An unexpected translation of a classic Russian children's book
This morning, Whet Moser, the Assoiate Digital Editor/writer at the Chicago magazine tweeeted about a children's book he found in a used book store in Virginia. While he was struck by the (admittedly very distinct) art style, what caught my attention was the author's name.
Omg the illustrations pic.twitter.com/srbIzAZTrn
- Whet Moser (@whet) December 26, 2017
For the non-Russians reading this... Imagine seeing a translation of a Dr Seuss book in a country where, as far as you knew, nobody's even heard of Dr Seuss. Both annanov and I were shocked that the English translation would even exist.
Whet went to look at the credits to find a publisher... And what he found explained a lot. Turned out that it was printed in Soviet Union by Progress Publishers, a Soviet publisher which specialized in publishing foreign-language translations of Soviet books. Mostly ideological stuff like the books about fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism, but also stuff like this.
(According to the Russian wikipedia, the publisher is still around, but, after it was privatized in 1992, it obviously shifted focus elsewhere. It currently has two active imprints - one publishing educational and scientific texts and one reprinting works and stuff related to early 20th century writers).
In any case... I'm excited. Because, it if turned up in some used bookstore in a state not exactly known for its large Russian community, it can turn up in Chicagoland. Or ebay/Amazon.
Which opens up some interesting gift-giving possibilities.
Omg the illustrations pic.twitter.com/srbIzAZTrn
- Whet Moser (@whet) December 26, 2017
For the non-Russians reading this... Imagine seeing a translation of a Dr Seuss book in a country where, as far as you knew, nobody's even heard of Dr Seuss. Both annanov and I were shocked that the English translation would even exist.
Whet went to look at the credits to find a publisher... And what he found explained a lot. Turned out that it was printed in Soviet Union by Progress Publishers, a Soviet publisher which specialized in publishing foreign-language translations of Soviet books. Mostly ideological stuff like the books about fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism, but also stuff like this.
(According to the Russian wikipedia, the publisher is still around, but, after it was privatized in 1992, it obviously shifted focus elsewhere. It currently has two active imprints - one publishing educational and scientific texts and one reprinting works and stuff related to early 20th century writers).
In any case... I'm excited. Because, it if turned up in some used bookstore in a state not exactly known for its large Russian community, it can turn up in Chicagoland. Or ebay/Amazon.
Which opens up some interesting gift-giving possibilities.