COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE RUSSIAN TRANSLATION OF SPIRITUAL FOLKLORE IN THE STORY COLLECTION LIAOZHAI ZHIYI

Abstract

The paper discusses the translation into Russian of the elements of the spiritual folklore in the collection Liaozhai Zhiyi. It looks at the excerpts of the folk cults (such as veneration of foxes, spirits, and deities) and folk oral traditions (including proverbs, sayings, and mythological narratives). Translation strategies used by V.M. Alekseev, P.M. Ustin and A.G. Storozhuk are relatively discussed. The analysis has shown that Alekseev prefers literal translation with much commentary, thus maintaining the cultural images; Ustin prefers domestication and simplification, which often leads to losing symbolism; and, finally, Storozhuk prefers to be as faithful as possible in translating and is also very explanatory, as the long-running notes ensure symbolic coverage. Based on this, the paper claims that to translate spiritual folklore we need to respect cultural diversity to the utmost and that the proper allocation of annotations will lead to success in compensating cultural heterogeneity.