Translating Oleksandr Averbuch’s poetry
Language, identity, translation strategies
Keywords: poetry translation, multilingualism, Ukrainian poetry, Ukrainian, Estonian, total translation
This article focuses on the translation of Oleksandr Averbuch’s poetry collection Жидівський король (2021) into Estonian, with the author of the article also serving as its translator. Particular attention is paid to the theoretical aspects of translating literary multilingualism and to a specific variety of Ukrainian used by Ostarbeiters which was developed by the poet himself. The starting point is Peeter Torop’s concept of total translation, according to which translation is not merely an interaction between two language systems but occurs at the level of the text and its cultural context. Accordingly, a translation must be considered in relation to other translations into the target language, translations from the same language, of the same author, and so on. It is essential to identify dominants, the sum of characteristics without which the text does not hold together. The author’s background is also taken into consideration (his shift to Ukrainian, Ukrainian-Jewish identity, interest in multilingualism and various accents, linguistic experimentation). A distinction must be made between the author’s multilingualism and multilingualism within the text; there are various ways of analyzing these. The article focuses on the functions of multilingualism in the text and on the maintenance of multilingualism in the Estonian translation, as well as on strategies for reproducing the Ostarbeiters’ variety in Estonian. It combines theoretical considerations with the translator’s reflections on her translation strategies.
Anna Verschik (b. 1968), PhD, Tallinn University, Professor of General Linguistics (Narva mnt 25, 10120 Tallinn), annave@tlu.ee
References
VEEBIVARAD
Averbuch 2022b = Alex Averbuch, Facebooki postitus 24. III.
https://www.facebook.com/alex.averbuch.1/posts/5494401373921812
Lobi Muuseum 2024. Facebooki postitus 2. IX.
https://www.facebook.com/lobimuuseum/posts/salmikud-on-toredad-m%C3%A4lestused-ka-aastak%C3%BCmnete-p%C3%A4rast-mis-sa-arvad-kas-v%C3%B5iks-sal/962065469054592/
Tsarehradska 2022 = Єлизавета Цареградська, Уникати слова „жидівський” – це замовчувати травму – Олександр Авербух. – Громадське Радіо, Подкаст „Зустрічі” 29. X.
https://hromadske.radio/podcasts/zustrichi/unykaty-slova-zhydivs-kyy-tse-zamovchuvaty-travmu-oleksandr-averbukh
KIRJANDUS
Aabrams, Vahur 2023. Texts from a carnivalesque time of change: Four poems in Estonian Half-German. – Journal of Baltic Studies, kd 54, nr 4, lk 801–819. https://doi.org/10.1080/01629778.2023.2244481
Auer, Peter (toim) 1998. Code-Switching in Conversation: Language, Interaction and Identity. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203017883
Auer, Peter 1999. From codeswitching via language mixing to fused lects: Toward a dynamic typology of bilingual speech. – International Journal of Bilingualism, kd 3, nr 4, lk 309–332. https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069990030040101
Averbuch 2009 = Александр Авербух, Встречный свет. (Поколение 27.) Москва: АРГО-РИСК.
Averbuch 2017 = Александр Авербух, Свидетельство четвертого лица. (Новая поэзия.) Москва: Новое литературное обозрение.
Averbuch, Alex 2018. Orientalism and homoerotic desire in the poetry of a Ukrainian modernist: Ahatanhel Kryms’kyi in Lebanon. – The Slavic and East European Journal, kd 62, nr 2, lk 318–338. https://doi.org/10.30851/622006
Averbuch, Alex 2019. The Theurgy of impurity: Fin-de-race and feminine sin in Russian and Ukrainian modernisms. – The Russian Review, kd 78, nr 3, lk 459–485. https://doi.org/10.1111/russ.12240
Averbuch 2021 = Олександр Авербух, Жидівський король. Київ: Дух і Літера.
Averbuch 2022a = Олександр Авербух, Орієнталізація жіночності: поняття нечестивості в українській модерністській літературі. – Слово i Час, № 1, с. 82–98. https://doi.org/10.33608/0236-1477.2022.01.82-98
Averbuch, Alex 2023. Russophone literature of Ukraine: Self-decolonization, deterritorialization, reclamation. – Canadian Slavonic Papers, kd 65, nr 2, lk 146–162. https://doi.org/10.1080/00085006.2023.2198361
Averbuch, Alex 2025. L’ultima cena del mio corpo. Tlk Alessandro Achilli. Torino: Interlinea.
Averbuch, Alex 2026a. Furious Harvests. (Harvard Library of Ukrainian Literature 16.) Tlk Oksana Maksymchuk, Max Rosochinsky. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.
Averbuch, Alex 2026b. Das letzte Abendmahl meines Körpers. (Kleine slavische Bibliothek.) Tlk Angela Huber. Dresden: Thelem Universitätsverlag und Buchhandlung GmbH & Co. KG.
Belobrovtseva, Irina 2018. The bilingual writer: Two Estonian-Russian cases and one Russian-Estonian case. – Methis. Studia humaniora Estonica, kd 17, nr 21–22, lk 8–25. https://doi.org/10.7592/methis.v17i21/22.14582
Bender, Reet 2023. „Schanno bleibt trei:” Schanno von Dinakant as the last hero of Half-German poetry. – Journal of Baltic Studies, kd 54, nr 4, lk 821–834. https://doi.org/10.1080/01629778.2023.2237969
Benor, Sarah Bunin; Avineri, Netta 2019. Beyond language proficiency: Fostering metalinguistic communities in Jewish educational settings. – Beyond Jewish Identity: Rethinking Concepts and Imagining Alternatives. Toim Jon A. Levisohn, Ari Y. Kelman. Boston: Academic Studies Press, lk 167–192. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781644691175-009
Berehovskõi 1930 = Мусій Береговський, Чужомовні й різномовні пісні евреїв України, Білорусі й Польщи. – Етнографічний вісник, кн. 9, с. 37–51.
Bilaniuk, Laada 2005. Contested Tongues: Language Politics and Cultural Correction in Ukraine. (Culture and Society After Socialism.) Ithaca–London: Cornell University Press.
Cenoz, Jasone 2013. Defining multilingualism. – Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, kd 33, lk 3–18. https://doi.org/10.1017/S026719051300007X
Delabastita, Dirk 1993. There’s a Double Tongue: An Investigation into the Translation of Shakespeare’s Wordplay, with Special Reference to Hamlet. (Approaches to Translation Studies 11.) Amsterdam–Atlanta: Rodopi.
Dembeck, Till 2017. There is no such thing as a monolingual text! New Tools for Literary Scholarship. – Polyphonie: Mehrsprachigkeit, Kreativität, Schreiben, nr 1. http://hdl.handle.net/10993/31641
Dembeck, Till 2018. Multilingual philology and monolingual Faust: Theoretical perspectives and a reading of Goethe’s drama. – German Studies Review, kd 41, nr 3, lk 567–588. https://doi.org/10.1353/gsr.2018.0094
Dembeck, Till; Parr, Rolf (toim) 2017. Literatur und Mehrsprachigkeit: Ein Handbuch. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto Verlag.
Fishman, Joshua A. 1991. Reversing Language Shift. (Multilingual Matters 76.) Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Flier, Michael S. 2008. Suržyk or suržyks? – Belarusian Trasjanka and Ukrainian Suržyk: Structural and Social Aspects of Their Description and Categorization. (Studia Slavica Oldenburgensia 17.) Toim Gerd Hentschel, Siarhiej Zaprudski. Oldenburg: BIS‑Verlag, lk 39–56.
Golovko, Evgeniy V. 2003. Language contact and group identity: The role of „folk” linguistic engineering. – The Mixed Language Debate: Theoretical and Empirical Advances. (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs [TiLSM] 145.) Toim Yaron Matras, Peter Bakker. Berlin–New York: De Gruyter Mouton, lk 177–208. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110197242.177
Grutman, Rainier 2023. The missing link: Modeling readers of multilingual writing. – Journal of Literary Multilingualism, kd 1, nr 1, lk 15–36.
https://doi.org/10.1163/2667324x-20230103
Hansen, Julie 2023. Self-translation enacted in Theodor Kallifatides’ language memoir Ännu ett liv (Another Life). – Methis. Studia humaniora Estonica, kd 25, nr 31–32, lk 251–268. https://doi.org/10.7592/methis.v25i31-32.23322
Hauhman 2022 = Михайло Гаухман, В обіймах історії. – Україна Модерна 20. VIII. https://uamoderna.com/blogy/mikhailo-gaukhman/v-obiymakh-istoriyi/
Jakobson, Roman 1981 [1971]. The Dominant. – R. Jakobson, Selected Writings. Kd 3. Poetry of Grammar and Grammar of Poetry. Toim Stephen Rudy. The Hague–Paris–New York: Mouton Publishers, lk 751–756.
Jakobson, Roman 2014 [1971]. Dominant. – Kirjandus kui selline. Valik vene vormikoolkonna tekste. (Gigantum Humeris.) Koost, toim Märt Väljataga. Tallinn: TLÜ Kirjastus, lk 240–245.
Kalmre, Eda 1995. See pikk lühike tee salmialbumist oraaklini. Tüdrukute kirjalikust pärimusest aastatel 1970–1990. – Lipitud-lapitud. (Tänapäeva folkloorist 1.) Tartu: Eesti TA Eesti Keele Instituut, lk 161–173.
Kudriavtseva, Natalia 2025. New speakers of Ukrainian: Ideologies of linguistic conversion. – Language in Society, lk 1–20.
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0047404525101711
Kulyk, Volodymyr; Bilaniuk, Laada 2025. Introduction: Wartime changes in language patterns of Ukrainians in Ukraine and abroad. – Sociolinguistic Studies, kd 19, nr 3–4, lk 251–261. https://doi.org/10.3138/SS-19-3-4-0001
Lange, Anne 2023. Attachés of Ukrainian culture in Estonia. – Translation Studies in Ukraine as an Integral Part of European Context. Toim Martin Djovčoš, Ivana Hostová, Mária Kusá, Emília Perez. Bratislava: VEDA, Publishing House of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, lk 90–99. https://doi.org/10.31577/2023.9788022420150
Lehiste, Ilse 1965. A Poem in Halbdeutsch and some questions concerning substratum. – Word, kd 21, lk 55–69. https://doi.org/10.1080/00437956.1965.11435418
Linno, Saara Lotta 2023. Some aspects of the poetic multilingualism of contemporary Estonian poetry. – Journal of Baltic Studies, kd 54, nr 4, lk 835–856.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01629778.2023.2244944
Linno, Saara Lotta; Lukas, Liina 2022. Mitmekeelsus Eesti luules. – Keel ja Kirjandus, nr 8–9, lk 792–811. https://doi.org/10.54013/kk776a10
Lutsõšõna 2021 = Оксана Луцишина, Священна мова його не-тіла. – Олександр Авербух, Жидівський король. Київ: Дух і Літера, с. VI–X.
Lutsõšõna 2022 = Оксана Луцишина, Олександр Авербух про поезію та міжкультурні зв’язки українців і євреїв. – Читомо 23. VI. https://chytomo.com/oleksandr-averbukh-pro-poeziiu-ta-mizhkulturni-zv-iazky-ukraintsiv-i-ievreiv/
Lõssenko 2022 = Олена Лисенко, Єдине, чого ми тепер прагнемо, – це визнання нашого болю: огляд на збірку „Жидівський король” Олександра Авербуха. – Тиктор Медіа 1. XII.
https://web.archive.org/web/20260316080308/https://tyktor.media/polytsia/zhydivskyi-korol/
Malý, Radek 2022. The poetry of Ilana Shmueli within the cultural context of Chernivtsi and Bukovina. – Slovo a Smysl, kd 19, nr 39, lk 84–94.
https://doi.org/10.14712/23366680.2022.1.6
Monticelli, Daniele 2025. Translation as autocommunication: A Peeter Torop-inspired analysis of the Estonian translation of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. – Dialogues with Peeter Torop. Festschrift in Honour of Peeter Torop’s 75th Birthday. (Tartu Semiotics Library 25.) Toim Maarja Ojamaa, Elin Sütiste, Katalin Kroó. Tartu: University of Tartu Press, lk 296–310.
Monticelli, Daniele; Saagpakk, Maris; Verschik, Anna 2023. Literary multilingualism in translation: Texts, contexts, agents. Introduction. – Methis. Studia humaniora Estonica, kd 25, nr 31–32, lk 5–17. https://doi.org/10.7592/methis.v25i31-32.23311
Novak, Katja 2025. Tõlkes leitud: Ukraina kirjanduse hääled. Ukraina kirjanduse tõlkijate vestlusring. Osalejad Veronika Einberg, Maarja Kangro, Ilona Martson, Anna Verschik, Katrin Väli. – Tõlkija hääl XIII. Eesti Kirjanike Liidu tõlkijate sektsiooni aastaraamat. Koost Heli Allik. Tallinn: Kultuurileht, lk 11–27.
Pandey, Anjali 2016. Monolingualism and Linguistic Exhibitionism in Fiction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137340368
Petrovsky-Shtern, Yohanan 2009. The Anti-Imperial Choice: The Making of the Ukrainian Jew. New Haven: Yale University Press.
https://doi.org/10.12987/yale/9780300137316.001.0001
Sapritsky-Nahum, Marina 2025. „Russian-speaking but not svoi”: Language ideologies of Ukrainian-Jewish refugees. – Sociolinguistic Studies, kd 19, nr 3–4, lk 445–467. https://doi.org/10.3138/ss-19-3-4-0010
Sarkar, Mela; Winer, Lise 2006. Multilingual codeswitching in Quebec rap: Poetry, pragmatics and performativity. – International Journal of Multilingualism, kd 3, nr 3, lk 173–192. https://doi.org/10.2167/ijm030.0
Seals, Corinne A.; Beliaeva, Natalia 2023. Aspirational family language policy. – Language Policy, kd 22, lk 501–521. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-023-09674-3
Strikha, Iaroslava 2023. You say Khorosho, I say Horrorshow: English translations of Russian-language passages in contemporary Ukrainian-language literature. – Methis. Studia humaniora Estonica, kd 25, nr 31–32, lk 18–38.
https://doi.org/10.7592/methis.v25i31-32.23312
Thomason, Sarah Grey 2001. Language Contact: An introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Torop 1995 = Пеэтер Тороп, Тотальный перевод. Тарту: Издательство Тартуского университета.
Torop, Peeter 2008. Translation as communication and auto-communication. – Sign Systems Studies, kd 36, nr 2, lk 375–397. https://doi.org/10.12697/SSS.2008.36.2.06
Torop, Peeter 2024. Totaaltõlge. Tlk Tanel Pern. Toim Silvi Salupere. Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus.
Trunin, Mihhail 2025. Vene-Eesti brikolaaž. Jelena Skulskaja eesti luule tõlgetest. – Tõlkija hääl XIII. Eesti Kirjanike Liidu tõlkijate sektsiooni aastaraamat. Koost Heli Allik. Tallinn: Kultuurileht, lk 169–191.
Tšernin 2016 = Велвл Чернін, Вірю, що я не пасинок. Львів: Видавництво УКУ.
Uffelmann, Dirk 2022. Self-translation – the looming end of Russophone literature in the CIS? Boris Khersonskii’s anti-hegemonic code-switching. – Russian Literature, kd 127, lk 99–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ruslit.2021.10.006
Venuti, Lawrence 1991. Genealogies of translation theory: Schleiermacher. – TTR. Traduction, terminologie, rédaction, kd 4, nr 2, lk 125–150.
https://doi.org/10.7202/037096ar
Verschik, Anna 2020. „Kes jääb alles, mis jääb alles?”. Ühe luuletuse tõlke tagamaad. – Looming, nr 1, lk 98–99.
Verschik, Anna 2021. Yiddish–Slavic language contact in multilingual songs: Describing deliberate code-switching. – International Journal of Bilingualism, kd 25, nr 6, lk 1696–1717. https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069211036931
Verschik, Anna; Saagpakk, Maris 2023. Multilingualism in the Estonian translations of Baltic German literature. – Methis. Studia humaniora Estonica, kd 25, nr 31–32, lk 77–107. https://doi.org/10.7592/methis.v25i31-32.23314
Vlasta, Sandra 2023. Shifting multilingualism: Jhumpa Lahiri’s expansion from (multilingual) author to (self-)translator. – Methis. Studia humaniora Estonica, kd 25, nr 31–32, lk 189–205. https://doi.org/10.7592/methis.v25i31-32.23319
Weinreich 1950 = Uriel Vajnrajx, Di foršung fun „miššpraxike” jidiše folkslider. – JIVO Bleter, kd 34, lk 282–288.
Yildiz, Yasemin 2012. Beyond the Mother Tongue: The Postmonolingual Condition. New York: Fordham University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt13x0cqr