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The problem of the historical and cultural ties (the Irish question in translations of M. K. Tsebrikova)
Chernyavskaya Natalia Edvinovna, Belgorod State Institute of Arts and Culture, Associate Professor, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences E-mail: nchernjavskaja@rambler.ru Kulish Zhanetta Vasilyevna, Belgorod State University, Associate Professor, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences E-mail: natalia.kulisch@yandex.ru
The problem of the historical and cultural ties (the Irish question in translations of M. K. Tsebrikova)
Abstract: The article considers the problems of establishment of Ireland in the second half of the 19th century. The Irish issue is characterized by extreme complexity and uniqueness. For a long time Ireland has often witnessed serious social and national contradictions, which attracted the attention of political and social circles in many countries of the world, including Russia.
Keywords: civil rights, independence, politics, liberation movement, progressive ideas, journalism, social contradictions.
Throughout its history, Ireland has been famous for its ambition for independence. The period considered in the article, the second half of XIX century, was the time when the planned movement for human rights continued in spite of hard consequences of the Great Famine in 1845-1849 for the Irish people and systematic robbery of the Irish peasants. Fenians, small bourgeois revolutionaries, who expressed the protest of the Irish peasants against the deprivation of land in their requirements, started playing a noticeable role in the political life of the country and tried to achieve the independence of Ireland by way of a plot. The rebellion of fenians in 1867 was suppressed and further 49 years were a new stage of the peaceful constitutional struggle, which was especially pronounced in the struggle for Home Rule, self-management within the British Empire.
The progressive-minded people in Russia of this time had a big sympathy and followed the struggle of the Irish for their independence from the British Empire with understanding. The national press published not only news, but also works related to the history of the Irish freedom movement.
Numerous publications in the Russian papers «Otechestvennye zapiski», «Iskra», «Nedelya» etc. certify about the sympathy for the struggle of Ireland for its rights and absolute condemnation of the English government persecuting the Irish public figures. The «Otechestvennye zapiski» publishes the poems of T. Moore translated by A. Plescheev «From the Irish Melodies» [1], «To Ireland» [2], the stories of M. Laffan «The Irish Revenge» [3], «In the streets of Dublin» [4], «Dublin slums» [5], articles of N.N. Firsov «The Irish Question» [6]. A big interest in the disastrous condition of the Irish population was expressed by M.E. Saltykov-Schedrin. In 1875 the jubilee (100 years) of the national Irish hero O’Connell was widely celebrated in his motherland and the journal «Nedelya» informed the Russian readers about it [7].
M.K. Tsebrikova, a literary critic and publicist known to a progressive reader of that time, teacher, publisher, an employee of Nekrasov’s « Otechestvennye zapiski» and other famous Russian journals, editor of one of the best pedagogical journals «Upbringing and Education» [9], translated the novel of J. McCarthy «A beautiful Samsonian» offering the editorial of «Otechestvennye zapiski» the name «For freedom», which renders the idea of the work more precisely. Out of the censor considerations, the novel was called «The descen-dent of the Tairons». The novel was placed in the Enclosures №№ 1-4. A year earlier, in 1873, M.K. Tsebrikova translated and published the notes of W. Stewart Trench as a separate book and named them «Sketches of the Irish life» [10]. The works selected by M.K. Tsebrikova that undoubtedly were in keeping with the spirit of the time were dedicated to the Irish questions. She referred to them at the time when the struggle of the Irish for the independence of their motherland became strained again. Both works were provided with wide prefaces and comments of the translator, in which she expressed her understanding of the Irish question, with connection to the Russian life. This similarity was noted by many progressive public figures of Russia. Thus, N.K. Mikhailovsky wrote in «Literary and journal notes» about the book of W. Stewart Trench: «In this book, the reader will see what it means to be a landless owner. It is interesting as itself, but also with regard to us, the citizens of the country of farmers and land owners» [11. P. 149.]. There is a direct «analogy between the Irish sept and the Russian peace» in one of the articles of «Slovo» journal [12. P. 3.]. In the books of W.S. Trench and J. McCarthy about Ireland translated by M.K. Tsebrikova, a question of extremely disastrous condition of the Irish people and the painful search of ways of its struggle for independence is raised in her prefaces and comments.
W. Stewart Trench, the author of the notes about Ireland, served as a manager at landlords’ estates in Ireland. In spite of
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Section 2. History and archaeology
some conservation of social and political believes, he felt sorry for the Irish deprived of the human conditions of existence and tried his best to help them. The author of translations addresses the author of the notes with respect, because she can see that «... Mr. Trench can put aside the views of a landlord’s agent and take a wider look at the position of the Irish people» [12. P. 3.]. N. Mikhailovsky also referred to the book of W.S. Trench as a sincere and trustworthy work. Sympathetic attitude of «hard worker Trench» towards the suffering people was noted by F. Engels: «Trench says to a liberal signore that if he was an Irish peasant, he would also become a ribbonist» [13. P. 300.].
The translation of J. McCarthy’s novel «The descendant of the Tairons» by M.K. Tsebrikova acquaints us with another form of struggle of the Irish for independence - fenianism. The fenianism had a narrow nature; fenians stuck to a plot tactic. The academician E. Tarle characterized the program and methods of the fenians as a manifestation of small bourgeois insurgency movement. The notion of a deserving Irish national character is completed with the protagonists of John McCarthy’s novel «The descendant of the Tairons». Unlike W.S. Trench, who introduced the readers to hard-working farmers, J. McCarthy acquaints them with simple people and the descendants from the Irish aristocracy.
The protagonist of his novel Tairon is s descendant of an ancient Irish family. He obtained good education and occupies a solid social position; he has love and trust of people, who elect him a representative of Ireland to the English parliament. He has a reputation of an honest, decent and incorrupt man.
Tairon meets the requirements of that part of the fenians, who wanted to render lands and power to ancient Irish families exiling the landlords. Their struggle for restoration of the Irish oligarchy is combined with a desire to get rid of Protestantism imposed by the conquerors and establish the religion of their ancestors - Catholicism.
Invited to a meeting of plotters, Tairon, who they would want to see a leader of the Irish movement, mildly refuses the flattering offer. Moreover, he goes to Ireland with an intention to talk the fenians out of rebellion as he understands that it will be suppressed and bring futile victims and a disgrace of defeat. The agreement would provide him with an eminent role of a leader as a descendent of an ancient family, who would be treated with awe by the Irish, but he considered it a crime to exploit this feeling of people who adored and believed in him and lead them towards inevitable death.
When the government finds out that Tairon kept the fenians from the rebellion, they offer him a favorable position out of gratefulness, which he refuses, because he cherishes his independence and makes a decision to step down from politics.
Brought up on the stories of irreconcilable national feud, he managed to overcome this feeling and found courage to confront the commonly accepted norms of the majority.
J. McCarthy shows the way of painful searches of an appropriate form of struggle for his protagonist. His strong mind is uncomfortable in the narrow frames of the national feud, as the author notes. His protagonist starts understanding that «the path of every public figure aware of their tasks does not go where there is blood and fire of the national feud» [15. P. 33].
Being a Member of Parliament, Tairon saw those feeling sorry for the Irish people and wishing the freedom of Ireland among the Englishmen. With all its drawbacks, contemplates Tairon, the English parliament has people who want justice for the Irish people as they do for their own. They are the minority, but their number will increase with time and gradually they will achieve the adherence to their requirements.
Tairon decides to achieve the independence of Ireland by way of a parliamentary struggle. It was a position that the national hero of Ireland O’Connell stuck to, who cultivated the understanding of an advantage of wide campaign instead of plots and rebellions in the consciousness of the Irish. The protagonist of the novel was right foreseeing the suppression of the rebellion, but it didn’t disturb his belief in the eventual victory of the Irish. Understanding the wrongness of the position of the fenians, Tairon detaches himself from their movement. National fanaticism and revolutionary feud will not lead to an expected result. Intending to fight for freedom and against the violence of both peoples, Irish and English, Tairon is convinced that time should pass before both peoples will give a hand to one another. It is evidenced by the fact that the working class of England followed the freedom fight of the Irish people with sympathy and angrily protested the violent politics of the English colonizers in Ireland.
Relying upon the translations of the works ofW.S. Trench and J. McCarthy, M.K. Tsebrikova demonstratively proved that the reason of unrests in Ireland was an unbearable condition of the people, which it was put in by the conquerors. Going through a long and hard path of struggle, from a spontaneous unrest of terrorism by ribbon men and plot tactic of the fenians, the people of Ireland will come to recognition of the parliamentary form of struggle and achieve independence and self-determination. The history of Ireland helped understand the nature of struggle of its people for independence and drew attention of the Russian readers to different forms of struggle with despotism in Russia. Political guess of M.K. Tsebrikova about the importance of the Irish problem, soberness of assessment of the Irish events, political resume in prefaces are absolutely proved by the history of peace and further national freedom movement in Ireland. Translations of the preface and remarks of M.K. Tsebrikova are not only historical documents. In the context of modern times, they are perceived as live political wisdoms and moral values, which have continued importance.
References:
1. Otechestvennye zapiski. №6, 8. 1875.
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The problem of the historical and cultural ties (the Irish question in translations of M. K. Tsebrikova)
2. Otechestvennye zapiski. №12. 1871.
3. Otechestvennye zapiski. №12. 1871.
4. Otechestvennye zapiski. №10. 1881.
5. Otechestvennye zapiski. №5. 1880.
6. Otechestvennye zapiski. №6. 1881.
7. Otechestvennye zapiski. №7, 8, 9. 1881.
8. Nedelya. №32, p. 1035.
9. Kulish Zh.V., M.K. Tsebrikova Social and literary critical activity / Zh.V. Kulish. - Voronezh: Published by Voronezh University, 1988. - 188 p.
10. Chernyavskaya N.E. Tsebrikova M.K. Pedagogical views (monograph) / N.E. Chernyavskaya. - Belgorod: BGIKI, 2010.
- 112 p.
11. Sketches of the Irish life. From the notes of W. Stewart Trench. Translated from English by M. Tsebrikova / SPb., 1873.
12. Otechestvennye zapiski. №1. 1873.
13. «England and Ireland»/ A.R. Slovo, 1878, №7.
14. Marx K., Engels F. Essays, 2nd edition. V. 32. 1955.
15. McCarthy J. The descendant of the Tairons Потомок. Novel in 3 parts (translation and preface by M. Tsebrikova) / Otechestvennye zapiski, 1874, № 12. Enclosure. №1.
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