Leading translator Alexandra Borisenko brings new light to Russians' love of popular British children's books in the Soviet Union and today, looking at the contrasting perceptions of childhood in Britain and Russia, and how works have been adapted for the Russian reader - what has been lost and what has been gained.
What is the Russian child's understanding of Winnie the Pooh, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and Harry Potter? What ideas translate and what do not? What has been emphasised and loved in translation?
Equally important is what has been censored - both in Soviet times, and still today - what ideas are considered beyond the pale or inappropriate in Russia today?
A rare opportunity to hear leading translator Dr Alexandra Borisenko on this subject.
Dr. Alexandra Borisenko - literary translator, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Philology, Moscow State University (Lomonosov), teacher at CWS (Creative Writing School founded by Maya Kucherskaya). Graduated from Moscow State University in 1992. Her PhD thesis (2000) focused on the Soviet translation school. Since 1997, she has been teaching jointly with Dr. Victor Sonkin a workshop on literary translation at Moscow State University. The workshop has published several books, including two major anthologies of British and American crime fiction (2009, 2011). She teaches courses on translation studies, children’s literature, crime fiction, cultural studies.
Borisenko has published numerous critical and theoretical works on literary history and literary translation. Member of The Literary Translators’ Guild. Among her translations are two Mary Poppins books by Pamela Travers, Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers (jointly with Ekaterina Kuznetsova), Flaubert’s Parrot by Julian Barnes (jointly with Victor Sonkin), “Seven Tales of Sex and Death” by Patricia Duncker (jointly with Victor Sonkin), “Lost in Translation” by Eva Hoffman, A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (jointly with Victor Sonkin and Anastasia Zavozova) etc.