{"id":119991,"date":"2021-11-04T19:12:38","date_gmt":"2021-11-05T02:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=119991"},"modified":"2021-11-04T19:12:38","modified_gmt":"2021-11-05T02:12:38","slug":"alexander-pushkins-eugene-onegin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/11\/04\/alexander-pushkins-eugene-onegin\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexander Pushkin\u2019s Eugene Onegin"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Tilak S.Fernando<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
\"Alexander<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The\nmasterpiece of the Great Russian poet Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin\u2019s novel \u2018Eugene\nand Onegin\u2019<\/em><\/strong> is translated into Sinhala for the first time by Dr Athula\nWithanage, who has written many books in Sinhala and English. Dr Withanage was\na senior surgeon who worked for over twenty years in the NHS UK. After a heavy\nday\u2019s work at the hospital theatre, he took up writing for relaxation. He has\npublished many books in Sinhala and English. His first medical novel, Living\nCapsule<\/em><\/strong>, dealt with a clinical problem that any surgeon had to\nbattle. Recently during the COVID-19 epidemic using his experience, he\nwrote his latest novel called The Pond, Butterflies and Rainbow<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Pushkin\u2019s novel in verse has been translated\ninto English as many as 45 times since 1800, but this is the first time that it\nhas been translated into Sinhala directly from Russian by Dr Withhange, taking\ninto account the Soviet era in the 1800s. It has taken him six years to do, and\nDr Withanage becomes the 46th translator in English, and simultaneously in\nSinhala for the Sri Lankan audience. Translators found it challenging to\nunderstand the poetic meaning of Pushkin\u2019s words to portray his character and\nevents. It is perhaps why since 1880, translations into other languages were\nimperfect, especially into English. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexander\nPushkin<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexander\nSergeyevich Pushkin was born on 26 May 1799 in Moscow during the Russian\nEmpire. He hailed from the Russian nobility; his father Sergey Lvovich Pushkin\ndescended from a distinguished family of the Russian elite that traced its\nancestry back to the 12th century. His mother, Nadezhda (Nadya), Ossipovna Gannibal\ndescended from German and Scandinavian nobility through her paternal\ngrandmother. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His\nmaternal great-grandfather was Central-African born general Abram Petrovich\nGannibal. Pushkin grew up surrounded by maids and French tutors and mainly\nspoke French until the age of ten. He became acquainted with the Russian\nlanguage through communication with household servants and especially with his\nnanny, Arina Rodionova, whom he loved dearly and became more attached to the\nnanny than his mother. After finishing school, Alexander Pushkin published his\nfirst poem at the age of 15 years, as part of the first graduating class of the\nprestigious Imperial Lyceum in Tsarskoye Selo, near Saint Petersburg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nRussian literary sector widely recognised his latent talents after attending\nthe Lyceum. Pushkin plunged into the energetic and harsh intellectual youth\nculture of St. Petersburg, which was then the capital of the Russian Empire.\nPushkin has married his lover, a gorgeous lady, Anna Petrovna, for whom he\nwrote the most famous love poems in the Russian language. Pushkin was a\ncontroversial writer. In 1820 when he published \u2018Ruslan and Ludmila\u2019<\/em><\/strong>\nthat challenged the boundaries of prose and poetry and lyrical poetry he faced\ncriticism. In January 1837, Pushkin became famous as a Russian poet,\nplaywright, and novelist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was\nwell known among the most significant Russian poets and considered the Master\nof Modern Russian literature. Evgeni Onegin, is a novel in verse consisting of\nthree hundred and eighty-nine stanzas and 8 chapters. The entire work is\nwritten in 14 line short lyrical poems except for Tatyana\u2019s love letter (3.32)\nand Onegin\u2019s love letter (8.32). This rhythmic arrangement is a Sonnet.\nAlexander Pushkin Sonnets originated from the classic Greek tradition closely\nassociated with great poets such as William Shakespeare and John Keats. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is\ncommendable how Dr Athula Withanage has translated \u2018Eugene Onegin\u2019<\/em><\/strong>\nwhile maintaining the same rhythmic style both in Sinhala and English. Upon\ngraduation, Pushkin enumerated his controversial poem Ode to Liberty<\/em>\nthat led to his exile by Tsar Alexander 1 of Russia. When Pushkin was under\nsevere observation by Tsar\u2019s political police, he could not publish his poems;\ninstead, he wrote an excellent play, called \u2018Boris Godunov<\/em><\/strong>.\u2019 After\nhis exile in 1820, Pushkin\u2019s friends and family continually petitioned for his\nrelease, sending letters and meetings with Tsar Alexander and Tsar\nNicholas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities\nsummoned Pushkin to Moscow after his poem Ode to Liberty<\/em><\/strong> was\nfound among the belongings of the rebels from the Decembrist Uprising. Pushkin\nobtained his release from exile and began to work as the Tsar\u2019s Titular Counsel\nof the National Archives. However, because insurgents in the Decembrist\nUprising in 1825 in Saint Petersburg, Tsar held Pushkin\u2019s earlier political\npoems to control everything Pushkin published, and Tsar banned him from\ntravelling at will.  Pushkin gradually became\ncommitted to social reform and emerged as a spokesman for literary\nradicals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was\ninspired by the Greek Revolution when the war against the Ottoman broke out.\nThat angered the government of the day that led to his transfer from the\ncapital in May 1820. Finally, he became a Freemason. He joined the \u2018Filiki\nEteria,<\/em><\/strong>\u2019 a secret organisation whose purpose was to overthrow Ottoman\nrule in Greece and to establish an independent Greek state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eugene\nOnegin<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His\nnovel, \u2018Eugene Onegin\u2019<\/em><\/strong> was serialised between 1825 and 1832.\nThere are many Russian and Hollywood films, stage productions, ballets, operas,\nand radio shows from the BBC on this remarkable romantic novel. In 1825,\nPushkin wrote his most famous play \u2018Boris Godunov\u2019<\/em><\/strong> at his\nmother\u2019s estate. He could not, however, gain permission to publish it until\nfive years later. The original version of the drama was not staged until\n2007. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pushkin\u2019s\nDownfall<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\n1836, Pushkin fell into more outstanding debt and faced scandalous rumours that\nhis wife had a love affair. Once he sent a challenge for a duel to Georges\nd\u2019Anth\u00e8s, who was supposed to be his wife\u2019s lover, but his friends cancelled\nthe dual. Irritated Alexander Pushkin once again challenged Georges d\u2019Anth\u00e8s\nfor a pistol duel, which took place at the Black River. During the pistol dual,\nd\u2019Anth\u00e8s fired first, critically wounding Pushkin. The bullet entered Pushkin\u2019s\nhip and penetrated through to his abdomen causing a significant injury. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

D\u2019Anth\u00e8s\nwas only lightly injured in the right arm by Pushkin\u2019s shot. Two days later\nPushkin died of generalised peritonitis (inflammation of the tissue that\nlines the abdomen, which is deadly serious<\/em>). The funeral service took place\nat St. Isaac\u2019s Cathedral where many people attended. Pushkin\u2019s wife\u2019 requested\nnot to place the coffin containing the corpse in a chamber-cadet uniform ( the\nuniform provided by the Tsar<\/em>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally,\nthe coffin having lowered into the basement where it stayed for a while, and\nlater it remained at Pskov province, on the Svyatogorsky monastery, near\nAlexander Pushkin\u2019s mother\u2019s grave. Many Sri Lankan translators, like K.G.\nKarunathilake, Dadigama. Rodrigo\u2019 have introduced classics of Russian authors\nto the Sinhala readers. Pushkin\u2019s poetry was introduced by W. A. Abeysinghe and\nthen by Karunathilake Handunpathirana. However, the Sri Lankan readers did not\nhave the opportunity to reach Pushkin\u2019s point of view of life and his concepts\nin poetry through his masterpiece \u2018Eugene Onegin\u2019<\/em><\/strong> until\nnow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is\nof great importance to note the valuable literary contribution Dr Athula\nWithanage has made to Sri Lankan readers by translating this historical Sinhala\ntranslation. Dr Athula Withanage believes that the Sri Lankan audience now\ncould learn Pushkin\u2019s point of view of life, his concepts in poetry, Russian\nnational spirit and aristocracy and \u2018Pushkin\u2019s beloved Russia\u2019 through his\nmasterpiece \u2018Eugene Onegin\u2019<\/em>. Dr Withanage assures that Sri Lankan\nreaders will enjoy Pushkin\u2019s most remarkable work. The English translation is\nalso available in Sri Lanka translated by Dr Athula Withanage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It can\nuse as a comparison, because it suits the Asian audience in the straightforward\nnarrative after freeing himself from the shackles of rhyme, yet retaining the\noriginal 14 lines of Pushkin\u2019s stanzas, except in the two love letters in the\nintroductory committed poem. The original Russian explanatory notes at the end\nof the English translation are helpful to understand the poetic meaning of some\nof the words. Dr Withanage is a Surgeon by profession and is not fully\ncommitted to writing. Nevertheless, he has produced five Sinhala novels, three\nEnglish novels, one teledrama, two translations and a valuable educational book\nfor any doctor in any field of medicine called Wound Care and\nManagement.\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is\nthe brother of actor, Shakespearian writer, author and drama producer of the\nlate Bandula Withanage. \u2018Evgeni Onegin\u2019<\/em><\/strong> is the authentic Russian\npronunciation, but it sounds feminine. So, Athula Withanage translated the\nSinhala version as \u2018Evageni Anegini\u2019<\/em><\/strong> to make it sound more\nSinhala and Masculine. Translations of both Sinhala and English versions were\npresented at the Russian Centre Book Festival in Colombo on 27 October 2021 at\n3.30. pm, where the First Secretary at the Russian Embassy was present. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the\nBook Festival, all Russian language translators were introduced including Dr\nAthula Withanage and dramatist Ranjith Dharmakeerthi. A special mention made by\nthe orators was how Dr Athula Withanage took seven years to translate Evgeni\nOnegin into English and Sinhala, especially the Sinhala version as a \u2018historical\u2019\ntranslation. Comments were also made how Dr Withanage, amidst his hospital\nsurgical duties managed to translate into Sinhala and English\nsimultaneously. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr\nWithanage had to learn the Russian language in the Soviet Union before he\nembarked on medical studies, for which he earned a gold medal. In the UK, he\nacquired three FRCS recognitions from the UK, Scotland, and Ireland. He\nreceived three nominations for the Golden Scalpel Award ( All Island) in the\nUK. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

tilakfernando@gmail.com<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Tilak S.Fernando The masterpiece of the Great Russian poet Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin\u2019s novel \u2018Eugene and Onegin\u2019 is translated into Sinhala for the first time by Dr Athula Withanage, who has written many books in Sinhala and English. Dr Withanage was a senior surgeon who worked for over twenty years in the NHS UK. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-drtilak-s-fernando"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119991\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}