ANIMAL SIMILES IN THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY FRENCH TRANSLATIONSOF MIKHAIL LERMONTOV'S NOVEL “A HERO OF OUR TIME”

Abstract

Aim. The paper focuses on rendering of the key lexical items of animal similes in the 19th century French translations of Mikhail Lermontov’s novel “A Hero of our time” which enjoyed considerable popularity at the time and significantly influenced the development of Russian literature. Methodology. An empirical corpus built for this research contains five French translations of the novel made by: A. A. Stolypin (1843), J.-M. Chopin (1853), E. Scheffter (1855), X. Marmier (1856), A. de Villamarie (1884). The main source of original text is Academic Edition of Lermontov’s Works issued in 1954-1957. A comparative semantic and functional approach forms the framework for this descriptive study. The reverse translation serves for a more detailed and contrasted illustration of the collected data. Results. The analysis reveals the principal features of interpretation of the key lexical items of animalistic similes in the five translations of Lermontov’s novel and demonstrates some factors likely to influence the translator’s choice of lexical equivalent. Research implications. This research helps to systematize the animalistic similes which are present in the Russian text and its French translations. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of retrospective approach for a complex study of translator’s individual style.