to speak, historians, starting with our, through Russian, Western, Israeli, criticized for his work, here is just present. Unfortunately, if you return to the past, until the 89th year, that is, when there was a restructuring in Russia, for Czech readers reading in Russian, Soviet literature then, which penetrated here, had a certain not only information, but also compensatory significance. Because she gave the information that could not be obtained from the West, in the Czech Republic it was prohibited. Unfortunately, she was unlucky in the sense that after the 89th border, in fact, from day to day they opened, and information flowed from the West. But I would like to say, in my opinion, the situation changes really in a positive direction. First, remember the past. Then the Soviet, that is, Russian literature was a mass phenomenon, often it remained. Because those who read it read it and now they will read it in the future, but much remained. Now, a person himself must overcome laziness and look for her. By the way, recently (the age of information) on the Internet you can actually find everything. I will give a small example: “Russian magazine” on the Internet is generally a great edition. There are dozens of other Internet addresses that make it possible to get acquainted with this. Another thing is that now only people who will really try to get acquainted with this. Naturally, if demand appears, and he will certainly appear, I have no doubt in this, in the future on a greater awareness, then maybe in the Czech Republic it will also begin that which was always present in Poland and Hungary, which we envied. That is, different magazines, yes, the same thing was always present and is present in Russia, of course, the number of magazines, sometimes even one -day, 2-3 numbers will be released, the magazine simply won’t stand it, it will fall out, another will appear. Here the situation was completely different, it must be borne in mind. Moreover, even in the present time, not even because it is impossible, just the demand for the majority of the population is no demand. And those who publish, say, magazines about Russian literature, well, of course, they publish them in small prints, for most inaccessible.

Lev Roitman:

Thank you, Dmitry Beloshevsky. As far as I understand, you are an optimist, like Agnesh Gereben, and by no means a pessimist, the third participant in our conversation by hedgehog Redlich, Warsaw.