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Abstract:

The essay explores the problems of translating Russian classical literature into English. Even one word can change if not the plot, then the profound philosophical message of a text. The double meaning — both direct and indirect — of certain words, and their connections with other parts of the text that remain unnoticed, eventually lead to an oversimplification and narrowing the dimension and scale of the composition as a whole in the perception of readers incapable of comprehending the original. Comparative analyses of only two words in several translations of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment show the complexity and responsibility involved in translation, especially in the translation of a literary work, where the words rise into the “divine height” of their signified and hidden meanings.

Keywords: Pushkin, “The Queen of Spades,” Dostoevsky, White Nights, Crime and Punishment, translations.