Translations of Slavic Poetry in “Russkii Vestnik”

This study examines the publication of Slavic poetry translations in “Russkii Vestnik” (The Russian Herald) within the framework of cultural, sociopolitical, and editorial developments during the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Drawing on issues of “Russkii Vestnik” from 1856 to 1904, the analysis focuses on translations from Polish, Czech, and Serbo-Croatian (now Serbian and Croatian) languages. The journal’s inclusion of Western and Southern Slavic poetry is presented as an active contribution to intercultural dialogue within the Slavic world. The article demonstrates that the frequency of these translations correlates with key geopolitical events, most notably the Polish Uprising of 1863–1864, the Slavic Congress of 1867, and the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, which sought to liberate Southern Slavs from Ottoman rule. Polish literature in “Russkii Vestnik” is shown to be dominated by translations of Adam Mickiewicz, whose works resonated ideologically and aesthetically with his Russian contemporaries and, for later readers, reflected the legacy of the Pushkin era. Meanwhile, translations and adaptations of Czech and Serbian poetry (including folk traditions) highlight the affinities between Russian and Slavic literary and cultural traditions.

Russkii Vestnik, Slavic literatures, Mikhail Katkov, literary translation, Adam Mickiewicz, Serbian poetry, Czech poetry, Slavic cultural dialogue