Ključevaja rol' nemeckich i francuzskich perevodov v rannem evropejskom vosprijatii Dostoevskogo

This article aims at a better understanding of the dynamics underlying processes of literary canonization, by shedding light on the all too often neglected translational conditions that have contributed to Europe's discovery of Dostoevsky. Firstly, the German and French literary polysystems, which took the lead in the writer's popularization abroad, are dealt with. Paratexts by the most influential German and French translators of Dostoevsky indicate that they felt pressured to introduce important macro-structural and micro-textual shifts to their translations. By eradicating the disturbing elements in the German translation Raskolnikow (1882) and in the French translations Le crime et le châtiment (1884), L'esprit souterrain (1886) and Les frères Karamazov (1888), they contributed to the construction of Dostoevsky as the gloomy champion of the humiliated and insulted. Secondly, the focus shifts to the European literatures that jumped on the bandwagon of the Dostoevsky hype. As a consequence of their subordination to the leading literatures, the above-mentioned acceptability-oriented French and German Dostoevsky translations were translated into a variety of European languages. It is argued that, given the significant shifts in the translations that are responsible for Dostoevsky's European breakthrough, it no longer seems appropriate to imagine the French hype of the Russian novel of the 1880s as the Russian revenge for the Napoleonic invasion. Quite the reverse, Dostoevsky's early European discovery is better described as France's annexation of the Russian writer.