Vera Ahrens and “World Literature” (Translation, Which Has Not Found a Publisher)

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Abstract:
In the article, relying on archival sources, the author reconstructs a little-known episode from the life of the poetess V.E. Ahrens-Haeckel — her collaboration with the publishing house “World Literature”. Being well-known in literary and artistic circles, Ahrens could not become a great poet, and there are several “white spots” in her biography. Until now, only two projects of the publishing house of “World Literature” were known in which Ahrens was involved as a transla- tor — these were editions of poems by Heinrich Heine and Victor Hugo. The article provides new materials that make it possible to see the history of another, much larger project, which, however, was not destined to be fulfilled. Such a project was the publication of the novels “Almaïde d’Etremont”, “Clara d’Ellébeuse” and “Pomme d’Anis” by the French symbolist writer Francis Jamme. Vera Ahrens has made translations for the “World Literature”, the authorized typescripts of which have been preserved in the Manuscripts department of National library of Russia. Taking into account the historical, cultural and biographical context, the author describes the history of the creation of these translations and subsequent failures associated with attempts to publish them in other publishing houses; restoring Ahrens’ social circle and her participation in other publishing projects, the author shows the way Ahrens came to “World Literature”. Many archival documents cited in the article have not yet been published.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/CM.2949-0510-2025-6-284-306
EDN:
https://elibrary.ru/RXYIGA
Author: Iakov V. Slepkov
About the author: Iakov V. Slepkov, Archaeographer, The Manuscripts Department, The National Library of Russia, Sadovaya St., 18, 191023 St. Petersburg, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-6742-1673 E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Received: December 4, 2024
Date of Publication: February 18, 2025
Approved after reviewing : November 11, 2025
Publication Type: Research Article
For citation: Slepkov, I.V. “Vera Ahrens and ‘World Literature’ (Translation, which Has not Found a Publisher).” Codex manuscriptus, issue 6. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2025, pp. 284–306. (In Russian) https://doi.org/10.22455/CM.2949-0510-2025-6-284-306
Keywords: Vera Ahrens, Francis Jammes, unpublished book, translators of Petrograd-Leningrad.

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