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18/03/2025. Foreign/Own: Translations of modern French prose into Karelian
March 18, 2025:
In the National Library of Karelia, participants in the Foreign/Own project got acquainted with the works by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt and translated his stories into Karelian.
During the program, the participants learned about the events that had influenced the formation of the writer's personality. Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt is the author of a large number of novels, stories, and collections of short stories; not counting plays, they have been translated into 46 languages, and plays based on Schmitt's are staged in fifty countries around the world. The writer and philosopher managed to discover the secret of his popularity among readers: not to be afraid to raise complex, acute topics, but to write using a simple, clear style, with irony and sensitivity. Schmitt himself commented on his success as follows: "From the very beginning, I wanted to be understandable to my grandmothers."
Viewers and readers in Russia are familiar with the dramaturgy by E.-E. Schmitt, especially his play Oscar and the Lady in Pink. The story of the same name was offered to the participants of the project Foreign/Own for preliminary reading. The participants shared their impressions and thoughts that were awakened in them by the piercing story about the seriously ill boy Oskar. They agreed that in the story, despite the difficult subject, a life-affirming intonation is heard. Another example of "questioning humanism" by E.-E. Schmitt was also offered for reading and translation - the story The Woman with the Bouquet from the collection The Dreamer of Ostend. With the editorial support of the teacher, native speaker of the Livvik dialect of the Karelian language T. A. Baranova, the participants prepared translations of the text. They noted that there were no particular difficulties in translating the work of a modern French author into the Karelian language.
Patrons of the National Library of Karelia also have an opportunity to read many works by E.-E. Schmitt translated into Russian. Besides, there are three books by the writer at the sector of foreign literature. All author’s publications can be found in the electronic catalogue of the library.
Foreign/Own is a linguistic and literary project. Its participants study Karelian at the language courses. Since 2018, the program has included monthly meetings at the National Library of Karelia as a part of the Foreign/Own project. The project offers participants an introduction to the biographies and works of various writers, works of world literature, discussion of texts and translation of their fragments into the Karelian language.
