Word for Word: A Translator's Memoir of Literature, Politics, and Survival in Soviet Russia
Nov 2014 · ABRAMS
Ebook
336
Pages
About this ebook
A remarkable memoir of living in the Soviet Union and working as a literary translator.
In the early twentieth century, Lilianna Lungina was a Russian Jew born to privilege, spending her childhood in Germany, France, and Palestine. But when she was thirteen, her parents moved to the USSR—where Lungina became witness to many of the era's greatest upheavals.
Exiled during World War II, dragged to KGB headquarters to report on her friends, and subjected to her new country's ruthless, systematic anti-Semitism, Lungina nonetheless carved out a career as a translator, introducing hundreds of thousands of Soviet readers to Knut Hamsun, August Strindberg, and, most famously, Astrid Lindgren. In the process, she found herself at the very center of Soviet cultural life, meeting and befriending Pasternak, Brodsky, Solzhenitsyn, and many other major literary figures of the era. Her extraordinary memoir—at once heartfelt and unsentimental—is an unparalleled tribute to a lost world.
In the early twentieth century, Lilianna Lungina was a Russian Jew born to privilege, spending her childhood in Germany, France, and Palestine. But when she was thirteen, her parents moved to the USSR—where Lungina became witness to many of the era's greatest upheavals.
Exiled during World War II, dragged to KGB headquarters to report on her friends, and subjected to her new country's ruthless, systematic anti-Semitism, Lungina nonetheless carved out a career as a translator, introducing hundreds of thousands of Soviet readers to Knut Hamsun, August Strindberg, and, most famously, Astrid Lindgren. In the process, she found herself at the very center of Soviet cultural life, meeting and befriending Pasternak, Brodsky, Solzhenitsyn, and many other major literary figures of the era. Her extraordinary memoir—at once heartfelt and unsentimental—is an unparalleled tribute to a lost world.
A remarkable memoir of living in the Soviet Union and working as a literary translator.
In the early twentieth century, Lilianna Lungina was a Russian Jew born to privilege, spending her childhood in Germany, France, and Palestine. But when she was thirteen, her parents moved to the USSR—where ...
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About the author
Lilianna Lungina was a leading literary translator in the Soviet Union. She translated, among many authors, the works of Astrid Lindgren, August Strindberg, Henrik Ibsen, Heinrich Boll, Knut Hamsun, and Boris Vian.
The acclaimed director Oleg Dorman interviewed Lilianna Lungina for a documentary film based on her life, which was released in 2009 and became one of the most popular television programs in Russia's history.
The acclaimed director Oleg Dorman interviewed Lilianna Lungina for a documentary film based on her life, which was released in 2009 and became one of the most popular television programs in Russia's history.
Lilianna Lungina was a leading literary translator in the Soviet Union. She translated, among many authors, the works of Astrid Lindgren, August Strindberg, Henrik Ibsen, Heinrich Boll, Knut Hamsun, and Boris Vian.
The acclaimed director Oleg Dorman interviewed Lilianna Lungina for a documentary...
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