Leon V. Toom ( est. Leon Toom ; January 13, 1921 , Solnechnogorsk , Moscow Region - June 3, 1969 , Moscow ) - Soviet translator of fiction, poet, literary critic [1] . The addressee of poems by David Samoilov , Yunna Moritz .
| Leon Toom | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date of Birth | January 13, 1921 |
| Place of Birth | Solnechnogorsk , Moscow region , USSR |
| Date of death | June 3, 1969 (48 years old) |
| A place of death | Moscow |
| Citizenship |  the USSR |
| Occupation | translator , literary critic |
| Years of creativity | 1945-1969 |
| Genre | poetry , prose |
| Language of Works | Russian |
| Awards | Prize of the magazine " Friendship of Peoples " (1968) |
Biography
The early years
Born in 1921 near Moscow, in Solnechnogorsk . Mother - an emigrant from Estonia , translator and critic Lidia Petrovna Toom (1890-1976) from childhood instilled in Leon a love of the language and literature of his ancestors. The stepfather was the writer and journalist Alexander Beck , whose relationship with Toom, according to a contemporary, was "difficult", but survived even after the separation of the mother and stepfather. The family lived in the center of Moscow. According to a contemporary, the house was “a genuine Estonian cultural representation in Moscow. Almost all the creative people who came to the capital at that time or studied at literary, cinema or theater establishments stayed there ” [2] [3] .
In childhood, during the game, Leon accidentally wounded a friend from a gun in a friend’s house, the wound was fatal. According to David Samoilov , the incident left an imprint on the life and fate of Toom [2] :
It is possible that the echo of involuntary guilt echoed in the last act of his life. There was some special risk in it, some openness to guilt and the need to atone for it with physical risk [2] .
After leaving school, Toom worked as an actor in the theater studio of A. A. Arbuzov and V. N. Pluchek [4] . During the war years , the studio became a mobile front-line theater , traveling performances were given in Central Asia , the Polar , on the northern and central fronts [K 1] [2] [6] .
In 1945, Toom was drafted into the army . He fought as part of the Estonian Rifle Corps [4] . During the hostilities he first appeared in Estonia, with which he subsequently associated his professional activities [6] .
Mature years. Doom
One, Leon Toom,
Would you come with me
Expensive day
Or by night.
You wallbreaker
Window breaker,
Matured with a sharp eye
The misery of systems!
<...>
Goodbye my good friend!
Farewell, careless genius!
Of all your skills
Remained the gift of parting ...
After the war, he entered the A.M. Gorky Literary Institute , graduated in 1951. I independently learned several foreign languages - French, Polish, etc. I was engaged in translating into Russian the works of Estonian classical and Soviet literature . He also translated French, German, Polish, Finnish, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, Latvian, Lithuanian, Belgian, Italian poetry. He also wrote his own poems, but did not plan to publish them [4] [2] . In the early 1950s was admitted to the Writers' Union [6] .
Among Toom's comrades were Arkady Belinkov , Yuri Timofeev, Eduard Kolmanovsky , Alexander Kazhdan and others. [8] Leon Toom was the addressee of poems by David Samoilov , Yunna Moritz [7] . According to contemporaries, he was distinguished by “nobility, directness and disinterestedness”, “deep mind”, wit [K 2] , “the ability to insert a weighty word in a noisy argument, where everything got messed up”. Loved high-speed driving by car [2] [10] .
David Samoilov recalled:
Then there was the first era of passion for motorism . I remember Leon driving an old Moskvich - he was full of excitement, detached, as if ready for a jump, leaned over the steering wheel, flew, speed was important to him, not the goal. Maybe this is the best model of his condition [2] .
Leon Toom died in 1969, falling from the window of his apartment. The circumstances of the death remained unknown.
He was buried at the Peredelkino cemetery [2] [6] .
Literary work
Translations
Over 20 years of literary work, Toom translated over thirty classical and contemporary Soviet authors from an Estonian work, the work of which the Russian-speaking reader met through his translations. David Samoilov called him “one of the pioneers of translating Estonian poetry into Russian after the war ” [3] [6] .
Toome translated the essays “Ice Book”, “Sea of Japan, December” by J. Smuula , novels “Stone on a Stone” and “Red Carnations” [K 3] by J. Semper , “Green Gold” by O. Tooming , “Towards Your Sun” [K 3] F. Touglas , works by E. Wilde , E. Myannik , E. Krusten and others. Translations from Lithuanian and Latvian include poems by E. Mezhelaitis , J. Marcinkevičius , D. Vaarandi , P. Rummo al. [1] [11]
He also acted as a compiler and editor of poetic anthologies, a literary critic [1] [2] [12] .
According to David Samoilov,
When his [L. Tooma] participation and under his leadership, formal or informal, the first books of Estonian poets in Russian were published. He was the actual creator of the first translated anthology of Estonian poetry, published in the Great Series of the Poet's Library. <...> For the first time it was possible to get acquainted with the works of classics of hitherto unknown literature [2] .
Poems
During the life of Toom, his poetic works were not published. Poems not intended by the author for publication were published in posthumous collections of the elect in 1976 and 2002. Collections of poems were published in the almanac “Day of Poetry” (1971, 1989) and others. They were included in the anthology of Russian poetry “ Stanzas of the Century ” compiled by Yevgeny Yevtushenko in 1999 [13] [2] .
According to David Samoilov ,
Poems of Toom are informative and peculiar in the manner how their author is meaningful and peculiar. They lacked some kind of final volitional refinement, “aspiration for the reader” ... lacked objectivity, materiality of the image, that is, the perception of the world not only in the field of intelligence and emotions, but also with all five senses ... [2]
Ratings
The literary work of Leon Toom was praised by fellow writers and literary scholars. According to the estimates of D. Samoilov and P. Gorelik , Toom was a “master of translation” and “left a noticeable mark in the recent history of Russian-Estonian cultural ties” [14] :
... Leon translated masterfully. I think that Estonian poetry in Russian did not have a translator of this level and scale, either before or after. It is difficult to overestimate the contribution of Leon Toom to the history of Russian-Estonian cultural relations [2] .
- D. Samoilov
The translator, compiler of the anthology “Foreign Poetry in Russian Translations: From Lomonosov to the Present Day”, L. V. Ginzburg listed Toom among the translators, whom he called “priests” and “servants” of “friendship of peoples”:
I know magnificent Russian verses that are translations ... These verses really enriched each of us - spiritually, aesthetically, morally, made a serious contribution to the friendship of peoples. I would call other translators priests, servants of this friendship — who knows how to hear, see, understand and love <...> Estonia like Leon Toom? [fifteen]
For the translation of the book of essays by Yu. Smuul “The Sea of Japan, December” Leon Toom was awarded the prize of the magazine “ Friendship of Peoples ” (1968) [16] . Gorelik described the Toomovskiy translation of the prose of Smuul as brilliant [4] , Samoilov called it brilliant [2] .
Calling Tooma “a noble and loyal rival” of the poets he translated, Boris Slutsky, in the preface to the posthumous collection of Tooma, noted: “It seems that fate itself has prepared for him the role of translator of Estonian poetry” [17] .
Literary critic T. A. Zhirmunskaya in the introductory note to the posthumous publication of Tooma's poem collection in the anthology of Poetry Day wrote:
He never called himself a poet, but he always remained - in work, in life. His best translations are performed in poetry, especially translations from Estonian. <...> Poetry dictated his exactingness to literature, which he knew so well, to the life that he so infectiously loved [18] .
Family
- Wives - Natalia Pavlovna Antokolskaya (1921-1981), artist, daughter of the poet P. G. Antokolsky ; Yunna Petrovna Moritz , poetess [2] [4] [19] .
- Children - Andrei Leonovich Toom (born 1942), Ph.D. in Physics and Mathematics, Professor, Department of Statistics, Federal University of Pernambuco ( Brazil ); Catherine [2] [4] .
Bibliography
Posthumous Editions
- Collections
- Toom L. Among friends: [collection] = [From Estonian classics; From Estonian Soviet poets; From the poetry books of Leon Toom] / Leon Toom; [ed. foreword B. Slutsky]. - Tallinn: Eesti Raamat , 1976.- 338 p. - 2000 copies.
- Toom L. Meeting with the world: Poems. Selected Translations / Leon Toom. - M .: Grail, 2002 .-- 112 p.
- Journal publications
- Leon Toom (1921-1969) // Day of Poetry: Almanac. - M .: Sov. writer, 1971. - S. 182 .
- Leon Toom, 1921-1969 // Day of Poetry: Almanac. - M .: Sov. writer, 1989 .-- S. 156-157 .
Translations
- Estonian poets of the XIX century: [anthology] / ed. per. P. G. Antokolsky and L. V. Tooma; foreword comp. and note. P. Rummo. - L .: Sov. writer, 1961. - 489 p. - (Library of the poet. Large series). - 10,000 copies.
- Koidula L. Poems / Lydia Koidula; per. L. Tooma. - M .: OGIZ; Gos. publishing house lit., 1945.
- Tooming O. Tales and Stories / Oswald Tooming; per. with est. L. Tooma. - M. , 1950.
- Semper J. Red Carnations: Novel / Johannes Semper; per. with est. L. Tooma. - M .: Sov. writer, 1956.
- Wilde E. Sobr. Op. : 5 t./Eduard Wilde; preparation. text L. Tooma. - M .: Izvestia, 1958. - (Library of classics of literatures of the peoples of the USSR).
- Smuul Yu. Ice Book; Sea of Japan, December: [Travel Diaries] / Johan Smuul; authorization. per. with est. L. Tooma. - M .: Izvestia, 1967 .-- 440 p. - (B-ka “Fifty years of the Soviet novel”).
- Vetemaa E. Monument. Little Novels / Ann Vetemaa; per. with est. L. Tooma. - M .: Izvestia, 1972.- 334 p. - (Library of "Friendship of Peoples").
- Kuusberg P. In the midst of summer: a novel / Paul Kuusberg; per. with est. L. Tooma. - M .: Sov. writer, 1978.- 736 p. - 200,000 copies.
- Smuul Yu. Murka the sailor: a story / Juhan Smuul; per. with est. L. Tooma. - Tallinn: Eesti Raamat, 1986.- 93 p.
Comments
- ↑ Tooma's colleagues in the Arbuzovskaya studio were A. Galich and L. Agranovich [5] .
- ↑ Tooma is attributed to the acuteness of the “late Rebilitance” which was dispersed after the XX Congress of the CPSU [9] .
- ↑ 1 2 Together with L.P. Toom.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 CLE, 1972 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Samoilov D. , 2000 , Ch. 46.
- ↑ 1 2 Perelygin V. School named after Lydia Koidula and David Samoilov // Youth of Estonia: newspaper. - Tallinn, 2002. - Vol. June 1st .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Gorelik P.Z. , 2003 , p. 294.
- ↑ Arion, 2002 ; Samoilov D. , 2000 , Ch. 46.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Arion, 2002 .
- ↑ 1 2 Gribanov B. T. And memory-snow flies and cannot fall // Banner : magazine. - M. , 2006. - No. 9 .
- ↑ Liberman A. Bibliography: Time-based publications: Word-Word. 35-36. New York, 2002, 241 pp. // New magazine. - New York, 2003 .-- T. 230 .
- ↑ Gorelik P.Z. , 2003 , p. 294; Samoilov D. , 2000 , Ch. 46.
- ↑ Gorelik P.Z. , 2003 , p. 294-295.
- ↑ Proceedings of the Russian Research Center in Estonia . - Tallinn, 2003 .-- T. 2 .-- S. 13, 21.
- ↑ Surovtsev Yu. I. Yukhan Smuul: an essay on creativity . - M .: Sov. writer, 1964. - S. 168-170. - 175 p.
- ↑ Children of the Iron Age. Poets born from 1918 to 1940 // Stanzas of the century: Anthology of Russian poetry / comp. E. Evtushenko. - Minsk: Polyfact, 1999 .-- 1056 p. - (The results of the century. A look from Russia). - 5,000 copies. - ISBN 5-89356-006-X .
- ↑ Gorelik P.Z. , 2003 , p. 293-294.
- ↑ Ginzburg L.V. Reflections of a translator // Poetry Day. - M. , 1966.
- ↑ [Prize 1968] // Peoples' Friendship : Journal. - M. , 1968. - No. 12 . - S. 277 .
- ↑ [Rec .:]. Leon Toom. Among friends. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat, 1976 // Literature Review : Journal. - M .: True, 1976. - Vol. 7-12 . - S. 35-36 .
- ↑ Zhirmunskaya T. Leon Toom (1921-1969) // Poetry Day: almanac. - M .: Sov. writer, 1971. - S. 182 .
- ↑ Memorial. Yunna Moritz . Polit.ru (June 2, 2015). Date of treatment December 13, 2016.
Literature
- Kononov I., Spring purity, “Lit. newspaper ", 1964, Oct. 27 .;
- Tevekelyan D., Proof of the contrary, “Koms. the truth ", 1967, Jan 19;
- Levin F., Sven Voore, his mask and face, "New World", 1967, No. 3.
- Gorelik P.Z. Widely known in narrow circles: (About Leon Toome) // Questions of literature : journal. - M. , 2003. - No. 3 . - S. 293-295 .
- Samoilov D. Ch. 46: Chapter with an epilogue // Sorting through our dates / David Samoilov. - M .: Vagrius, 2000 .-- 141 p. - (My 20th century). - ISBN 5-264-00221-5 .
- Leon Toom / intro. word and publ. A. Toom // Arion : Journal of Poetry. - M. , 2002. - No. 2.
Links
- Toom, Leon 1921-1969 in libraries ( WorldCat catalog)
- Leon Toom's translations on the Fantasy Lab website
- Arzhanaya G.I. Toom, Leon Valentinovich // Brief Literary Encyclopedia / Ch. ed. A.A. Surkov . - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia , 1972. - T. 7. “Soviet Ukraine” - Flaki. - Stb. 578.