Polina Samoilovna Bernshtein (nee Rabinovich; February 19 (March 3) 1870 - June 28, 1949 ) - Soviet translator from German , who opened the work of Stefan Zweig to Russian readers. Mother of writer A. Ivich and linguist S.I. Bernstein ; the grandmother of the memoirist S.I. Bogatyryova .
| Polina Samoilovna Bernstein | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Polina Samoilovna Rabinovich |
| Date of Birth | |
| Place of Birth | |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
| Citizenship |  the USSR |
| Occupation | translator |
| Years of creativity | 1917-1949 |
| Genre | novel , story , story |
| Language of Works | |
Content
Biography
She was born in the family of the owner of the yeast factory, the merchant of the first guild Samuil Rabinovich and his wife Augustina Yakovlevna, who bore the title of hereditary honorary citizen of Kiev . She had seven brothers and sisters. [one]
In 1891 , she married Ignatius Abramovich Bernstein, a communications engineer. After the wedding, the young family settled in Tiflis , and in 1900 moved to Harbin , where Ignatius Abramovich was sent to participate in the construction of the Sino-Eastern Railway .
In July 1900, after only a few months of life in the Far East , the family was forced to evacuate from Harbin in connection with the start of the Boxer Uprising . As a result of the shelling of the Odessa steamer by the Chinese troops, transporting Russian engineers and workers to Khabarovsk, he was seriously wounded and the husband of Polina Samoilovna died on the same day.
Together with the eldest son Sergei and born six weeks after the death of his father, Ignatius, Bernstein returned from Khabarovsk to Kiev. After the Jewish pogroms that occurred in Kiev in 1905 , she went abroad for a year - to Berlin and Switzerland . Returning to Russia, settled in St. Petersburg .
Interest on insurance paid by the CER Railways allowed Pauline Bernstein to live a comfortable life in St. Petersburg. She rented a spacious apartment in a fashionable area near the Five Corners , maintained a staff of servants, dressed elegantly, and attended refined cooking courses. According to family tradition, Emperor Nikolai bowed to Polina Samoilovna, who was passing in a carriage along Nevsky Prospect, mistaking her for a maid of honor .
According to relatives, Polina Samoilovna had a strong character, was harsh and demanding. Sons managed to inspire respect and respect. She had a particularly trusting and cordial relationship with her eldest son, Sergei , who turned to her “Mommy” (from “mother” and “dear”).
From 1941 to 1943 she was evacuated in Chistopol . [2] She performed the role of a “liaison” between family members and friends scattered across the country and the world, informing “each of everyone” in letters and postcards. [one]
She died in Moscow in 1949 . An urn with ashes was buried in the columbarium of the Novodevichy cemetery .
Professional Activities
In 1917 , Bernstein lost her fortune and took up translations from German as a living. [3] The first published work of Polina Bernstein was the comedy play of the Austrian Rudolf Lothar "The Harlequin King." [4] The play was released in 1917 in Narva , was soon seen in St. Petersburg and Moscow and staged in the capital's theaters.
Bernstein closely followed the novelties of foreign literature and therefore paid special attention to the work of Stefan Zweig, who was part of the literary fashion of those years. The translator wrote a letter to Zweig in which she proposed to introduce the Russian reader to his works. The writer enthusiastically responded to her proposal. Bernstein’s translations were included in the first, twelve-volume, collected works of Stefan Zweig with a preface by Maxim Gorky , which was published in Leningrad from 1928 to 1932 .
She became one of the first members of the Writers' Union formed in 1934 . The membership card she received was signed by Maxim Gorky, was considered a relic and could not be exchanged. [five]
Translations
Translations of S. Zweig
In chronological order
- Governess. - L., 1924.
- The burning secret. - L., 1924.
- Summer short story. - L., 1924.
- Woman and landscape. - L., 1926.
- Sunset of one heart. - L., 1927.
- Leporella. - L., 1927.
- Invisible collection. - L., 1927.
- Compulsion. - L., 1927.
- Case at Lake Geneva. - L., 1927.
- Confusion of feelings . - L., 1927.
- The mystery of Byron . - L., 1927.
- The fight for the South Pole . - L., 1928.
- The life of three clowns. - L., 1928.
- The legend of the twin sisters. - L., 1928.
- Mig Waterloo. - L., 1928.
- Discovery of Eldorado . - L., 1928.
- Tolstoy. - L., 1928.
- Dostoevsky. - L., 1929.
- Casanova. - L., 1929.
- Romain Rolland: Life and work. - L., 1930.
- Joseph Foucher. - L., 1931.
- Gelderlin. Kleist. - L., 1932.
Other translations
- Kellerman B. Tunnel (1913)
- Wasserman J. The Case of Mauritsius (1928)
- Fallad G. What Next? (1934)
- Lothar R. Volpone
- Lothar R. King-Harlequin
Family
The eldest son is the linguist Sergei Ignatievich Bernstein (1892-1970).
The youngest son is the writer Alexander Ivich (1900-1978).
Granddaughter - memoirist Sofya Bogatyreva (born 1932).
Literature
Shor V.E. From the History of Soviet Translation (Stefan Zweig in Russian) // Translator's Notebooks, 1968. - P. 53–75.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Bogatyreva S.I. Keeper of culture, or Before, during and after the "Cardboard House" // Continent. - 2009. - No. 142 .
- ↑ Bogatyreva S.I. Stories of the girl Hare // Questions of literature. - 2010. - No. 6 .
- ↑ Peshkova Maya. Sophia Bogatyreva - Unspent Time - Remembering Relatives and Friends // Echo of Moscow. - September 22, 2013.
- ↑ Koreneva M.Yu. Correspondence of Stefan Zweig with the publishing house "Time" 1925-1934 .
- ↑ Bogatyreva S.I. A brief biography of Professor Sergei Bernshtein, a linguist, in memoirs and 43 documents // Literature Issues. - 2013. - No. 6 .