This talk explores the literary and editorial strategies of three authors: the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev (1819-1883), the Russian and Ukrainian writer Marko Vovchok (Maria Markovich, 1833-1907) and the French publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel (1814-1886), who wrote under the pseudonym P.-J. Stahl. Both Vovchok and Turgenev were published by Hetzel in France. In turn, they translated and published in Russia the works of his publishing house as well as Hetzel's own writings. Their three-way friendship, affectionate and professional, produced a significant corpus of new books. Moreover, these authors were metamorphosed through translation into a foreign environment. Thus, Turgenev published by Hetzel resembles a second-rate French writer, while Marko Vovchok, author of sometimes cruel tales for adults, becomes a children's writer at Hetzel Éditions. A literary intermediary in this context, Vovchok immersed herself in the French novel and, through her numerous translations into Russian, transformed the Russian literary field. Hetzel-Stahl meanwhile took a close interest in Ukraine and Russia, conceiving and publishing two novels: Maroussia (his own adaptation of Marko Vovchok’s novel Marusia) and Jules Verne's Michel Strogoff.
Watch the event recording on YouTube here.
