FIRST BYRON TRANSLATION

Bairon, George Gordon. Chail'd-harol'dova mandrivka [i.e. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage]. Translated by Pan'ko Kulish. L'vov: Z drukarni Naukovoho Tovarystva imeny Shevchenka, 1905 (1906 on the front cover).

Байрон Г. Чайльд-гарольдова мандрiвка. Львiв: З друкарнi Наукового товариства iмени Шевченка, 1905.

Published as part of: Literaturno-naukova biblioteka vydaie ukrayns'ko-rus'ka vydavnycha spilka u L'vovi, series I, pt. 96. Publisher’s wrappers. XIV, 178 p. 19.5 x 12.5 cm. Good condition. Loss of a corner of the back cover, loss of the fragment of the spine from the lower side. Traces of numbers in ink and owner’s inscription on the title. Foxing of the covers.

1st Ukrainian edition of Byron’s classic narrative poem. Translated by Panteleimon “Pan'ko” Kulish (1819 - 1897).

With a preface by the prominent scientist and national Ukrainian revival movement leader, Ivan Franko. Franko cites Kulish’ diaries to state that the translation was completed already in 1894. By 1894 Kulish was already a prominent Ukrainian author, as popular as Taras Schevchenko. Kulish invented a version of ABC for Ukrainian language, now known as kulishovka. He wrote numerous novels, poetry and short stories in Russian and Ukrainian. His Ukrainian books were mostly published before Ems Ukaz of 1876. Ukaz basically was a ban to print most of the books in Ukrainian as well a ban on some books already published, including some by Kulish. Though praising Ukraine and being a patriot, Kulish was pro-Russian and anti-Cossack. His position led to constant misunderstandings with the Ukrainian intellectuals and historians of his era. Aside from his own writing, Kulish managed to translate and even publish some of Shakespearean plays and served as the head translator of the Bible.

Imitating the Pilgrimage' form, Kulish wrote a poetic dedication to Vasyl' Bilozers'kyi (brother of his wife) stating the love to Byron's intransigence as an inspiration for his work as a translator. He also compiled two prefaces to the reader of Mandrivka: one in Russian and one in Ukrainian.

Kulish hoped for a publication either in the Russian-speaking Empire or Ukrainian-speaking Galicia: neither did happen during his lifetime, but both prefaces were included by Franko in this 1st edition (Devdiuk, I., Protsiv, H. Poema Dzh. Bayrona „Palomnytstvo Chayl'd Harol'da” u perekladi Panteleymona Kulisha. Volyn' filolohichna: tekst i kontekst, 6(2 ch.2), 2008).

The task to translate and publish Childe Harold's Pilgrimage indeed was not a trivial one. Not only the publication was banned by censorship and not allowed till 1905, the year the Russian Empire saw liberalisation of the press. The question was whether the language itself is flexible enough to express a reliable, genuine and accurate version of a classic English poem or not. As stated by Franko, Kulish finds the answer in re-inventing, adjusting Ukrainian, or how he calls it staromovna language - contrasting to nova mova, or contemporary Russian. Kulish makes deliberate changes in Ukrainian to create a “proper” written language, one to be used specifically in his translations of the classics. Even with his own version of the language, he had to change the Spenserian stanza and write the whole Mandrivka in the blank verse.

Ivan Franko notes that such an approach is an interesting experiment, but far away from the real Ukrainian language spoken by the folk. Nevertheless, this is a true first Ukrainian edition of the classic, with the new modern translation completed only in 2004.

Very rare. Not i in KVK. WorldCat finds only a microfilmed version of the book in University of Wisconsin.

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