The Russian Stories and Poems that Shaped Translator Jane Bugaeva’s Childhood

Yesterday was Pub Day for Jane Bugaeva’s translation of In the Wolf’s Lair, which she rebuilt from Anna Starobinets’ Russian. She talks about the challenges of translating Starobinets, how she came to translating Russian literature, and what she might be working on next:

How did you come to translating Russian children’s literature? Did you have any Russian kid lit around as a child? What was your first exposure to Russian literature for young people?

Jane Bugaeva: My family emigrated from Russia to the United States when I was six, so I always joke that my Russian identity is stuck at that age—which is why I am so drawn to children’s literature. Russian/Soviet children’s literature was the first literature I was ever exposed to and I feel incredible nostalgia towards it. When I first tired my hand at translating, children’s lit seemed like the obvious choice: these were the stories and poems I knew so well, they shaped my childhood, and I’d always wished there was a way to share them with my American friends.

What do you think is particularly special about Catlantis, (which of course you translated)?

JB: Where do I begin? What first drew me to Anna Starobinets’ work was her delightful use of language. Catlantis is about a heroic cat and, as evident by the title, is filled with cat-related puns, plays-on-words, and allusions. Because translators work so intimately with language, when the original author uses language in an exceptional or unexpected way it makes the translator’s task that much more rich. It adds another layer to the complicated puzzle of translation.

I love that the references and language in Catlantis are not simplified for the sake of the young reader. Anna assumes a maturity in her readership that shows her respect for both her child and adult audiences.

Can you tell us about your latest translation, In the Wolf’s Lair? What made you fall in love with it? What were the challenges of bringing it out?

JB: As mentioned above, I was already enamored with Anna’s writing, so falling in love with In the Wolf’s Lair wasn’t hard. Wolf’s Lair is the first book of Beastly Crimes—a four-part series of middle-grade crime novels. Each story centers around a new crime that takes place in and around the woods, and all the reoccurring characters are animals. True to Anna’s style, the stories are filled with smart and funny allusions and inventive word play.

There were a few challenges with the translation of In the Wolf’s Lair.

One was a holistic challenge: the book’s often too-mature themes. As I said, something I admire about Anna is how she respects her readers—she never simplifies or dumbs-down her work. But because this is children’s lit, Anna had trouble finding a publisher for this series—a lament she spoke about in an article in the Guardian: the story is too risqué, it has references to alcohol, it has gruesome language and imagery. But she never compromised her work and I’m thrilled she was able to find supportive publishers in both Russian and English, which gave me the chance to work with her wonderful writing again!

Another challenge was more specific to language: animal sounds. It sounds trivial, but when much of the humor behind a character’s name and dialogue relies on the sound that animal makes, and when those sounds are completely different in two languages—it becomes quite the challenge for the translator. Since these sounds are so specific in each language, you absolutely cannot use transliteration, it would make no sense. All that’s left is to be inventive: to take the English sound and to invent a new punny name for that character, to invent new clever dialogue. Though it’s definitely tricky, it’s very creative, very fun work.

What makes the Russian children’s-literature landscape distinctive? When I lived in Russia there were those “вредные советы” books by Grigori Oster, and I loved them.

JB: I am definitely no expert on this topic, I can only speak from my own personal experience. What I find endearing is the longevity of certain Russian and Soviet classics. The books my parents were read as children, I was then read as a child, and are still widely available—in fact, I was gifted many of these re-issued classics to read to my own daughter. I’m not sure this is distinctive—Curious George and Corduroy come to mind—but the idea that Russia as a country has gone through such immense changes in the last 100 years and that so many of these works continue to be popular is pretty incredible.

And it’s funny you mention Oster: I am a huge fan and he’s the reason I began translating! As I said above, when I tried my hand at translating, Oster was the obvious choice—I was obsessed with his mischievous Horrible Advice (as I called it). I’ve actually been trying for a long time to have my translations of his poetry published in English—unsuccessfully thus far. If the lucky day ever comes, I’ll be sure to send you a copy first!

I can’t wait!