Translation in the Context of Preserving Languages and Cultures of the Siberian Indigenous Population

In this article weve focused on the topical problem of preserving the languages and cultures of indigenous peoples of Siberia, which can be solved through the translation of ethnic texts (as an important category of Siberian texts) into Russian and other languages, and translation of texts of great cultural and religious significance from Russian and other languages into languages of Siberian peoples. We aim to study initiatives of individual scholars and enthusiasts who have been translating both strong texts from indigenous languages of Siberian peoples and strong texts of Russian literature (mostly religious ones) into these languages. The ethnic literature of the peoples of the Krasnoyarsk Krai is considered in historical and comparative perspective, taking into account the national and cultural conditions of these peoples. The conclusion concerns the importance of ethnic translation with the cultural information and memory as the key unit of translation and the saving of the unique languages and cultures of Siberia as its main task.

The Invisible Ethnic: Vladimir Nabokov, Richard Rodriguez, and Ethnic Literature

This essay explores the possibilities and constraints of reading texts as ethnic literature. It does so by tracing the master theme of transcendence in Vladimir Nabokov’s Speak, Memory and by drawing comparisons with Latino autobiographer and essayist Richard Rodriguez. To date Speak, Memory has transcended categorization as a particular conception of ethnic literature that precludes also reading it as universal. Rodriguez, in contrast, laments that his books are less likely to be read as universal precisely because shelved and categorized as ethnic literature rather than as memoir or simply “literature.” As Rodriguez notes, the conception of Ethnic Literature as a genre marginalizes even as it celebrates ethnic cultures. That is, treating works by ethnic authors as a conventional genre—in the sense that memoirs, westerns, and mystery novels are genres—can have a ghettoizing effect. I argue that ethnic literature is universal despite its focus on a particular culture. To the extent that any work of literature can said to be universal it achieves that status through the particular: a story grounded in a particular culture and, usually, focusing on the particularity of individual characters. There is no view from nowhere. As with other works of literature, ethnic literature is the view from somewhere. I conclude that, when it comes to how we read ethnic literature, it is time for a paradigm shift.

Understanding the Function of Empathy through Laila Halaby’s West of the Jordan

Arab American fiction has received great attention in the post-9/11 period. This ethnic literature has been put under a critical lens due to the aspects that shape it and the issues discussed in it. One of the main objectives of Arab American fiction is to bridge cultural differences and appeal to its readers, both Arabs and non-Arabs. This particular objective is achieved by the authors’ willingness to trigger empathetic engagement with their characters. As such, this paper looks at how Laila Halaby’s West of the Jordan (2003) functions in accordance with the poetics of empathy. In other words, the aim of this paper is to show how fiction appeals to its readers through empathy and how empathetic engagement sustains the characters-readers connection, taking West of the Jordan as a literary example. This paper suggests that empathy in fiction is multi-layered and serves different purposes. The arguments are based on a conceptual framework supported by scholarly perspectives of prominent critics and theorists such as Chielozona Eze, Heather Hoyt, and Suzanne Keen, to name just a few.

PERIPHERAL GENRES OF CHUVASH LITERATURE: TESTAMENT

Работа посвящена осмыслению завещания как жанра чувашской художественной литературы в историческом аспекте. Анализируемые в статье тексты входят в состав классической чувашской словесности. Им посвящено значительное число научных работ, однако пока еще данные произведения не становились объектом специального рассмотрения с точки зрения жанровой специфики, которая выделяет их в одно целое. Основу завещания в первую очередь составляют инолитературные аналоги и затем - фольклорные тексты (благословения и собственно предсмертные завещания). В литературе чаще встречаются эпизоды, описывающие акт духовного завещания, в частности, в произведениях П. Хузангая, В. Митты, Е. Лисиной, но сам жанр за всю историю современной письменной культуры чувашского народа в чистом виде был реализован лишь считанное количество раз - в виде завещания чувашскому народу просветителя И. Я. Яковлева и стихотворения «Как умру…» М. Сеспеля. Отличительными чертами завещания как жанра являются императивность и высокий пафос, формируемые особыми условиями создания завещательных текстов в ожидании скорой кончины. Остальные параметры носят идиостилевой характер и варьируются в широких пределах - достаточно сказать, что имеющиеся в чувашской литературе завещания написаны в разных формах: эпической и лирической. The work is devoted to understanding the testament as a genre of the Chuvash fiction in historical perspective. The authors analyzed the texts of the Chuvash classical literature. A significant number of scientific works has been devoted to the texts of the Chuvash classical literature. However, those texts have never been investigated from the point of view of genre specificity, which distinguishes them as a whole. The testamentis primarily based on analogue ethnic literature and also on folklore texts (blessings and testaments as such). The most frequent episodes describing the testament are in the works of P. Khuzangay, V. Mitta, E. Lisina. Nevertheless, the genre itself in its pure form was implemented only a few times in the entire history of the modern written culture of the Chuvash people:in the testament to the Chuvash people by I. Yakovlev and the poem «When I die ...» by M. Sespel. The distinguishing features of the testament as a genre are the imperative and high pathos, due to the peculiar conditions for creating the texts of the testament in anticipation of impending death. Otherfeatures are individual and vary widely. The testaments in the Chuvash literature are written in different forms: epic and lyrical.

Pro-Social Trickstars in Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns

Tricksters are usually defined as non-heroic male characters obsessed with food, sex, and general merrymaking, occasionally changing shape and even gender but eventually returning to their masculine self. But is this necessarily true in contemporary ethnic literature? The current essay explores the notion of the trickstar, or the female trickster, in Afghan- American fiction, analysing the three heroines in Khaled Hosseini’s 2007 novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, which is a mother-daughter story set in Kabul at the turn of the millennium. In order to place this text into a cultural context and underscore the significance of the trickstar figure, it is compared to a traditional Afghan folk tale, “Women’s Tricks.” Two research questions are at the centre of this article: (1) In what ways are trickstars from Afghan folklore similar to the heroines of Hosseini’s novel? and (2) What roles do his heroines perform as pro-social trickstars?

Formation of a New Literary Identity Within a New State. Hungarian Literature in Czechoslovakia

The early 20th century was a very turbulent period of time especially for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe – the Central Powers were defeated in World War I, the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy disappeared from the maps and new states were created. After signing the Treaty of Trianon in 1920, more than one million Hungarian people found themselves living behind the borders of Czechoslovakia. For Hungarians living in minority, the establishment of specific culture was crucial. The paper deals with the process of formation and re-creation of Hungarian literature within the newly formed First Czechoslovak Republic, and also attends to introduce the struggle of this newly established ethnic literature in the first decade of its existence, as well as the attempt to define itself.