Literature of the Americas Literature of the Americas 2541-7894 2542-243X IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-7894-2020-8-491-496 Articles Making the Epic New: Notes on the Russian Translation of The Cantos 2019 Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 A brief account of the first Russian translation of The Cantos of Ezra Pound is presented. The problems encountered during translation are considered, and the translator’s and editorial decisions are discussed. An overview of the references used during the work on the translation and commentaries is presented. The central problem of translating The Cantos is identified as a lack of poetic language and techniques in Russian literature that are comparable with those of Anglo-American modernism. The methods of creating the modernist epic in Russian poetry are discussed and examples of similar attempts made by predecessors are mentioned. In particular, the translations made by N.I. Gnedich, M.L. Lozinsky, A.Ya. Sergeev, S.S. Khoruzhi and V.A. Hinkis, as well as translations of ancient Greek and Chinese literature are mentioned. Among all the various factors influencing the transition of the text from one literature to the other, authenticity, persuasiveness and laconism are stressed as the major reference points not only for translating the text, but also for commenting on the translation and writing the biographical notes. Every effort was made to ensure that the book would look and feel like an artifact of Pound’s lifetime. This is perfectly in line with the concept of Fortleben of the original text, as was suggested by Walter Benjamin. In this way, the translation is seen not only as an interpretation of the text, but as the renewal, survival and prolongation of the text’s life. 1. [Alexander 1991] – Alexander, M. The Poetic Achievement of Ezra Pound. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1971. 2. [Barnhisel 2005] – Barnhisel, G. James Laughlin, New Directions and the Remaking of Ezra Pound. Amherst, MA: Universtity of Massachusets Press, 2005. 3. [Benjamin 1985] – Benjamin, W. “Die Aufgabe des Übersetzers.” Gesammelte Schriften, Band 4.1., eds. R. Tiedemann, H. Schweppenhäuser. Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp, 1985: 9–21. 4. [Bronnikov 2019] – Bronnikov, A.V.  “Filosofiya Cantos.” [“The Philosophy   of Cantos.”] Tret'ye bytiye [Third Being]. St. Petersburg: Vladimir Dahl Publ., 2019: 142–158. (In Russ.) 5. [Bush 1999] – Bush, R. “Late Cantos LXXI–CXVIII.” The Cambridge Companion to Ezra Pound, ed. I.B. Nadel. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999: 109–138. 6. 7. [Byron 2014] – Byron, M. Ezra Pound's Eriugena. London: Bloomsbury, 2014. [Carpenter 1988] – Carpenter, H. A Serious Character. The Life of Ezra Pound. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1988. 8. [Chace 1973] – Chace, W. M. The Political Identities of Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1973. 9. [Cookson 2002] – Cookson, W. A Guide to the Cantos of Ezra Pound. New York: Persea Books, 2002. 10. [Joyce 1993] – Joyce, J. Ulysses, transl. V. Hinkis, S. Khoruzhi, comm. S. Khoruzhi. Moscow: Respublica Publ., 1993. (In Russ.) 11. [Kenner 1971] – Kenner, H. The Pound Era. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1971. 12. [Lan 2005] – Lan, F. Ezra Pound and Confucianism. Remaking Humanism in the Face of Modernity. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005. 13. [Liebregts 2004] – Liebregts, P. Ezra Pound and Neoplatonism. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2004. 14. [Man de 1986] – Man de, P.  “Conclusions: Walter  Benjamin's ‘The Task  of  the Translator’.” Man de, P. The Resistance to Theory. Series ”Theory and History of Literature”, vol. 33. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1986: 73–105. 15. [Moody 2007–2015] – Moody, D. Ezra Pound: Poet. A Portrait of the Man and his Work: in 3 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007–2015. 16. [Nadel 2004] – Nadel, I. B. Ezra Pound. A Literary Life. Basingstoke; New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. 17. [Pound 2018] – Pound, E. Kantos [The Cantos of Ezra Pound], transl., comm. A.V. Bronnikov. St.-Petersburg: Nauka Publ., 2018. (In Russ.) 18. [Pound 2003] – Pound, E. Stihotvoreniya i Izbrannye Cantos [The Poems and Selected Cantos], ed. Ian. Probstein. St.-Petersburg: Vladimir Dahl Publ., 2003. (In Russ.) 19. [Probstein 2017] – Probstein, Ia. “‘I Have Beaten out My Exile’: The Perception of Ezra Pound’s Poetry in Russia.” Make It New 4: 3 (2017): 25–48. 20. [Rabaté 1986] – Rabaté, J.-M. Language, Sexuality and Ideology in Ezra Pound's Cantos. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1986. 21. 22. [Rainey 1991] – Rainey, L.S. Ezra Pound and the Monument of Culture. Text, History and the Malatesta Cantos. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 1991. [Redman 1991] – Redman, T. Ezra Pound and Italian Fascism. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. 23. [Surette 1999] – Surette, L. Pound in Purgatory: From Economic Radicalism to Anti-Semitism. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1999. 24. [Terrell 1993] – Terrell, C.F. A Companion to The Cantos of Ezra Pound. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1993. 25. [Tolmatchoff 2011] – Tolmatchoff, V.M. “T. S. Eliot.” Vestnik PSTGU. Filologiya [St. Tikhon’s University Review. Filology] 23:1 (2011): 7–64. (In Russ.) 26. [Ushakova 2018] – Ushakova, O.M. “Poeziia protiv ‘Uzury’: Cantos Ezry Paunda v sovremennoi Rossii.” [“Poetry Against ‘Usura’: Ezra Pound’s Cantos in Contemporary Russia.”] Literature of the Americas 5 (2018): 366–374. (In Russ.) 27. [Ushakova 2007] – Ushakova, O.M. “T. S. Eliot and Russian Culture: Aspects of Cross-Cultural Communications.” Modern Studies in English Language and Literature. Earth, Man and, Culture 51:1 (2007): 423–436. 28.